Stubhub tried to rape us by raising their prices from 135-200 while we tried to order tickets for Thursday. Ended up going on ticket master and got tickets for all three games for 200.

Just went on Ticketmaster. Only a few single tickets left in the nosebleeds. Argh! Stub Hub is trending higher. I forgot Wisconsin is coming. The Cheeseheads travel real well. If Creighton gets in I'm sure they will brings some fans. I'm holding out hope that Gonzaga will upset Arizona. I think Wildcat fans have been buying tickets for months so if they go down I think a bunch of tickets will hit the market. Worst case scenario I'll just head up on Thursday and see what the scalpers have available.

At the trolley now, heading to old town and then an amtrack to Anaheim. Can't lie, I'm pretty excited and think the Aztecs have a real shot at playing Saturday. Would love for Shep to have a great game and take some pressure off of X. 10 hours and 20 minutes until tip.

I
I believe
I believe that
I believe that we
I believe that we will win
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!

Leaving in about 45 minutes. By myself with no ticket. Trip report tomorrow.

Keys to victory:
1. Limit TO's to 9 or less
2. Hit at least 6 3's
3. Make more FT's than U of A

Arizona 2 pt defense is excellent but like SDSU they struggle to score sometimes. If the Aztecs bring their A game they can beat these guys. Lets get it on.

Left about noon. Stopped at The Hat in Lake Forest for a Pastrami Dip sandwich. Highly recommended. Hit some traffic in the OC and got to Anaheim about 2. Drove around a bit to get the lay of the land and to see where the ticket sellers where and to find a place to park.

Wound up parking about a 1/2 mile from Honda Center by the Tilted Kilt. Free parking, no signs saying you'd be towed. Stopped in the Kilt for a beer (NA. Lol. My drinking day are long gone). After 5 minutes of not even getting a glance from the bartenders/eye candy I said screw it and headed for the arena.

I figured I'd check at the box office 1st since I've had luck in the past getting tickets on the day of a supposed sold out event with tickets that are returned. As I was walking through the parking lot I was approached by a young guy asking if I needed a ticket. Why yes, I do. I was only going to buy a lower level seat or a seat in the 1st 3 rows of the upper level. As it turned out he had a seat in the second row of the upper level on the side behind the base line for $125. My first inclination was to look further since I since I had no idea what the market was but I said screw it. That was the price I had in my mind for an upper level seat so I took it. Got to my seat and it was pretty damn good:



Shortly after I sat down I was joined by some nice folks from Arizona. They sold my ticket for $75 so my middleman made a quick $50. Good for him.

The 1st game was about as boring a college game as I've seen. The arena was maybe 1/3 full. Wisconsin had a nice contingent to inject a little life into the building but the game itself was dull. Since I had Baylor getting to the elite 8 in 1 of my brackets and final 4 in another 1 it wasn't a good result for me. Oh well. Let's get to the Main Event.

It turns out I was in the middle of a U of A section. There is only 1 other Aztec fan sitting near me. The place really filled up by the start of the game and the atmosphere was electric. The Aztecs came out strong. Josh Davis was a beast on the boards. Good 1st half. Aztecs by 4 after a late Johnson basket was waved off for coming after the buzzer.

SDSU stretched the lead to 8 but then Arizona went on a 6-0 run. It was back and forth for the next 10 minutes and then the game just got away from State in the last 5 minutes. A bad turnover by Sheppard. A clutch 3 by Johnson. Somehow only being able to foul the only guy (Johnson) who consistently makes FT's. But then, down 3, it looked like the Aztecs might get a chance to tie after a 10 second violation on the Cats. Butnah. At the arena we were told: "Arizona ball. Apparently that was not a 10 second violation". I didn't find out what happened until I got home and my son said the 10 second count resets after a time out. WTF. I never knew that.

All in all a great experience. I've been an Aztec fan for 35 years and they've been to the Sweet 16 twice. Luckily they were both in Anaheim and I got to be there for both. There is a great recruiting class coming in. The Aztecs will be back and hopefully they can get over the hump and finally make it to the promised land. S-D-S-U...Aztecs Fight!

Lessss gooooo Aztecs

Sweet Early season matchup at 1pm on a Tuesday at Viejas

They looked pretty crappy, definitely not top 25

Defense is elite. Offense is brutal, for now. Shrigley is out and we haven't seen the 2 big frosh Pope and Cheatham. Hopefully all 3 will be ready come conference time.

Kell is a good shooter but he needs to find his confidence. He is only 2 games into his collegiate career. He'll get better.

I'm loving me some Angelo Chol. It looks like he will be a more than adequate replacement for Josh Davis with better moves around the basket.

Give it some time. Remember Utah is ranked #25 and the Aztecs made them look like crap too. Looking forward to the Maui Invitational next week. Should get a better read then.

Great game last night versus BYU. The Aztecs can shoot! Double OT win, hope they have enough left in the tank for Pitt tonight. Think we'll see more Chol and Allen and maybe even some Pope.

