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“ALL THINGS AZTECS”
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They should be playing basketball this week, but it is not to be.
San Diego State’s basketball season is over.

Done in by injuries, struggling chemistry, and a roster churn that made them different.

It is likely an isolated season of setbacks, but a disappointment none the less.
A 22-win season not enough, and not what we expected.

Coach Brian Dutcher’s comments:
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Solid year but no marquee win
Last year 4-teams from non-power 5 conference got in.
A year ago it was different
The margin for error is very small.
We are fighting for 4-spots-we know what the formula is.
Losing 1-game was the difference.

We need to put teams that can play really good schedules.
I want to play the best we can play.
We have more out of conference opportunities in the new Pac 12.
We want to boost metrics of our conference by winning against good teams

Saw all these teams scheduled Quad 4-games and beat people by 30.
Committee needs to look at system differently.
Miami of Ohio undefeated all year..human element..deserved get in
Their metrics did not match what the committee tells us.

Our expectations…I love that.
We were so close in so many big games-plays at end of the games
We create our high expectations
When we scheduled Arizona-Michigan-did not know they’d be ranked #1
Oregon was good-got hurt and we beat them
Troy is very good-won conference and tourney-very good

Always evaluate our game plans, system, coaching after up and down season
Cannot make changes in season..now time for ‘brutal honesty’
You know what has to change-make it in off season
Some of it is attitude..kids are different…stress-depression-struggle with life
We are not ‘all the same’

Any other year this resume is enough….this year was not
St Marys-St Louis-Miami all had great year for non power 5-s..only 4-bids
Our defense was inconsistent..rebounding hurt us
Have to recruit some to go get the ball
All the 2nd chance opportunities we did not get

100-percent engaged in next year’s roster
Have to find out who is back from my team first, then design plan for our needs.
Doing exit interviews now.
I want guys ‘who want to come back-not going to talk them back’
This is nothing personal
I embrace this time of the year

I have come thru lots of eras of basketball, now this transfer portal is different
I am good at adapting

Magoon Gwath put 3-good games in a row together
Have not talked to him yet
He has to grow his game-get healthy-stay healthy
2-ankles…knee..hip..alot to deal with
He looked so good at the end
I will embrace him regardless of what his decision.
We will find the right guys

Miles Byrd can graduate and has an interesting decision to make
Does he want to be a ‘pro’ at another college or try the NBA draft
Guard-Latrelle Davis will be back..if we played him this year-be in NCAA
Elzie Harrington is valued for his freshman year-want him to come back
Tae Simmons knows his value here too
Miles Heide had hand surgery-Tuesday.

Hope core of young players would want to come back
Talk to parents and agents too
Understand this, everyone is in the portal, because there are offers out there.
My thought most of my guys want to stay-finances come into play
Wish it was the ‘old days-but it is not’
We are investigating European pros right now-long negotiations
We have taken foreign players-those who were here in US

Going to Pac 12..we are hi major program
We have our own identity-keep us at our new level
Mountain West consumed ourselves…we all beat each other
MWC ‘destroyed itself’ this year-so many good teams
We get higher seedings by what we do non-conference teams
Scheduling-we will take on New Mexico-Arizona-but teams won’t come here.

 

Hacksaw’s Headlines

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus-Podcast
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“SHOOTING BASKETS”
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Basketball stories-thoughts from lots of places.

AZTECS…Big challenge in off season-find a way to keep Magoon Gwath-convince him to finish his college journey with the Aztecs..  Aside from going somewhere for money, why leave a program and a coach who has developed you so much?

MARCH MADNESS…Let it begin with the play-in games in Dayton the next two nights.  so many unqiue teams in the tourney, Hofstra-Queens-Santa Clara-Prairie View.  Wonder if any of them have a chance to be a Cindarella team.

UCLA..Bad luck for the Bruins, to get Tyler Bilodeau and Donovan Dent both go down in the Big 10-Tourney.  Can they be at 100$ for the tourney opener in Philadelphia.

MIAMI OF OHIO..Great season and now Goodbye Coach, with reports Travis Steele is going to jump ship to take the Butler job.

MOUNTAIN WEST…How rotten is this, 7-teams in the Conference won 20-games or more  this year in the MWC-and only 1-team, Utah State, got a bid.

SMU…11th team in its conference gets a bid with an (8-10) league record, over the Aztecs, New Mexico?  Shameful.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE…Lost 7-of-9 to finish the year and they are in, but not the Aztecs or Lobos?

USC..Nice wreckage at the end of the season, an 8-game losing streak, and kicking the leading scorer off the team before the end of the season.  Like last year too.  Erick Musselman went (2-8) at the end of last season’s bad finish.  What kind of player-people you recruiting?

PAC 12…What would it say if you could lure UNLV and Grand Canyon (basketball only) to the new conference that launches this fall?

VIEJAS ARENA…How cool is the San Diego regional, that includes Arizona..St John’s..Kansas…Villanova…and Utah State?
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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast..1:30
“March Madness Edition”
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“AZTECS BASKETBALL-MARCH MADNESS”
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It did not end liked we hoped, the farewell game in Mountain West Conference play.

But in the big picture of things, San Diego State fans need to be thankful.

The Brian Dutcher era has given us the all time highs this school has ever had, and yes there have been setbacks this year, but consider everything.

