LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following its final practice and meeting with the press, the San Diego State, No. 5-seed in the South Region, is set to take on No. 6-seed Creighton for a chance to make the program's first Final Four appearance.
OFF THE BOUNCE
After defeating Alabama, the top-seeded team in the tournament, 71-64 in the Sweet 16, fifth-seeded San Diego State will face sixth-seeded Creighton in the South Regional final at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., on Sunday, March 26 at 2:20 p.m. ET, with a trip to the Final Four awaiting the winner.
Friday's victory was historic on several levels. San Diego State won its first Sweet 16 game in three tries (also: 2011 & 2014). SDSU also defeated a No. 1 seed in the tournament in its second attempt (also: 2015) and finally, the Aztecs beat the No. 1-ranked team in the nation for the first time in five tries (also: 1980, 2001, 2002 & 2018).
San Diego State has played in the South Regional on three occasions (2013, 2015 & 2023), has advanced to the round of 32 in each of those appearances (see the box on page 4), and earned the first regional semifinal win in program history in its 71-64 downing of top-seeded Alabama on Friday night.
The Aztecs are making their 15th appearance in the Division I event, owning a 9-14 all-time record. Head coach Brian Dutcher has been on the Aztec sidelines for 20 of the program's 23 all-time tournament games and all nine 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 as head coach. The two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, in his sixth season leadinng the program had a likely appearance in the 2019-20 event (San Diego State was 30-2 and projected as a No. 1 or No. 2 seed), which was canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
The Aztecs appearance in the regional final game is its first and the first 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 in which 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 the third-best record in the nation, 106-22 (82.8 percent), since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. It trails only Gonzaga's 121-12 (91.0 percent), and Houston's 116-22 (84.1 percent), and is ahead of Baylor's 104-24 (81.3 percent) and Kansas' 111-26 (81.0 percent) records in that time frame.
SDSU comes into its Elite 8 game having won 13 of its last 14 (13-1) and 17 of its last 19 (17-2), 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 fifth-best record in the nation since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, 362-115 (.759), and is 163-90 (.644) in road and neutral site contests in that time frame which is the seventh best in the nation.
San Diego State will play Creighton in its regional final contest. The Bluejays are the No. 6-seed and a team SDSU has a 2-1 record against in its last three meetings.
SDSU, after four unsuccessful attempts to defeat the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, broke through with its Sweet 16 win over No. 1/2 Alabama.
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).
Of the programs to have advanced to the Elite 8, San Diego State has traveled 4,482.7 miles (First & Second Round and the Sweet 16 & Elite 8), which is more than 1,500 miles further than any other program to reach this point in the event (Miami is second at 2,892.6 miles). Creighton will have traveled the shortest distance going 1,231.9 miles to its first and second round games in Denver, Colo. and now to its two games Louisville, Ky.
Since the start of the 2010-11 season, no program in the state of California has more 30-win seasons than San Diego State's four (2010-11, 2013-14, 2019-20 & 2022-23). UCLA has done it twice (2016-17 & 2022-23) and Saint Mary's once (2016-17).
San Diego State continues to boast an impressive NCAA metric profile. The Aztecs are 14th in the NET, 14th in KenPom, 15th in BPI, 15th in Sagarin Rating, sixth in KPI and 10th in T-Rank.
Senior guard Matt Bradley became just the fifth player since at least the start of the 1996-97 season to score 1,000 points for two college programs. He scored 1,289 in three years at California and has totaled 1,002 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 149-46 (76.4 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 149 wins are the most in the nation.