San Diego State Aztecs: 22-10, 11-7 in the Mountain West Conference
Head coach: Brian Dutcher (1st season)
Players to watch: Malik Pope (12.9 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 52.1 FG%); Devin Watson (12.3 PPG, 3.8 APG, 38.5 3PT%); Trey Kell (10.4 PPG, 4.1 APG)
Season recap: If you thought it was going to be a rebuilding year in San Diego with the Aztecs in their first season not led by longtime head coach Steve Fisher, think again. When Fisher officially retired last April, he was replaced by Brian Dutcher, who had coached as an assistant under Fisher for 18 seasons and was named as the unofficial coach-in-waiting back in 2011.
San Diego State experienced the lowest of lows, falling at home to one of the worst major conference sides, California, before responding 12 days later with a big-time win against then-No. 12 Gonzaga 72-70.
The Aztecs certainly weren't the most dominant in Mountain West play—that title belonged to Nevada, which eventually collected the league's regular-season title. But as the league's No. 4 seed and with a 79-74 victory against the Wolf Pack in its final regular-season game, San Diego State pulled the upset against Nevada for a second time in six days, beating the league's top team in the conference tournament semifinals before capturing the Mountain West's automatic bid.
How they make a run: With a nine-game winning streak in hand, the Aztecs continue their late-season surge as one of the hottest teams in the country behind a pair of seniors in Malik Pope and Trey Kell.
How they falter: San Diego State harkens back to its early-season struggles, and without a dominant scorer on offense, the Aztecs are unable to pull off a classic double-digit seed upset.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."