Dutcher cares about his kids; teaches enormous values; sells them on team play-team over us; recruits good kids; and is a strong in-game manager.

Dutcher is so different than any other mid-major coach.  He has stayed here for 23-years, unlike what goes on in Laramie-Albuquerque-Logan-Ft Collins and other locales.  Hete today-gone tomorrow.

Of course this is also tied into our community, which has fallen in love with all things hoops.  The Alumni suppot, to step up and fund the NIL program, and to fill up Viejas Arena, is a remarkable story.

A prime example of the strength of Dutcher’s program, the win over New Mexico and the near win vs Utah State in the final game of the MWC tourney.

I take notes all the time, and my headlines of those two games included:
..War Zone
..Relentless Assault Defense
..Pound the Paint
..Never Surrender
..In game adjustments

Dutcher’s leadership checked off all those boxes.

Thus Magoon Gwath plays two of his best games of the year, big minutes, big points, blocked shots, rebounds.

Reese Dixon-Waters finishes his career with memorable big games and clutch baskets.

BJ Davis finds his game, game winning shots, big outside shots.

Miles Byrd becomes a superb college defensive player.

The growth of such a very young group of recruits to play key moments.  Maybe not consistent, but showing flashes for the future.

They survived New Mexico and were in the USU game till the controversial 5-point Video Replay play that broke their back.  The Aztecs eventually ran out of gas.

And ran out of chances to gain access to March Madness.  But that is the result of going (4-11) against good teams on the schedule.  And yes, it was not what we expected, and there were all types of circumstances that played into this season.  Even their 22-win season and the tough guy schedule they took on did not impress the NCAA Selection Committee.  Just too many costly losses.

But in the big screen picture of this season, understand where the Aztecs are and what they have become, going into the next chapter of their life, the Pac 12, with Gonzaga-USU and a chance to become a really good basketball conference.

For Dutcher, the next challenge.  Get Gwath to stay and finish his journey for a final year.  Keep-his recruits from leaving.  You know what you have, quality guidance, a great program in a great city.  Keep adding quality to your schedule, you’ve locked down UNLV, now go schedule home and home with New Mexico-Grand Canyon.  Would rather see that than Point Loma Nazarene, USD or these other gimmes.

National recognition with that type of schedule is a positive.

A (22-11) season is very good, even if the ending was disappointing.

But in Brian Dutcher, we should all recognize, ‘Great Coach-Great Man’.  We should appreciate and say thank you for what he has continued and what he has built in the toughest time any coach could go thru, when his mailing address is: Mid Major Basketball.

Helluva leader-coach-person.  Appreciate that.
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“MOUNTAIN WEST HOOPS-WORTH WATCHING”
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Our lives have been swamped by the up and down nights we have had to live thru at San Diego State.

Fans have missed how wild the entire MWC season has been, and the fact there have been 7-pretty good basketball teams, taking time knocking each other off all year long.

Entering this week’s Conference tourney, anyone could have won, and that’s why we had upsets.

The Aztecs had too many athletes, too much defense, too much fire in their gut, and jumped over Colorado State, in posting a win in a must win game.

it was Miles Byrd, it was Magoon Gwath, it was Pharaoh Compton and it was a level of intensity we have not seen in a long while.  SDSU pushed the tempo, attacked the paint, and gave the Rams no breathing room to run their offense in what was a pretty strong 40-minutes of hell they created.

It wasn’t perfect as we watched a 16-point lead drop to seven…and watched SDSU go (22-42) at the free throw line.  And the Rams hit 13-3s to comeback into the game.  But they had to win and they did win…but.

But it only counts for one win, so we see if they can duplicate it Friday night against New Mexico.

There were surprises though.  Grand Canyon was not playing at home, and GCU is now home for good, losing their opening round game to Nevada-Reno, letting the Wolfpack score 50-points in 20-minutes in the second half.

You need to figure how Boise State could lose to an (8-23) woe-begone San Jose State team, but they did.

Eric Olen has done such a fantastic job in year one at New Mexico with all these players he hauled into the Pit to continue the tradition in Loboland.

Utah State is really good and really explosive, led by Mason Falsev. Just ask UNLV, who have alot of young players with their future infront of them..  Sadly Jarrad Calhoun may be leaving USU for the Kansas State job.

Wyoming is getting better and better under a dynamic coach and recruiter in Sundance Wicks too.

Dynamic players, transfers, some recruits from Europe.  The final year of the old MWC as we knew it, and big games still to be played Friday-Saturday.  You’d think a couple of these teams deserve to hear their names mentioned on Selection Sunday.

And speaking of hoops, UCLA on a heater, pushing (22-10) and playing well since Mick Cronin’s meltdown.

Coming home, in a bit of a dark cloud, Eric Musselman’s season crashed and burned at the end, a combo of bad injuries and bad attitudes, and an 8-game losing streak stabled to the roster and another non-March Madness season for the Trojans.

And of course, the shocker of the day, Miami of Ohio’s (31-0) season crashes with a loss in the Mid American Conference tourney, a first round loss to U-Mass.  No Quad 1-wins, the 346th ranked schedule.  Alot of people don’t think they deserve to even be a play in team in Dayton next week.

It’s wild.  It’s March Madness.
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