CIF-SS boys lacrosse polls, March 27

• March 28, 2023

The CIF-SS high school boys lacrosse polls, released Monday, March 27

CIF-SS BOYS LACROSSE

(Selected by the CIF-SS Lacrosse Committee)

Division 1/2

Mater Dei

Loyola

Foothill

St. Margaret’s

Westlake

Mira Costa

Corona del Mar

Santa Margarita

Agoura

Trabuco Hills

Others: None

Division 3

Chaminade

Santa Monica

Crean Lutheran

University

Canyon

Village Christian

El Segundo

Brentwood

ML King

Dos Pueblos

Others: None

​ Orange County Register 

Nicolas Batum, Clippers heat up to bury Bulls

• March 28, 2023

LOS ANGELES — With Paul George sidelined, the Clippers need other players to step up. The team cannot afford to be Kawhi-centric, waiting for their other star to pull them through.

Two games ago, it was guards Terance Mann and Bone Hyland who filled the void left by George, who is out for the remainder of the regular season. This time, it was Eric Gordon and Nicolas Batum.

While Leonard struggled to get free against the Chicago Bulls’ fifth-rated defense, Gordon and Batum came up big, combining for 46 points in a 124-112 victory on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Batum, starting in place of an ailing Marcus Morris Sr., scored all of his season-high 24 points on 3-pointers. Gordon added 22 points, going 5 for 9 from long range, in his highest-scoring game since returning to the Clippers in a trade last month.

“You know, when you’re missing a guy like PG and Norm (Powell) and Mook – three guys who can really score the ball, we have to find a way to score the basketball, and it was by sharing the ball,” Batum said. “We can’t just really rely on Kawhi to take us home every game for 48 minutes. We kind of did that last game. He was pretty tired, and it didn’t work.”

But it wasn’t just those two who helped the Clippers (40-36) hold onto the fifth spot in the jam-packed Western Conference standings. Leonard finally shook free of the Bulls’ double-teams to score 22 points, grab seven rebounds and dish out six assists.

He had just seven points in the first half.

“He just took his time,” Coach Tyronn Lue said. “We knew they were going to double-team him on the post-ups, they always do, and so just taking his time and making the right play and not forcing anything.

“When you have a great player that takes his time and plays at his own pace, and never gets sped up and just takes what the defense gives him, I thought he did a good job with that and that allowed us to shoot the ball so well and get 40 threes up and make 20 of them because of his pace and his poise and taking on the double team and making the right pass.”

Russell Westbrook added 12 points and had 10 assists, while Hyland had 13 points and eight assists on a night when the Clippers had 41 assists on their 48 field goals and coasted across the finish line.

The Clippers pushed the pace, scoring in transition to pull away in the third quarter and open a 22-point lead. At one point, after Batum landed a season-high eighth 3-pointer with 2:25 remaining, Leonard found him for a quick dap as they ran down the court. The help appeared to be welcomed.

“It’s great,” Leonard said of how the others contributed. “They set the tone early tonight offensively, making shots. This is what we are going to have to do with PG being out and yeah, it just opens up the floor.”

When healthy, Leonard has been one of the team’s most productive players. He’s been averaging 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 51.2% from the field. But he can’t do it all on a nightly basis.

Leonard will get more help when Norman Powell returns during the upcoming three-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Memphis. Powell has missed 11 games because of a shoulder subluxation.

The Bulls, who defeated the Lakers on Sunday afternoon couldn’t garner any sort of momentum. They led briefly in the first half but struggled to slow the Clippers. They turned the ball over 14 times for 20 points and made just 9 of 23 3-point attempts.

Zach Lavine led the Bulls with 23 points, DeMar DeRozan added 21 points and seven assists and Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and eight rebounds.

Lue, in somewhat of a joking manner, admitted he should change his tune during his pregame talks.

“Maybe I should if we keep making the same mistakes and you don’t do what we’ve been working on the last three years,” he said. “Maybe I should change my tactic. I’m going to work on that.”

Maybe his words finally sunk in.

The Clippers avoided giving up a huge run by the Bulls to start the game. In their past three games, the Clippers have fallen behind by sometimes double-digit leads and struggled to overcome the deficit. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, they never recovered.

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“I think playing at home and getting off to better starts is our main focus. It’s got to start on the defensive end of getting stops early,” Lue said before tip-off. “We can’t keep starting the games 8-0, 10-2, 14-2; we got to do a better job of starting games. Hopefully, that starts tonight.”

