SAN DIEGO — There are 363 Division I men’s college basketball teams, and San Diego State is one of the four still dancing through the NCAA Tournament.
For the first time in program history, the Aztecs have reached the Final Four.
The team will play Florida Atlantic University in the tournament’s first semifinal game in Houston on Saturday at 3:09 p.m. PDT. The winner of that game will face the winner of the next game between University of Miami and University of Connecticut in the national championship on April 3.
If you haven’t been following the team all season, no worries. Here is an Aztecs guide to help you get to know the coach, key players, style of play and more.
Final Four run
San Diego State is the first Mountain West Conference school to win its region in the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Final Four.
In their opening game on March 16, the Aztecs’ physicality and defense carried them to a 63-57 win over Charleston College. This was also the first tournament win for head coach Brian Dutcher since taking over the program in 2017.
Two days later, the team took out Furman University — its best offensive game so far in the tournament — with a 75-52 victory. Four Aztecs players scored in double figures: Micah Parrish with 16 points, Darrion Trammell with 13, Lamont Butler with 12 and Matt Bradley with 10.
In the second weekend of the tournament, the Aztecs defeated University of Alabama, the No. 1 overall seed, 71-64 on March 24. They made program history in many ways after this win, including this: It was the first time SDSU beat a higher seeded team in the NCAA Tournament.
On March 26, San Diego State edged out Creighton University, 57-56. “The team from the Mesa” — since the campus is located on what’s known as Montezuma Mesa — got a little revenge after Creighton knocked out the Aztecs in the tournament’s first round last season. The winning basket came via senior guard Darrion Trammell’s free throw with 1.2 seconds left.
Head coach
Brian Dutcher is in his sixth season as head coach. He took over for Steve Fisher, who retired in April 2017 and coached San Diego State since 1999.
Dutcher had been an assistant with Fisher since 1989, when both Dutcher and Fisher coached University of Michigan to an NCAA championship. Dutcher is the first San Diego State basketball coach to collect more than 20 victories in his first five seasons.
Key players
Senior Matt Bradley is averaging 12.5 points per game as the Aztecs’ leading scorer. He transferred to the Mesa from University of California, Berkeley after his junior year.
Trammell is the second leading scorer on the squad, averaging 9.9 points with 3.1 assists per game. He was named most outstanding player of the South Region of the tournament. He originally transferred from Seattle University.
Junior guard Lamont Butler leads the team with 121 assists this season and is third in scoring with 8.7 points per game. This season, he was named the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Nathan Mensah, Adam Seiko, Aguek Arop and Keshad Johnson are the veterans on the squad. They were all on the team that had a 30-2 record three seasons ago when the NCAA Tournament was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mensah is team’s leading rebounder, averaging 5.9 per game, and is second all time in school history with 231 blocked shots.
Style of play
Since former coach Fisher arrived at San Diego State in 1999, the Aztecs have been a defensive-focused team and it continues with Dutcher. Along with Butler, this season, Mensah was also named to the Mountain West Conference’s all-defensive team.
San Diego State also led its conference in fewest points scored against them, allowing just 62.9 points per game.
How the Aztecs got to NCAA Tournament
San Diego State finished in first place in the regular season of the Mountain West Conference with a 15-3 record in the conference and 24-6 overall. This was the 10th time in 18 seasons that the Aztecs won 24 or more games in a season.
This was also the program’s ninth regular-season title in the 24-year history of the Mountain West. By winning the regular season conference, SDSU was the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West tournament. The Aztecs won their conference tournament and in doing so, received an automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA March Madness history
For San Diego State, this is the 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Prior to this season, the Aztecs’ best tournament results were in 2011 and 2014, when they won two games to reach the Sweet 16 round.
The team would have also made the tournament in 2020 had it not been canceled. SDSU won its first NCAA Tournament games in 2011 — with NBA all-star Kawhi Leonard — and before this season only won six tournament games overall in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. This year the squad has won four games so far.
