March 20, 2015
Recap | McGrane: SDSU Not About to Shrink From Duke's Shadow | Notebook
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By Mick McGrane (@MickOnTheMesa)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - So now comes the bully on the block, the swagger and strut reflective of the nation's bluebloods. Confident, poised, possessive of four national championships.
A fifth is there for the taking. Standing in the way? San Diego State.
Perhaps it was meant to be. Perhaps when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars, you have little choice but to tackle the tallest timber standing.
The No. 1 seed. The titan of Tobacco Road. A team so close to its own campus it could commute.
Duke. The NCAA Tournament. Ready or not.
If a nation remains dubious about a program that has won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament four of the last five seasons, perhaps it's time to let it on a not-so-well-kept secret: San Diego State may not share Duke's pedigree, but neither is it petrified of its punch.
"Every game has a different storyline," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said in the wake of his team's 76-64 second-round bruising of St. John's Friday night. "Every game has a different way that you have to play."
"Sunday (against Duke) will be different, obviously. They've got some size, and size that's quality, but they've got some perimeter play that will be hard to deal with, too."
Perimeter play? Through the opening 20 minutes Friday night, St. John's must have thought it had stumbled into one of Paul Westhead's Loyola Marymount teams of the '80s. In a game most thought would hinge on the size advantage enjoyed by SDSU, the Aztecs instead launched enough threes in the first half to part the Red Storm like the Red Sea.
SDSU, which hadn't taken more than 17 three-pointers in its last nine games, unloaded 16 in the first half. The No. 8 seed Aztecs, who entered the contest having connected on 37.5 percent of their threes in the last 18 games, made seven of the 16, with Dwayne Polee II going 4-for-6 and Matt Shrigley 3-for-3.
SDSU, which shot 47.2 percent for the game, also got another double-digit performance from the unflappable JJ O'Brien (18 points) and bonus points from center Skylar Spencer, who matched his season high with 10.
"When we score points, we've got a chance," said Fisher, whose team hadn't exceeded the 70-point mark since beating San Jose State 74-56 on Feb. 21. "We score this many points, we've got a chance against anybody."
Anybody. Including Duke.
The nation's No. 1 defensive team, Virginia, will play Michigan State here in Sunday's other third-round game. The nation's No. 2 defensive team will take the stage afterward. And that ranking doesn't belong to the Blue Devils.
"(Duke) has had a lot of pretty good games, which is why they're the No. 1 seed," said Fisher, who as head coach at Michigan in 1992 saw his "Fab Five" team fall to Duke 71-51 in the national championship game. "We're glad that we're playing, and it's (Duke) that we have to play. We're a No. 8 seed; they're a No. 1 seed. That's the math. I used to teach math, so I know we'll definitely have our hands full.
"But our players compete. And if we make enough shots --- and that's a big if --- we will have an opportunity to make it interesting. We know that not only is Duke a terrific team, but they are a premiere program that is in that elite stratosphere, and that's where the rest of us aspire to get. We're inching our way along, building our own resume. They've got a pretty good one that's built on a number of years of great, great teams.
"Our players and our fans will be very excited to play the game. We'll see what happens."