The Clippers stayed with the Bulls in the early going, never letting them get ahead by more than five points for the first 15 minutes.

The Clippers started to take control of the game late in the first half, building a 10-point lead before Nikola Vucevic buried a 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to cut into the lead 62-55.

The Clippers improved to 2-1 without George, who is expected to miss the rest of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs after spraining his right knee in a loss to Oklahoma City last Tuesday.

“That’s the way that we have to play without PG especially, but until he comes back got to find a way to really get everybody involved and play good basketball,” Batum said.

Ty Lue shares his thoughts following the W against the Bulls@LAClippers | #ClippersLive pic.twitter.com/8wMl69Nek5

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 28, 2023

Nico scored a season-high of 24 points and went 8-10 beyond the arch@nicolas88batum | @Kristina_Pink | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/n0382sKbHe

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 28, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

Nathan MacKinnon helps Avalanche surge past Ducks

• March 28, 2023

ANAHEIM — For nearly 16 tantalizing minutes, it looked like the Ducks could play – at least on this night – with the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

They held a 1-0 lead and early momentum.

The Avalanche equalized with defenseman Bowen Byram’s goal at 15:43 and as time wound down in the first period, the Nathan MacKinnon Show took over. Playing in his 700th NHL game, he made something out of nothing, scoring with 7.9 seconds remaining in, making it 2-1, and it completely changed the complexion of the game.

Colorado went on to score two quick goals – in the first 3:46 of the second period – and it was straight downhill for the Ducks after that as the Avalanche won, 5-1, on Monday night at Honda Center. The Ducks have lost five straight games since defeating Columbus on March 17 and went 1-6-1 during their eight-game homestand.

“It looks like they’re just ramping it up now and getting ready for another run at it,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said of the Avalanche. “I thought we had some good moments in the game. I thought there were some moments where we were in over our head. And some moments we can learn from.”

Further compounding the bad news for the Ducks was that leading scorer Trevor Zegras did not play the third period because of a lower-body injury.

“It actually happened in the first period,” Eakins said of the injury. “He had to leave and get it taped up, or whatever he did. It wasn’t good enough to go. So we’ll have to see how that is for the road trip.”

The Ducks begin a three-game trip on Thursday in Seattle. Against Colorado, the Ducks were already playing without Troy Terry, who has been absent from the team because of personal reasons.

By the time Zegras exited, the game had mostly been decided. Ducks goalie John Gibson made 39 saves.

MacKinnon, who has 24 points and 10 goals this month, was the difference-maker. The two-point night brought him to 95 points in 62 games this season, as he is closing in on an important individual mark – 100 points. His career high is 99 in the 2018-19 season.

In a season full of lessons for the Ducks, this was yet another one, seeing how a player of MacKinnon’s caliber can single-handedly impact a game with two inspired and energized shifts.

In addition to his late first-period goal, MacKinnon set up Valeri Nichushkin, making it 4-1 at 3:46 of the second.

“He had a couple of shifts where he was moving really well,” Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg said. “It’s tough to check him. Sometimes you almost need two guys on him. But as soon as you do that – he slides it to the open man.”

Added Eakins: “It is incredible how hard that kid has worked on his game. The way he’s trained in the summer and how explosive and strong he is. When he’s cutting back down there and the separation he gets, it’s incredible.”

It demonstrated once again that Colorado, not at its best, still manages to find a way. The Avs expanded their lead to 5-1 in the third period on Samuel Girard’s goal at 4:22, their 12th consecutive game with a power-play goal.

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Colorado, which is one point behind Dallas for the Central Division lead, has been beset by injuries all season and started a goaltender, Jonas Johansson, who is well down its organizational depth chart, appearing in just his third game this season.

He made 29 saves and faced 19 shots in the final two periods. The Ducks’ lone goal was produced by the fourth line as center Derek Grant opened the scoring at 12:08 of the first period, set up by Silfverberg, who capitalized on a turnover by Colorado defenseman Cale Makar. Makar went on to record two assists, bringing his point total to 66 in 58 games this season.

“That team there – with a certain core, a certain staff, all those things, six years ago that team was 34 games under .500 and they stayed patient with their program,” Eakins said. “Really patient with their young players and they’re Stanley Cup champions five years later.

“It just takes time. For us, for our fans, that’s a good team to look at and have hope.”

