Congrats to Brian Dutcher and SDSU
Congrats to Brian Dutcher and SDSU for taking down the number one overall seed Alabama. Brian was born in Alpena and spent 9 seasons on staff with Steve Fischer. He is credited with helping to assemble the fab five. Visible on the white board in their post game locker room session were the words "Defense and rebounding wins championships". Hopefully Juwan will start to get that through the heads of our current team.
Cheap shot.
Where’s he been the last 30 years since last going to the Final Four?
March 24th, 2023 at 10:17 PM ^
Steve Fisher became the fall guy (rightly or wrongly; I'm not taking a position either way) for the Ed Martin scandal and was fired in 1997. When Fisher got the head coaching job at SDSU in 1999, Dutcher joined him as an assistant. He was by Fisher's side for all those years when SDSU became a pretty solid program, going to the tournament more often than not. When Fisher retired a few years ago, Dutcher took over, That's what he has been doing.
March 24th, 2023 at 11:11 PM ^
Yeah, he hasn’t had a sniff of the Final Four since the Fab Five! 30 years ago.
March 25th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
It is a bit harder to reach the Final Four while coaching at a Mountain West school.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:00 AM ^
Well put, AtmoGuy.
March 25th, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^
I like the Dutcher success story. Talk about a patient guy, good things eventually happen.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:41 AM ^
Dutcher has been a very above average assistant and head coach for like 25 years
thats what he’s been doing
More like 34 years as an assistant coach. I drove Brian Dutcher around campus when I was a senior in 1989 to pick up video highlights of the season from the Sports Information Director's office. He struck me as a nice and genuine guy.
I’m from MN and his dad coach Jim Dutcher was a great guy and coach. Did extremely well at MN
First time in the history of the Tournament that not one #1 seed has made it to the Elite Eight.
No wonder my bracket sucked.
March 24th, 2023 at 11:02 PM ^
If Creighton holds on, at least 4 teams will play this weekend with a chance to go to their first Final Four (Creighton, SDSU, FAU, and Miami). Xavier would join that group but that looks gloomy as I'm writing. KState hasn't been in 60 years, Texas in 20.
When's the last time Duke, Kentucky, UNC, nor Duke were in the Sweet 16.
I'm running out of teams NOT to root for.
1951
Saying Duke twice does make it sound like more teams than three.
Actually, in 2021 none of Duke, Kentucky, UNC, and Kansas were in the Sweet 16.
Still, I agree with the thrust of your post!
March 25th, 2023 at 11:45 AM ^
I well remember K-State v M in the 1964 final runnerup game (not quite 60 years, thank you!), when M lost to Duke and K-State lost to UCLA in the semifinals. That was John Wooden's first championship and after M lost to UCLA in a Christmas tournament in LA. This was Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich's (not to mention Wooden's) entrance on the national stage.
So, in those days the losers of the semi-finals played each other in a runner-up game. Those of us on the Mich Daily sports staff couldn't make it to the M-Duke game on a Friday so drove to Kansas City that evening and disappointedly listened to the game as we drove through Chicago. We arrived in Kansas City about 6 am and attended the runner-up game that eve. M won the game 100-90. Bill Buntin scored 33 but Cazzie didn't play. Despite time passing, it still seems like not that long ago!
DUTCHER KNEW.
I think many are also quite happy to see Alabama no where near the title they'd eventually have to give up.
March 24th, 2023 at 11:17 PM ^
Some Alabama players were just killing it during the regular season. Shooting the lights out. Glad to see they are locked out now of the tournament.
I saw what you did there....lol
It's like the anti-meme floating around about softening workplace language.
Good riddance to Alabama,
and happy birthday Steve Fisher
Fuck Bama. Wrong place wrong time.
Especially funny since Nick Saban even took a shot at Nate Oats for his dumb comments after the news broke about the accessory to murder shit.
Well you can fuck Bama all you want but they were sure as hell better than what we put on the floor this season.
They also got the #1 recruiting class in football while we finished 18th.
Acknowledging those fun facts makes your comment make you sound like an ignorant teenager.
Congrats SDSU and Brian Dutcher! It was great seeing he still has a great hair, but sad to see how older he is because I remember him when he was a young dude because that means I'm OLD.
March 24th, 2023 at 10:06 PM ^
Good for SDSU and Dutcher!
March 24th, 2023 at 10:14 PM ^
Good for Dutcher, taking out the most hated team in the tournament if not the country.
