It will be a gathering of seniors in Tucson Thursday for the first full round of the NCAA Tournament's West Regional, including No. 2 seed San Diego State. The Aztecs will face Northern Colorado at 1:40 p.m. before taking on the winner of Temple and Penn State.
Three of the four are senior-oriented, taking away what has been SDSU's biggest advantage all year -- that experience of a roster full of guys who have been there, done that and won't get flustered. They survived the unexpectedly hard games (USF and Colorado State), the ones they didn't care about (IUPUI twice) and the physically grinding battles they knew were coming (UNLV thrice). Even in Saturday's 72-54 rout of BYU that gained them the MWC Tournament crown, they turned away a late Cougars rally that might have caused younger teams to fold.
UNC starts four seniors, including G Devon Beitzel, the Bears' best player. Penn State starts four seniors, including G Talor Battle, the Lions' best player. Temple might start only two seniors, but one, F Scootie Randall, has been sidelined recently with an injury and is probably the Owls best chance to match-up with the Aztecs front line.
SDSU received the seed and region they deserved and I don't see that any of the other No. 2s -- North Carolina, Notre Dame and Florida -- got paths to the Sweet 16 any tougher or easier than the Aztecs. To show you what a loss to BYU would have meant, the Cougars were seeded third and placed in Denver against a Wofford team that should not be taken lightly. That's not a bad game to consider for an upset pick when you fill out your bracket. They then have to face the winner of St. John's-Gonzaga. BYU's advantage will be proximity and altitude, which need no further explanation.
UNLV, the third Mountain West team in the bracket, gets a chance to knock off top-seeded Kansas for the second time in a row, as long as they can defeat inconsistent Illinois. Last year, the Rebels played poorly and fell to Northern Iowa, leaving the Panthers to take out KU. The way the Rebels are playing right now, they just might join SDSU in the Sweet 16.
That means the Aztecs have to uphold their end of the bargain and get there, too. With their senior advantage neutralized, the Aztecs will have to turn to their second strong point -- length. These teams just haven't gone up against many opponents who can dish out State's defensive disruption. That's something to hang our hats on, until the games get going Thursday.
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I won't share predictions. My brackets are always shredded by late-morning on Friday...How USC got in the tournament and UCLA was given a No. 7 seed are beyond me...Of all those pretty good teams SDSU played this year in lieu of the scared elites, only UCSB and Gonzaga made the field...If my count is right, only seven schools from non-BCS conferences received at-large bids. Two were from the MWC. I think St. Mary's and Cleveland State warranted more consideration before being relegated to the NIT.
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Padres P Tim Stauffer is looking like a potential ace after becoming the first starter to work five innings this spring...If 1B Anthony Rizzo is all-that, why did he get send to minor league camp so early? I understand a need to get him at bats, but he'd get plenty with the big guys for another week or so...With P Aaron Poreda also sent down Friday, it is looking more and more like the trade of P Jake Peavy is turning out to be straight-up him for P Clayton Richard...As well as OF Eric Patterson is doing, I like OF Aaron Cunningham. There has to be room for another gamer on the roster.
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