Brian Dutcher's Aztecs meeting March Madness expectations

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Brian Dutcher will always be known as the guy who spent all those years at Steve Fisher's side, winning the NCAA title at Michigan in 1989 and recruiting the Fab Five before helping to build San Diego State into a West Coast power.

It's a pretty full resume, for sure. Dutcher has added to it with his first two wins in his six seasons as head coach and hopes there's more to come for SDSU.

Awaiting the Aztecs is a Sweet 16 matchup with overall No. 1 seed Alabama in Louisville in the South Region on Friday, with the No. 5 seed Aztecs looking for their first-ever trip to the Elite Eight.

, according to , and up for the challenge.

“We just say that if we’re the best version of us, we’ll have a chance to win,” Dutcher said. "So I always say our No. 1 opponent is ourselves. Play up to our standard. If we do that, then we should have a chance to win the game.”

The Aztecs (29-6) are in the Sweet 16 for just the third time in school history and the first time since 2014. They won the Mountain West regular-season and conference tournament titles and then beat Charleston and Furman to advance to the second weekend of March Madness.