If it's mid-March, then we probably know where the San Diego State basketball team is.
For the 9th time in the last 13 years, the Aztecs are playing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
SDSU is the 8th seed in the Midwest Region and will play 9th seeded Creighton Thursday in Fort Worth, TX. The first round game is scheduled to tip off 4:27pm PST.
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Even though, the Aztec program has become regulars in the "Big Dance," they never take their inclusion for granted.
"If you're in our program long enough, then you've been there, you know we've gone to the tournament, but I always think of the 30-2 team, as good Malachi, Yani and K.J. were they never got to play in the tournament," said SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher. "So we are going to embrace these moments, enjoy the heck out of them, and we're going to try play at a really high level and win some games."
Before the Aztecs win "some games," they'll have to win one game against a very good Creighton team. The Blue Jays were in the Sweet 16 last season and come out of the Big East Conference with a 22-11 record.
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Aztec players and coaches say the key for their team to have success in the NCAA Tournament will be two things, defense and mental makeup.
"Our defense travels! Every team is going to have to experiment and see how they can score on us, it's not an easy job, and if our offense travels as well, which I know it will, then we're going to be a hard team to beat," said Aztec guard Matt Bradley.
Dutcher says his players have to believe their good and then go play like it.
"So this is all about mental makeup, physically we are who we are, now are we mentally good enough, mentally tough enough to believe that we can make a deep run in this tournament and if we do we will."
San Diego State opened as a 2 point favorite over Creighton.
