Aztecs jump into the deep water with No. 7 Michigan in Las Vegas

San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher was asked what he saw on film when watching his next opponent, No. 7-ranked Michigan on Monday night in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, with a 7-foot-3 transfer from UCLA, a 6-9 transfer from Illinois, a 6-9 transfer from Alabama-Birmingham who was a projected first-round NBA draft pick, transfer guards from North Carolina, Alabama and Ohio State.

“It looks,” Dutcher said, “like a really good roster that money had a lot to do with getting, you know? They have good NIL, really good NIL. When you have really good NIL, you can put a really talented roster together.”

It almost included another transfer: 7-0 sophomore Magoon Gwath.

The Mountain West freshman and defensive player of the year entered the transfer portal last spring and admitted speaking with Michigan coach Dusty May and his staff via Zoom “multiple times.” They talked about the campus, about academics, about schemes, about the Big Ten and, of course, about money.

A week later, he withdrew from the portal and returned to the Aztecs, saying “my heart was still here.”

That was April 1. On July 1, SDSU learned its opening opponent at the Players Era Festival: Michigan.

The game holds particular significance to the Aztecs beyond Gwath.

“Obviously,” Dutcher said, “some meaning for me.”

Michigan was where Dutcher spent nine years, eight under Steve Fisher before Fisher was fired amid allegations that a booster paid players, an ironic twist when the current Wolverines roster ranks among the costliest in the nation at somewhere north of $12 million (for 13 scholarship players). Dutcher spent an additional season there under replacement Brian Ellerbe before Fisher, hired at SDSU, lured him west.

This isn’t Dutcher’s first game against his former employer. That came in 2021, when he brought the Aztecs to Ann Arbor to face a Wolverines team coached by Juwan Howard, the Fab Five star he recruited. It was his first time inside the Crisler Center since he left 23 years earlier, providing a sense of closure.

“If you’re going to be a coach, you’re going to work at a lot of different places,” Dutcher said. “Michigan was a stop along the way. Had a lot of fun, a lot of success, won a national championship, played for two others. A lot of fond memories of Ann Arbor and Michigan, but right now they’re all memories.”

Another fond memory came after taking over for Fisher at SDSU, when the Dutcher-coached Aztecs beat Florida Atlantic in the 2023 Final Four in Houston on Lamont Butler’s iconic buzzer-beater. The FAU coach that night: Dusty May, who parlayed that run into the head coaching gig at Michigan last year.

But the real significance of Monday night’s game at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena is in the here and now, a chance for the Aztecs to cleanse their palate after an 108-107 double-overtime loss against Troy last Tuesday at Viejas Arena.

“It just humbles us as a team, individually and together,” senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters said.

Building an NCAA Tournament resume is a 4½-month process of amassing good wins and avoiding bad losses. The Aztecs already have one of the latter but can collect some of the former in Las Vegas, a place where they’ve had uncanny success in recent years (36-12 in their last 48 games there and 9-2 in their last 11 in nonconference tournaments).

A year ago in this event, the Aztecs finished third after beating No. 21 Creighton and No. 6 Houston, wins that ultimately snuck them into the tournament after an underwhelming conference season.

They get Oregon, a team just outside the Associated Press top 25, on Tuesday night. Their third game, either Wednesday or Thursday, could be against anyone else in 18-school field that includes nine ranked teams and guarantees a $1 million payment for all 18 plus bonuses for the top four.

“Regardless of what happened against Troy, this is an opportunity for us to play ranked teams that we normally have a tough time getting to play us,” Dutcher said. “We don’t dodge anybody and look forward to the opportunity. Whatever happens, we’ll continue the journey. I always say, ‘Our season is always a journey.’ I’d love to be undefeated going in there, but we’re not. That’s just a step on the journey.”

The Wolverines are beyond loaded, keeping a few pieces from last year’s Sweet 16 team while adding what on paper might be the nation’s most formidable front line: 7-3 Aday Mara from UCLA, 6-9 Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois and 6-9 Yaxel Lendeborg from UAB plus UNC guard Elliot Cadeau. The transfer class was ranked No. 2 nationally by 247Sports, No. 3 by ESPN, No. 4 by On3.com.

They’re 4-0, but it’s been a shaky 4-0. There’s an 85-84 overtime win against Wake Forest and 67-63 win against TCU, both games where they trailed late. Over the last three, they’re shooting 21.2% beyond the arc.

There also could be the natural tendency to look past a team that just lost to Troy and ahead to their Tuesday assignment against No. 22 Auburn, itching for revenge after the Tigers knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament last spring.

“We’re a work in process,” Michigan’s May told local media last week. “I’m very happy with our guys’ actual processes and routines on a daily basis. I think we’re getting better despite the stats not showing it right now. I think we’re definitely planting some seeds to play good ball soon.

“We found a way to win four games, and three of them we didn’t shoot well. We’re figuring ourselves out while we’re able to win, but sooner than later we have to play more efficient basketball. … We have a high, high ceiling.”

So do the Aztecs, who were the first team out of the AP top 25 before Troy came to Viejas Arena. There are lessons from any loss, but many of the tactical ones won’t apply Monday night in Sin City.

Troy is an undersized team that plays a 5-out offense. Michigan is a big, mean, strong team that likes to pound it inside. Bully ball, Dutcher called it.

“I don’t think anybody was thinking that they’re Troy, so we’ll just (beat them),” Dixon-Waters said. “I feel like we’re a very elite team but we didn’t play like that at all on both sides on the ball. I definitely think our physicality was lacking. We honestly just got punked.”