March 24th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
Bama and Houston both going out on same night is glorious. No love lost for Kelvin Sampson either.
March 24th, 2023 at 10:21 PM ^
At least Sampson isn't starting an accessory to murder.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:46 PM ^
maybe the news hasn't broke out yet
Sampson can be forgiven b/c his sins aren't even sins anymore w/ regards to the rules unless I'm missing something w/ him hiding rape, murder, accessory to murder etc.
March 25th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
Unless San Diego State joins the Pac-12 once UCLA and USC are out of the way, they're never going to be on the same stage as the other Power 5 teams. But the fact that they've gotten this far is a testament to both Steve Fisher and Brian Dutcher. I am a transplant San Diegan and actually attended a summer school class at SDSU during my Michigan years so solidly a fan of the Aztecs. They have come so far during their years of Fisher-Dutcher coaching. Go Aztecs!
March 24th, 2023 at 10:20 PM ^
Congrats SDSU! They’re a fun team to watch if you appreciate defensive effort, intensity, and hustle.
March 24th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
Watched at a sports bar downtown SD. Great scene. Dutcher's team is very athletic and strong. Wonder if he would consider the Michigan job should it ever become available 🤔
March 24th, 2023 at 10:47 PM ^
He's 63.
Wasn't even considered in 1998 or 2019 because our school is deathly afraid of the Fab 5 recruiting connection.
Then we hired Howard.....
March 24th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
Are you freakin kidding? He is persona non grata woth the program. Do you not know your history?
March 25th, 2023 at 10:00 AM ^
His age is the only deterrent at this point. Most would've shaken their heads if he was hired in 2019, but he is a good coach and also knows how to work the transfer portal.
March 24th, 2023 at 11:25 PM ^
Chill with the pot shots. It must be shocking for you to realize that many of our coaches are trying to win, they are also human, and mostly genuinely kind people that have a much deeper love and connection to the school and certainty to the bball team. Kindly shut the fuck up
March 24th, 2023 at 11:26 PM ^
Brian Dutcher also grew up in Ypsilanti while his dad was coaching at EMU and U-M. Local boy all the way.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:08 AM ^
Listen to his press conference and he's Michigan born & bred all the way. Always rooted for Fischer & now Dutch at SDSU. Those teams always battle on defense/boards.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:05 AM ^
I support the Fab Five, and Steve Fisher. Thus, Brian Dutcher.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:07 AM ^
First year as an assistant at Michigan was the magical 1989. His dad, Jim, coached top talent at EMU ( George Gervin) and at Minnesota ( Kevin McHale) and was an assistant to Johnny Orr with Bill Frieder in between... Brian helped recruit the Fab 5 and also brought Kawhi Leonard to SDSU. Good with transfers (now more important than ever) and spotting talent for sure.
He and Brady Hoke are doing SDSU proud!
I have one thing in common with Brian Dutcher, and it has nothing to do with what he did last night. Alpena General Hospital, baby! The best birthing unit on the sunrise side.
some really surprising results. Happy for SDSU and Dutcher. Glad to get rid of Bama.
Dutch & crew ballin. Dutch Michigan AF. Honking Michigan accent, nine years UofM assistant, and mad as fuck nuts deep for how he and the Fab Five were treated. Perfect combination of talent, experience, and grievance.
In the post game comments Dutcher was talking about "all the parity" that exists right now in college basketball and that basically "any team in the tournament can play with any seed and compete."
Parody happens, but at a certain level of "parity" I have to wonder if the "blue blood" programs have significantly miscalculated the way in which college basketball was/has been evolving. Because, well, they are losing a lot these days.
Parity
March 25th, 2023 at 10:29 AM ^
It is a greek parody in college basketball these days.
March 25th, 2023 at 10:08 AM ^
This is what happens when you lose your coaching legends. UNC was not elite between Dean Smith and Roy Williams. Duke was not elite before or after Coach K. With those guys gone, what's the allure to those schools? In the era of NIL and transfer portal, the playing field is going to be leveled out quite a bit in hoops.
March 25th, 2023 at 11:04 AM ^
A lot of Seniors and Juniors on that Dutcher team.
I feel like Michigan recruiting NBA developmental G league prospects isn't going to cut it unless you want to watch clumsy freshman play a year before bolting to the G league. Basketball is skewed significantly towards measureables so the NBA will grab them before they can actually play the game.
If you recruit the "measureables" player there really isn't any ROI for that.