Aztecs with chip on their shoulders against Northern Colorado
You wouldn’t think that a team with 30 victories, a conference tournament championship, and a second seed in the NCAA Tournament has to apologize to anyone. Yet, the San Diego State Aztecs can begin to silence a lot of their critics when they face the 15th seeded Northern Colorado Bears in West Region second round action on Thursday in Tucson.
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#15 Northern Colorado (21-10, 13-3 Big Sky) vs. #2 San Diego State (32-2, 14-2 MWC)
Date/Time: Thursday, March 17, 4:40 PM ET
Venue: McKale Center in Tucson, AZ.
Broadcast: TNT
Money Line: N/A
Spread: San Diego State -15 ½
Over/Under: 129 ½
The Aztecs are in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, for the third time in five years, and for the seventh instance all-time since 1975. San Diego State is looking for their first ever tournament victory though, with their most recent loss coming to Tennessee last season.
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Steve Fisher’s Aztecs have lost just twice all season long, but both of those defeats came at the hands of BYU. And when they gained a measure of revenge by defeating the Cougars in the Mountain West championship game, many called it a hollow victory because of the suspension by BYU of Brandon Davies, their second best player. So the Aztecs come into this tournament looking to erase the doubters and write some tournament history for themselves.
When the Bears of Northern Colorado step onto the floor at McKale Center on Thursday, they will be authoring their own brand of history. This is the first ever tournament appearance for the Big Sky regular season and conference tournament champions. Having completed a four year ascension to Division I from Division II, the Bears have won seven straight coming into this matchup, and they’ve also won nine of their last ten contests.
Northern Colorado’s fierce leader is guard Devon Beitzel. A dynamic player with or without the ball in his hands, Beitzel led the Big Sky in scoring at 21.4 points per game, and he was named the league’s player of the year.
San Diego State has a top notch player themselves in Kawhi Leonard. One of seven players in the tournament to average a double-double for the season with 15.4 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, Leonard might have been the MWC’s player of the year were it not for some guy named Jimmer.
The odds makers have the San Diego Aztecs as a -15.5 point favorite with an over/under of 129.5.
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Prediction: The Aztecs size and determination should be sufficient in earning them an easy victory in this contest.
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San Diego State Aztecs Betting Trends:
San Diego State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
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