![]() “Now that the culture has changed a little bit with the portal and instant eligibility, we found a way to maintain our age and our experience level.”įisher and Dutcher built this Aztecs program from nothing. Keshad Johnson, right, and Miles Byrd celebrate after San Diego State defeated top-seeded Alabama in the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA tournament. So in the early transfer years, when they had to sit a year, that would automatically make you older because now they’ve sat a full year and they’re getting their fifth year. And they spend their four and five years in our program. “Our culture is set by our four-year guys and five-year guys, guys that come in as a freshman,” Dutcher said. Just ask top-seeded Alabama, the pre-tournament favorites who committed 14 turnovers, had eight shots blocked and were held 18 points below their season average in their Sweet 16 defeat to the Aztecs. They also have the ability to switch most screens, negating any advantage the offense is trying to obtain. ![]() The Aztecs can pressure the ball and if they get beat, which happens rarely, they have elite rim protection on the back line. The size and athleticism across the roster has proven a nightmare for opposing offenses. They rely on fresh legs and rotating bodies – all of whom understand their identity of defending and rebounding. They don’t have a freshman or sophomore in the rotation. This year’s group features nine guys with the ninth averaging 15 minutes. The Dutcher-led Aztecs have also benefited greatly from the transfer portal, which has allowed them to play with mostly experienced, older players. They are consistently one of the best defensive teams in the country and this year’s side has been no exception, ranking fourth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency and among the nation’s best in total rebounding rate. The success of the Aztecs’ culture speaks for itself. Steve Fisher roams the sideline for San Diego State during a 2014 game as Brian Dutcher, left, looks on. And you have to defend in order to earn an opportunity to play offense. “So when they get there, they’re not having success, even though they’re scoring, it’s like, hey, we told you, we’re defense-first. But if you do defend, we’ll let you play with great freedom offensively. If you don’t want to play defense, then we’re not the place for you. When we recruit them, we tell them, we defend at a high level here. ![]() “It can’t start when they show up on campus. “It starts when you recruit them,” Dutcher said Thursday. When Fisher finally handed over the keys to his longtime sideline partner in 2017, Dutch and his staff continued to recruit for size and defense. For instance, the Aztecs’ practices would include rebounding drills every day, where some coaches, like Roy Williams of Kansas and UNC, never once used a rebounding drill as part of their training. Their teams had an identity and a plan for how to win. SDSU has been known for its size and athleticism in the Fish/Dutch era, a quality that is consistent with the recruiting style and philosophy of their Michigan teams. They wanted to build a team that could defend and rebound at a high level and they recruited to that. Photograph: Icon Sportswire/Getty Imagesįisher and Dutcher had a philosophy when it came to roster construction. But it wasn’t long before the vision would show signs of progress, winning 21 games in year three and reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1985.ĭefense and rebounding have been the foundation of San Diego State’s culture in the Steve Fisher-Brian Dutcher era. The early returns were unconvincing: the Aztecs won just five games that first season. “They all thought it was just recruiting talk, but here we sit.”īack then, Dutcher watched as Fisher would speak to anyone who would listen about his ambitions for this dormant program, spending his time doing speaking engagements in the city, at times even walking around campus handing out free tickets. “It’s a vision Coach Fisher had all those years ago when he came to the Mesa, and we recruited and told people this is what we were going to do,” Dutcher said on Sunday after SDSU defeated Creighton to punch their Final Four ticket. Nearly a quarter-century later, Dutcher has the Aztecs two games from the unthinkable: a national championship. Fisher re-hired Dutcher, his longtime assistant from Michigan, and the two of them got to work. ![]() Fisher, who had led Michigan to the 1989 national title and coached the famed Fab Five a few years after, spotted potential in an unfancied program that had just built a brand-new arena, despite coming off of a four-win season and having failed to reach the NCAA tournament in the previous 15 years. All of that changed when Steve Fisher arrived in 1999, taking over a lowly program that ranked among the worst in Division I.
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