Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 80-61 win against Nevada on Saturday night at Viejas Arena in the regular-season finale:
1. Broncos and brackets
Some thoughts within thoughts on the Mountain West Tournament and beyond:
The Aztecs get Boise State in the 4-5 quarterfinal on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, having swept the season series and now colliding with the adage about it being hard to beat the same team three times in the same season.
History says, not so much. This is the ninth time in the eight-year Brian Dutcher era that the Aztecs have met a team in the conference tournament after sweeping the season series; in six of the previous eight, they also won the third. And when it happens in the Mountain West quarterfinals, they are 5-0.
“We will come up with another game plan,” said Dutcher, whose team held the Broncos to 36.1% shooting and 10 of 48 behind the arc in the first two games. “We won’t sit there and go, ‘Because this worked in Game 1, it’s going to work in Game 2. Or because this worked in Game 2, it’s going to work in Game 3.’ We’ll try to come up with a game plan that will allow us to win this time.”
• The Bracket Matrix aggregates 92 projected brackets, and the Aztecs appear in 89 of them. Their average seed is 10.67, which translates to one of the final teams that doesn’t have to go to Dayton, Ohio, for a First Four play-in game.
So what happens if they lose Thursday?
There’s a good chance they’re still in.
The dirty little secret is that, while bracketologists obsess over the results of conference tournaments, the NCAA Tournament selection committee does not. The field is pretty much set by Thursday, and the final few days are used to tweak seedings and adjust for bid stealers that spit out the bottom of the bubble.
A bigger concern than losing to a team it already beat twice is if someone not already in the field were to win the Mountain West Tournament, claim its automatic berth and become a bid-stealer. The committee might have decided it is taking only three Mountain West teams and bump out the third.
“I think we’re a tournament team, but I don’t get to make that choice,” Dutcher said. “Others will look at all the resumes. Every game is a bubble game. I think there might be only four spots on the bubble, but there were (something like) 62 games today that people said were a bubble game. I don’t think there are that many people on the bubble, but we’ll find out.”
• Will Magoon Gwath play in Las Vegas?
The Fox Sports 1 telecast indicated the 7-foot freshman forward will, but Dutcher’s comments after the game were less convincing. Dutcher said doctors are pleased with the recovery of Gwath’s hyperextended right knee and cleared him to run on an anti-gravity treill that reduces the pounding from your full body weight. He already has been stationary shooting but has yet to participate in a practice since collapsing to the court on Feb. 22 at Utah State.
“He hasn’t done anything in two weeks, so we have to start getting him in game shape and see how it responds when he starts doing extra stuff,” Dutcher said. “It all depends on what the rehab is like. Every day is a new day of rehab.”
Best guess: He’s 50-50 for Boise State and a better bet for the NCAA Tournament.
2. Most improved
You can look at his surging stats, or you could just listen to the chants echoing through Viejas Arena in the closing minutes Saturday.
“Hi-dee, Hi, dee.”
It’s a remarkable reversal for Miles Heide, the forward who struggled for much of the season, fumbling the ball, clanking free throws, missing chippies, playing tentatively, losing confidence. Fans said things loud enough for players to hear, or posted things on social media that they read.
Heide just kept plugging along. Then Gwath got hurt, and the 6-10 sophomore was thrust into the starting lineup four games ago with an NCAA Tournament berth hanging in the balance.
He responded.
Heide’s 14 points against Nevada were a career high. He scored in double figures once in the first 25 games; now he’s done it in three of the last four. He hasn’t missed a shot in four of the last five games and is 21 of 23 (that’s a preposterous 91.3%). He was 5 of 22 from the line, then swished two in a row Saturday. He’s gone from 14 minutes per game to 25.
Now they’re chanting his name in Viejas Arena.
If it wasn’t for Gwath’s meteoric rise from unknown redshirt freshman to a double-double machine on every NBA scout’s radar, Heide would be the Aztecs’ most improved player this season.
“It’s the hardest position to play in basketball, the center position, because every mistake you make is magnified,” Dutcher said. “If it leads to a basket, or you miss a layup, everyone’s on you. Miles is right where he’s supposed to be, maybe even ahead of schedule.
“He’s a young big in his second season, and getting toward the end of his second season you can see the growth. He’s playing really good basketball right now, and you close your eyes and think what he’s going to be next year and the year after.”
Wait. And he can shoot 3s?
He made his first career 3 with 1:59 left, skipping down court with three fingers held aloft.
“It’s one of the reasons I recruited him,” said Dutcher. “I watching him in the summer before his senior year, he made three 3s in a game. I knew that was part of what he had. Maybe this is the start of getting some rhythm and getting some timing and making a few.”
Maybe this is the start of something big.
3. Our ballot
Since 2015, when the coaches booted the media from voting for postseason honors, there have been separate coaches and media awards. The coaches agreed to include media this year, although not equally. Each of the 11 coaches gets a whole vote; each of the 22 media gets a half-vote.
In the interest of transparency, which the coaches don’t provide, here is the Union-Tribune’s ballot:
Player of the Year: New Mexico guard Donovan Dent. Colorado State wing Nique Clifford had a fabulous season, but Dent is the best player on the best team. End of discussion.
Coach of the Year: New Mexico’s Richard Pitino. You can make arguments for Colorado State’s Niko Medved or Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun. You can even make an argument for Dutcher, who lost his best player for the season and had a rotation with six freshmen or sophomores, and still has his team positioned for another trip to the NCAA Tournament. But coach of the year is simple: You win the league, you deserve the award.
Newcomer of the Year: SDSU guard Nick Boyd. He had a good start, a lull in the middle and a strong finish. Nevada’s Kobe Sanders was the preseason newcomer of the year and is eighth in the Mountain West in scoring at 15.6 points per game, but his team went 8-12 and finished seventh after being picked third.
Freshman of the Year: Gwath. Fresno State’s Elijah Price has slightly better scoring and rebounding averages … on a 2-18 team. By midseason, Gwath wasn’t only the Mountain West’s best freshman and best shot blocker but one of its best players, period.
Defensive Player of the Year: SDSU guard Miles Byrd. He’s second in the conference in steals (2.14 per game) and ninth in blocks (1.0) for a team that ranks 12th nationally in defensive efficiency.
Sixth Man of the Year: Boise State’s Javan Buchanan. The NAIA transfer averages 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.
First team all-conference: Dent, Clifford, Byrd, Boise State forward Tyson Degenhart, New Mexico center Nelly Junior Joseph.
Second team: Boyd, Utah State guards Mason Falslev and Ian Martinez, Nevada forward Nick Davidson and UNLV guard Dedan Thomas Jr.
Third team: Sanders, Gwath, Boise State guard Alvaro Cardenas, Wyoming guard Obi Agbim and San Jose State wing Josh Uduje.
All-defensive team: Byrd, Gwath, Junior Joseph, Falslev and Clifford.
The results will be announced Tuesday by the Mountain West.
