What San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher said on Selection Sunday
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San Diego State heard their name called during Sunday’s NCAA Selection Show, earning their way into the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
The Aztecs finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference regular season standings and dropped their opening game to Boise State in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament after beating the Broncos twice during the regular season. San Diego State played one of the nation’s best non-conference schedules, helping beef up their postseason resume.
The Aztecs beat Houston and Creighton on a neutral site in Las Vegas early in the season. They also took down Big West champion UC San Diego and played games against Oregon and Gonzaga. San Diego State was awarded a first four game on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio. As an 11-seed, the Aztecs will take on North Carolina, who was given the final at-large spot in the tournament. The winner of that game will slot into the South Region of the bracket and head to Milwaukee for a game against six-seed Ole Miss on Friday.
Here's everything San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said after learning his team’s fate on Sunday night.
OPENING STATEMENT
“Really proud of our group to make it to the NCAA tournament again is a tremendous accomplishment especially due to the fact that we lost 90% of our scoring in minutes from a year ago to have this young team come in play with such heart and energy and play their way into the NCAA tournament it's a tremendous credit to them and the coaching staff I have here with me. We're excited with our opportunity to go and play a very good North Carolina team in Dayton.
ON PLAYING NORTH CAROLINA
“Just get into the tournament and then play who they put in front of you. You know when you're on the bubble and a lot like North Carolina you're just dying to get in, so you have an opportunity to play. So, both teams finish in fourth place in their conferences uh both teams were probably sweating out a little bit making sure they had an opportunity to play in March and we'll both be excited to have an opportunity to continue to play in the NCAA tournament which is the ultimate goal of any program in the country.”
ON NORTH CAROLINA’S CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT GAME VS. DUKE
“I was so tied up in our own Conference tournament that I didn't have a chance to watch that but it's good that they can overcome that and not be penalized and get a chance to play in March and I'm sure that was the goal, win the ACC tournament and get into March Madness and they've done that Hubert Davis has done a great job and we'll have our hands pull they score the ball on an elite level.”
ON PLAYING IN THE FIRST FOUR IN DAYTON
“We'll have a chance to get up in the morning and practice, work with the NCAA on our travel plans and then get in there and have another day to get ready. Obviously not making it to the conference championship game which we've done in consecutive years to be done early we've had a couple days to rest our legs, we got on the floor today and had a really good workout and now we'll get back tomorrow with a game plan for North Carolina and start putting it into practice.”
ON THE STATUS OF MAGOON GWATH
“Magoon looked good in practice today so I would say he is a 100% go which is good news for the Aztecs… He went full practice today, I mean they limited his reps some but when he was in there it was full speed, it wasn't you can't touch him he was out there and he showed that he looked really good for a guy that's been off since February 22nd I believe so he looked really good so we're excited to have him back and now we'll have an extra day or so to get his game timing back and hopefully have him back in the lineup.”
ON SEEING SAN DIEGO STATE’S NAME CALLED ON SELECTION SUNDAY
“I don't care what year it is you know whenever your name shows up on that screen whether you have won the conference tournament and you're just waiting to see where you show up or when whether you're fighting for an at-large when your name shows up on the screen there's no better feeling and then to have a chance to play such a storied Blue Blood program like North Carolina just is a tremendous opportunity for our Aztec program.”
ON THE MOUNTAIN WEST GETTING FOUR TEAMS IN THE TOURNAMENT
“It's tough you know you don't sit in the room with the selection committee, you know some of the teams that the bracketologists had on the outside looking in are all in the tournament so it'll be interesting to hear what they say, why some teams were included and some weren't so that's every time when this process happens someone's disappointed and it's unfortunate because Leon's done a great job with that Boise team and they're deserving to play in March but it's a tough thing to do."
ON PLAYING A TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
“Every year you watch they talk about non-conference strength of schedule and we played the seventh toughest one in the country, so when you play Gonzaga and you play Oregon and you play Houston and you play Creightonn and you take a neutral game against Cal and you play UCSD it turns out to be conference champs both of the tourney and regular season, you build a resume. Then you go ahead and try to play the best ball you can in the Mountain West and try to stay away from all the landmines that you can run into when you're playing conference play."
“Every year. I mean a year ago it was the win at Gonzaga that probably pushed us into the highest seed we could get so we try to schedule anybody the problem is when we continue to have success those games get harder to find and so the NIL event was perfect timing for us. It gives us three really good games and now we have to go out like we always do and try to find someone else that'll play us like the return Gonzaga game this game this year that we lost but we're always looking for opportunities to play anywhere, anytime, anyone."
ON PLAYING WITHOUT REESE DIXON-WATERS THIS SEASON
“To lose Reese for the year was devastating. He was the only first team all-conference pick we had, the only experience experienced player coming back and to lose him for the year was tough and then to be fighting for an NCAA tournament spot and lose Magoon (Gwath) the freshman of the year and the defensive player of the year in the Mountain West with six games to go in the conference added to the frustration. To their credit our kids fought, won the games they had to win and obviously I think if we're at full strength we have a chance to play for a conference title but that didn't happen. But our goal is always no matter how it goes is to play in the NCAA tournament, that is the ultimate goal, and we've won conference titles here before and then lose in the conference tournament and don't go to the NCAA tournament, so we schedule with an intent of making the NCAA tournament every year."
ON SAN DIEGO STATE AND UC SAN DIEGO BOTH GETTING THEIR MEN AND WOMEN INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
“Congratulations to everyone. We know how hard it is and obviously our women's team had an incredible run in Vegas to win that triple overtime game is a tremendous credit to Stacy and her staff, her team. And then Eric (Olen) over at UCSD I've known him a long time he knew he had a good team he knew we had a good team when we played him in our place this year, we found a way to win a close game so to see both their men's and women's team make it to the big dance it's something for the city of San Diego to celebrate.”
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-770033d1c5c4820fdbde4ecf2452e810.jpg "Bodie De Silva")
Bodie DeSilva has been covering sports in San Diego for more than a decade. He previously covered San Diego State athletics for Scout/Fox Sports.