Game would have never went to OT if Polee made his FT's. The one negative for me last night was that Polee just didn't look right. 2-6 from the line, 1-5 on 3's. DP needs to get it together on offense. His defense is still awesome.

Kell 8-10 from the line including a bunch of clutch ones in the 2nd OT. O'Brien, Spencer and Sheppard were all solid but the star of the game was Quinn. Clutch 3 at the end of OT to tie it and 6 3's overall. Great game.

Amazing stats: Aztecs have now won 123 in a row when they have the lead with 5 minutes to go in the game. They have also won 18 of their last 19 OT games.

I take back what I said. Looking pretty damn good now.

Bring on the Wildcats! This is about as psyched as I can get for a 'preseason' game. I wanted this match up from the time I saw the tournament bracket months ago. I believe! Should be a great game.

Damn. I was so slammed at work I didn't get to see any of the game and like a knucklehead I forgot to set the DVR. Sounds like the Aztecs played real well in the 1st half and then went to **** in the 2nd half. A lot of missed FT's as well.

Tough game next weekend @ UW. Huskies are looking good so far.

Time to temper expectations. After the OT loss @ Cincinnati I wouldn't be surprised if the Aztecs fell out of the top 25.

Problems:

TO's! They don't have a true PG they can trust. Kell is a shooting guard and just isn't quick enough to beat the press. Quinn coming back from his injury will help but he is more of a shooting guard as well. Zabo didn't even play vs Cin.

Shooting: 19-36 on 2's vs Cin. I'll take that all day. 5-25 from 3. Arrgh. Polee 0-7. Polee is the most disappointing player this year. After his breakout year last year I thought he would continue to get better but instead he has regressed. He really needs to up his game.

Freshmen: Other than Kell, none of the frosh have contributed much at all. Zabo and Pope didn't even play vs Cin. Cheatham hasn't played at all and at this point they may as well just redshirt him.

3 easy games (on paper) before conference play starts vs Air Force on New Year's Eve.

Dropped out of AP, still #23 in the Coaches Poll. Seems right. UC Riverside tonight. Not quite the cupcake I thought they were. Highlanders actually had the lead by 8 at the half vs UCLA.

On tap tonight the always tough trip to Laramie. Visions of the 9 pt 1st half from a few years ago are in my head. No Polee. Cheatham will indeed redshirt. Prospects for the rest of the year are looking bleak.

Somebody needs to step up and make some shots. SDSU needs to win on the road or else it will be NIT time (unless they win the conference tourney). C'mon Aztecs!

Huge win. Best game the Aztecs have played since blasting Pitt in Hawaii. Made some shots starting out the 2nd half and then hit free throws (!) the last 10 minutes to seal the win. The defense was stellar all night (SDSU moved up to 2nd in AdjD on KenPom).

UNLV at Viejas on Saturday. Lets keep it going.

Finally back in The Dance after 2 years of frustration. On a really good run right now. Can't wait for our 12 seed tomorrow to see which 5 seed will be sent packing early. I believe!

FINAL 4!!!!! So happy to see this program finally reach the promised land. I was there for Michael Cage against DePaul at the Sports Arena. I saw T Gwynn hit a buzzer beater over Danny Ainge. I stormed the court and hugged coach Smokey Gaines. I suffered through the down years of Brandenburg-Trenkle. I was ecstatic when Coach Fisher took over. I went to 2 Sweet 16 games that were heartbreaking losses. I saw Malachi Flynn hit a buzzer beater at Viejas as the Aztecs were the last unbeaten team in the country only to have a #2 seed taken away due to covid. I thought that team had a legit shot at the Elite 8 or Final 4. I thought that might have been the best chance I'd ever see. Major props to this team. They are truly a TEAM. 9 deep and guys know their roles. Love the seasoned vets inside Mensah and Arop. Ledee and Johnson can bang inside. The missing link was the guard play. Trammel has really come through when many were calling for him to be benched. If him and Butler keep playing at an elite level I like SDSU's chances tomorrow. If we get something from Bradley, Parrish and Seiko it will be gravy. Can't wait until tomorrow. Nervous as hell as usual. I'll watch the game downtown and then head over to Petco for the Pads game. GO AZTECS! IBTWWW!

What a great ride! I never thought I'd see the day the Aztecs were in the Final 4. I was watching the FAU game in a bar & grill downtown. When Butler hit the buzzer beater to win the entire place went ape ****. It was absolutely incredible! A moment I'll never forget. I knew SDSU would be in for tough sledding vs U Conn but hope springs eternal. When State cut the lead to 5 with over 5 minutes to go I was thinking this could happen but U Conn came down and drained a 3 which ended the run. Hats off to U Conn. They are a damn good team. Just so proud of SDSU and what they accomplished. Hopefully this can be a springboard to getting a few really good players in the portal. This, along with possibly getting a Pac12 invite, should really help recruiting. Definitely a season for the ages and one I'll cherish forever.