San Diego State will take on UAB Friday in the East Region in Spokane, Wash. at the NCAA Tournament.
SDSU (24-10) earned a No. 5 seed in an East Region that features three of the 2023 Final Four teams. It is topped by overall tournament No. 1 seed UConn, and No. 8 Florida Atlantic – which the Aztecs, thanks to Lamont Butler, defeated in a storybook finish to reach the championship game last year.
No. 12-seed University of Alabama at Birmingham (23-11) won the American Athletic Conference Championship Sunday for an automatic bid to the tournament. The Blazers, who finished fourth in the conference, defeated Temple 85-69 in Fort Worth, Texas.
They were led by guard Alejandro Vasquez, with five three-pointers and a career-high 29 points, and forward Yaxel Lendeborg, with a double double.
Tipoff for Friday is 10:45 a.m. The winner of the game will play either No. 4 Auburn or No. 13 Yale in the next round.
San Diego State earned an at-large bid following Saturday’s loss to New Mexico in the Mountain West tournament.
The MW ended up with six teams in the tournament, a high for the conference, but barely as two teams, Boise State and Colorado State, must make it out of the First Four to move on.
The other MW teams: Nevada and New Mexico, No. 10 and 11 in the West, and Utah State, No. 8 in the Midwest.
The Aztecs fell to UConn last year to end their historic run. But they gave the MW bragging rights too, as 2023 was the first time a team in the conference reached the Elite 8, Final Four and title game.
Other host cities in the early rounds include Dayton, Ohio, Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Charlotte, N.C., Omaha, Neb. and Pittsburgh.
The four regional hosts are:
- West – Los Angeles
- South – Dallas
- Midwest – Detroit
- East – Boston
Final Four games take place April 6 in Glendale, Ariz., with the title game to follow April 8.
Updated 5:30 p.m. March 17, 2024
