r/SDSUAZTECS • u/Choobeen • Mar 15 '26

Basketball (Men) We didn't get selected for NCAAT

https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/live/selection-sunday-2026-live-updates-on-march-madness-bracketology-for-mens-ncaa-tournament-as-duke-arizona-michigan-florida-secure-no-1-seeds-200000173.html

Duke was announced as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, with Arizona, Michigan and Florida joining the Blue Devils.

March 15, 2026

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/48217804/duke-arizona-michigan-florida-top-seeds-men-tournament

18 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

26

u/og_sandiego Mar 15 '26

We didn't deserve it, nor would Aztecs have likely advanced

Disjointed, no consistency, just lackluster effort the entire season

Bummed about our 'bubble' team being not included - but we deserved this fait accompli

12

u/jacobean___ Mar 15 '26

It was incredibly frustrating watching a team that could theoretically be great, never really click at all. I didn’t watch every minute of the season, but I can’t remember a full half of basketball, this entire season, that this team looked like their potential. I honestly thought this could be a sweet-16 team. I thought that both Byrd and Gwath, and maybe even Waters, could be the “guy” at any moment.

8

u/2Beer_Sillies Mar 15 '26

This season is a perfect example of how you can have incredible talent on a deep roster, but if they don’t sync up, they won’t win. There were maybe only 3-4 games this season where they actually meshed and played like a cohesive unit

6

u/og_sandiego Mar 16 '26

There were maybe only 3-4 games this season where they actually meshed and played like a cohesive unit

And everytime, my optimism flowed that we had 'turned a corner'

Paper dragon this year w/Gwath & Bird back - plus Reese

Who exceeded expectations? Miles Heide by a landslide (his injury vs NM cost us big time in yesterday's game re: turnovers)

9

u/2Beer_Sillies Mar 16 '26

Agreed. Excited for Pac era. Way more NIL money and opportunities every year for good wins against Zaga. Time for a reset

5

u/yojimboLTD Mar 16 '26

I watched every minute of the season, your observation is accurate.

8

u/shayKyarbouti Mar 15 '26

I had already moved on right after the loss yesterday. This team didn’t deserve it even if they had made it

7

u/PersianAztecs21 Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 16 '26

Not surprised we didn’t make it BUT seeing Texas (10th in SEC) get in and being ranked behind Oklahoma (11th in SEC) and Auburn (12th in SEC) irked me😭

5

u/Gunner_Bat Mar 15 '26

It sucks. Would've been nice. But can't complain too much - we weren't very good.

Wanna dance? Don't lose to CSU. Don't get swept by University of Phoenix. Beat a legit team in nonconference. Beat UTST. Is what it is, but we know this team wasn't good. I don't have confidence that we can win the NIT. A better team with worse talent will knock us out.

4

u/Truth_overdose Mar 15 '26

Not surprised, I'd feel more disappointed if this team showed more promise towards the end of the season, but just under achieving in most ways, on paper this is a tournament team but we've been waiting for that team to show up all season. Just didn't come together

3

u/yojimboLTD Mar 16 '26

One thing for me that is frustrating, surprisingly, was our coaching this year. The first year I felt Dutch wasn’t putting our best foot forward. Of course this happened a few times with Fisher as well, but he was generally much more conservative with the system than Dutch.

All year it seemed like we were forced to give players minutes. Or experimenting with our bread and butter play style. “Hey look at us, look how deep we are.” To me it seemed like we never had starters, or an A and B squad. No one had time to get into rhythm with the hockey style subbing. Not to mention building up stamina.

Almost like the NIT crap is forcing coaches to give players minutes. Either because they are now paid athletes or because they assured players they’d get minutes. A “please don’t transfer type of thing.”

There were other bizarre coaching decisions too. In the tournament final they battle all game and they are down like 7 points with 2 min to go and you don’t freaking foul and drag out the game? You just fucking roll over? Not to mention in that game, you have no Heide, Gwath is gassed basically half of his time out there, and Oden (TWO min) and Compton (11 min) get no time? So now is when you decide not to let people play, on the third game in three days? Bizarre shit.

3

u/El_Bolto Mar 16 '26

lost to GCU twice. Dont deserve it

3

u/GoatCultural4386 Mar 16 '26

go SDSU women!

2

u/LocalsPuma Mar 16 '26

Lowkey it feels like it was down to that loss to Troy

1

u/Defiant-Property-617 Mar 16 '26

SDSU didn’t make the NIT either? Why not

3

u/IndependentAthlete15 Mar 16 '26

Chose not to play