• Fifth straight appearance -- and would have been a sixth were it not for Covid -- for what is clearly one of the best programs in the west. Weathered significant transfer losses and ready again to do damage well beyond the First Four.
• Coach Brian Dutcher's program is always one of the better defensive teams in America and comes into the tournament No. 13 nationally in KenPom's defensive efficiency metric. Aztecs are top 20 nationally in stopping the 2 and 3 and are No. 1 nationally in blocked-shot percentage.
• That rim protection is keyed by the nation's best defensive player you've never heard of, freshman Magoon Gwath, who blocks 14% of all shots when he is on the floor and will most certainly not be offered bags of cash by North Carolina interests in Dayton. Overall, the Aztecs block nearly 19% of all shots.
• Officially became America's Team on Selection Sunday when slotted to play committee chairman Bubba Cunningham's North Carolina Tar Heels. SDSU has five wins over tourney teams, UNC has one. They just made it in -- largely based on an offense that is just not very good at all -- but has non-conference wins over Creighton and Houston. This is not a happy pairing for anybody.
• Nick Boyd and Miles Byrd form a good -- and tall -- backcourt, both making MW All-Conference. Byrd also made all-defense, so funnels drivers right into Gwath, while Boyd is the Florida Atlantic transfer and Aztec most likely to go off for a big night scoring.
Shawn O'Neal
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