SAN DIEGO – San Diego State men's basketball is in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history and as the team prepares for the upcoming NCAA Tournament, award season is in full swing. Today two Aztecs, head coach Brian Dutcher and junior guard Malachi Flynn, have been honored by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) for their efforts this season.
Dutcher has been named the USBWA District IX Coach of the Year while Flynn has been selected as one of 10 student-athletes on the All-District IX Team. District IX covers the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona and Alaska. The recognition is especially significant, since the Aztecs did not play a game in five of the six states which make up District IX.
Dutcher, in his third season at the helm of the San Diego State program, led the 2019-20 Aztecs to the best regular-season record in program history (28-1), the Mountain West regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in last week's Mountain West Tournament. With 17 league victories, San Diego State set a school and Mountain West Conference record for most conference triumphs in a campaign. San Diego State's 17-1 conference record (94.4 percent) is the highest winning percentage ever for a Mountain West Conference team, eclipsing Utah's 13-1 mark (92.8 percent) in 2004-05. Under Dutcher's guidance, SDSU was the last unbeaten team in the nation for more than a month, from Jan. 15 to Feb. 22, is currently one of three teams with two losses in the NCAA and is the first program to 30 victories this season.
The Aztecs were the first team to clinch its conference's regular-season title and the first, since the 2007-08 Davidson team of Steph Curry, to do so with four games remaining in the season. In addition, the squad is 16-1 in road/neutral games this year, is the only team with just one loss in a road/neutral game this season and are 10-1 in NET Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 games. Remarkably, 10 of those 11 games came either on the road or on a neutral court. Dutcher was also named the Mountain West Coach of the Year by the league's media members and its coaches in separate votes.
San Diego State has been ranked in the AP Top-25 and Coaches Polls for the 14 weeks, spending a record five-straight weeks at No. 4 and this week are ranked No. 6 in both polls. Dutcher becomes the second Aztecs head coach to be honored as a district Coach of the Year by the USBWA. He joins his predecessor Steve Fisher, who was named the USBWA District IX Coach of the Year for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
Flynn, a native of Tacoma, Wash., finished the regular season averaging 17.6 points, 5.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 44.7 percent from the floor, 37.2 percent from long range and 85.7 percent from the line. In league games, he was even more impressive. His scoring average went up to 18.9 points on 45.3 percent shooting including 34.7 percent from distance and 91.7 percent from the charity stripe. Earning starting assignments in all 32 games this season, the junior scored in double figures 31 times, led the team the team in scoring and in assists 21 times.
In the team's regular season finale, an 83-76 win at Nevada, Flynn poured in 36 points which are the most by an Aztec player since Brandon Heath tallied 37 against UNLV on Jan. 15, 2005 and he is just the eighth player in college basketball this season to produce a stat line of 36 points, five rebounds and five assists and the first from a Mountain West Conference team. His 36 points are the second most by an Aztec player this century. He earned two Mountain West Player of the Week honor this season.
In addition, he is a Sporting News Midseason second-team All-American, as well as on the watch lists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year, Lute Olson National Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award. He was named the tournament MVP of both the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational and the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. In separate votes by the league's coaches and media members, Flynn was named the Mountain West Player of the Year. He was also named the conference Defensive Player of the Year (coaches), its Newcomer of the Year (media) and a first-team All-Mountain West performer by both bodies.
Flynn takes home the 12th USBWA All-District team honor for the program since the 2001 season. He joins two-time honorees Randy Holcomb (2001 & 2002), Brandon Heath (2006 & 2007) and Kawhi Leonard (2010 & 2011) as well as Tony Bland (2003), Aerick Sanders (2004), Marcus Slaughter (2006), Jamaal Franklin (2012) and Xavier Thames (2014).
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