LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Having advanced to the NCAA tournament for a third consecutive season and the Sweet 16 for the first time under head coach Brian Dutcher, and third time in program history, fifth-seeded San Diego State will face 1-seeded Alabama in a South Regional semifinal game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., on March 24 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
OFF THE BOUNCE
Having advanced to the NCAA tournament for a third consecutive season and the Sweet 16 for the first time under head coach Brian Dutcher, and third time in program history, fifth-seeded San Diego State will face 1-seeded Alabama in a South Regional semifinal game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., on March 24 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
San Diego State has played in the South Regional on three occasions (2013, 2015 & 2023) and has advanced to the round of 32 in each of those appearances (see the box on the right), and advances to the regional semifinal for the first time from the South Region.
The Aztecs are making their 15th appearance in the Division I event, owning a 8-14 all-time record. Head coach Brian Dutcher has been on the Aztec sidelines for 19 of the program's 22 all-time tournament games and all eight of the program's victories, including his first as the program's head coach in the team's first round game against Charleston on March 16.
This is the fourth NCAA appearance for Brian Dutcher, the two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, in his six seasons as head coach with a likely appearance in the 2019-20 event (San Diego State was 30-2 and a likely No. 1 or No. 2 seed), which was canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
The Aztecs appearance in the regional semifinal game is its third (2011, 2014 & 2023) and the seventh for a Mountain West program since the inception of the league in the 1999-00 season.
This is the program's 10th tournament appearance in the last 13 seasons that a champion has been crowned. That total does not include the 2019-20 season when SDSU was 30-2 and ranked sixth in the AP poll when the season ended prior to the tournament.
San Diego State owns a 105-22 record (82.7 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That's the third-best record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga's 120-12 (90.9 percent), and Houston's 116-21 (84.7 percent), and ahead of Baylor's 104-24 (81.3 percent) and Kansas' 111-26 (81.0 percent) records.
The Aztecs come into its Sweet 16 game having won 12 of its last 13 (12-1) and 16 of its last 18 (16-2), with its two losses coming on the road at Nevada (14-2 at home) and at Boise State (14-1 at home), both which earned NCAA Tournament bids.
San Diego State owns the sixth-best record in the nation since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, 361-115 (.758), and is 162-90 (.643) road and neutral site contests in that time frame which is the seventh best in the nation.
San Diego State will play Alabama in its regional semifinal, the No. 1 ranked team in the final AP poll, and a team it has never faced.
In its history, SDSU has played four games against the top ranked team in the country, but has yet to break through with a victory.
San Diego State played in its sixth consecutive Mountain West Tournament title game, defeating Utah State, 62-57. Matt Bradley, who averaged 12.3 points and 3.0 rebounds, was named the tournament MVP. Jaedon LeDee, who reached double figure-scoring in two of three games and averaged 6.0 rebounds earned inclusion on the all-tournament team. The Aztecs and Aggies have played each other in four of the last five championship games and have a 2-2 split in those contests. Boise State was the interloper in last year's title matchup against San Diego State. Amazingly, SDSU has made the tournament title game in nine of the last 10 years and in 13 of the last 15 seasons (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023).
San Diego State has played against half of the current members of the Southeast Conference (7-of-14) and has a 3-10 record against SEC teams. Most recently, the Aztecs lost in overtime to Arkansas, 74-78, at the 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
Of the 16 programs to reach the Sweet 16, San Diego State has traveled 4,482.7 miles (First and Second Round & the Sweet 16), which is nearly 1,000 miles further than any other program to reach this point in the event (Princeton is second at 3,520.2 miles). Alabama will have traveled the shortest distance going only 475.6 miles to and from its first and second round games in Birmingham, Ala. and now to Louisville, Ky.
San Diego State won its 21st game at Fresno State on February 15, marking the sixth straight season the Aztecs have reached that win total (every year under Brian Dutcher). The game was one of a league-best seven road wins in conference play for SDSU.
San Diego State continues to boast an impressive NCAA metric profile. The Aztecs are 14th in the NET, 16th in KenPom, 25th in BPI, 28th in Sagarin Rating, sixth in KPI and 11th in T-Rank: all tops among Mountain West programs.
Senior guard Matt Bradley is on the precipice of becoming just the fifth player since at least the start of the 1996-97 season to score at least 1,000 points for two college programs. He scored 1,289 in three years at California and has totaled 996 in two seasons at San Diego State.
SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher is in his sixth season as San Diego State's head coach and his 24th season on the Aztec sidelines. In his five-plus seasons as head coach, he has led the Aztecs to five conference titles, a 148-46 (76.2 percent) overall record and has already been named the national coach of the year and twice named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year. Among first time head coaches who started in the 2017-18 season, Dutcher's 148 wins are the most in the nation.