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County baseball stat leaders through March 25

• March 28, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Orange County baseball stat leaders through Saturday, March 25.

To be included, teams must have their stats up to date on the MaxPreps.com leaderboards.

BATTING AVERAGE

Name, school
Avg.
Hits
AB

Nick Santivanez, El Modena
.562
9
16

John Uchytil, Estancia
.542
26
48

Joshua Delgado, Santa Ana
.526
10
19

Waylon Pipia, Calvary Chapel
.526
10
19

Keenan Anzai, Mission Viejo
.516
16
31

Chase Brunson, San Clemente
.514
18
35

Jack Boucher, Mission Viejo
.500
15
30

Alex Blancas, Buena Park
.481
13
27

Jack Compton, Laguna Hills
.478
11
23

Cole Lefebvre, Estancia
.472
25
53

Sawyer Atkinson, Estancia
.471
8
17

RUNS BATTED IN

Name, school
RBI
PA
GP

Grady Jackson, Costa Mesa
25
66
15

Sam Stute, Costa Mesa
19
60
14

James De La O, Estancia
19
56
14

Wylan Rottschafer, Costa Mesa
18
68
15

John Uchytil, Estancia
16
58
14

Matt Anderson, Costa Mesa
16
56
15

Caleb Robeck, Costa Mesa
16
50
15

Connor Sunderland, Fullerton
16
43
11

Rylan Morris, Sunny Hills
15
46
11

Malachi Meni, Fullerton
15
41
11

Cole Lefebvre, Estancia
14
62
14

Michael Joyce, Costa Mesa
14
58
15

Anthony DeMarco, Woodbridge
14
58
16

Gavin Grahovac, Villa Park
14
54
12

Zach Brown, Villa Park
14
45
12

Aiden Comte, Costa Mesa
13
48
15

Lucas Marinelli, Portola
12
37
10

Tyler Holland, Mission Viejo
12
33
10

Jacob Beauchaine, Capo Valley Chr.
11
49
13

SLUGGING PERCENTAGE

Name, school
Slugging %
AB
TB

Neil Navarro, Buena Park
1.000
24
24

Joshua Delgado, Santa Ana
1.000
19
19

Chase Brunson, San Clemente
.971
35
34

Connor Sunderland, Fullerton
.882
34
30

Tyler Holland, Mission Viejo
.833
24
20

Gavin Grahovac, Villa Park
.818
44
36

John Uchytil, Estancia
.813
48
39

Lucas Marinelli, Portola
.794
34
27

Anthony Lopez, Saddleback
.762
21
16

Rylan Morris, Sunny Hills
.711
38
27

Nate Norman, Fullerton
.694
36
25

Jake Staffieri, Newport Harbor
.692
13
9

EARNED-RUN AVERAGE

Name, school
ERA
IP
ER

Griffin Naess, Laguna Beach
0.00
26.0
0

Nick Sandstedt, El Dorado
0.33
21.1
1

Andrew Mits, Estancia
0.40
34.2
2

Logan Rome, University
0.41
17.0
1

Andrew Parker, Foothill
0.43
32.1
2

Keenan Anzai, Mission Viejo
0.45
15.2
1

Tyler Onofre, Kennedy
0.52
13.1
1

Matthew Kuromoto, Woodbridge
0.55
38.0
3

Jose Arcos, Buena Park
0.58
12.0
1

Andrew Grove, Villa Park
0.58
12.0
1

Tyler Bellerose, Huntington Beach
0.60
11.2
1

Spencer Jacobs, El Modena
0.60
11.2
1

Hunter Long, Capo Valley Christian
0.62
22.2
2

Tylor Balenti, Kennedy
0.64
11.0
1

Cooper Berger, University
0.70
30.0
3

Brandon Luu, Villa Park
0.75
28.0
3

Joon Lee, Irvine
0.77
36.1
4

STRIKEOUTS

Name, school
K
BF
IP

Andrew Mits, Estancia
48
139
34.2

Hunter Long, Capo Valley Christian
46
90
22.2

Landon Martin, Sonora
44
147
35.2

Dominic Viglione, Newport Harbor
42
148
31.1

Joon Lee, Irvine
42
148
36.1

Brandon Luu, Villa Park
39
107
28.0

Matthew Kuromoto, Woodbridge
39
148
38.0

Griffin Naess, Laguna Beach
37
99
26.0

Michael Joyce, Costa Mesa
35
130
31.0

Zach Brown, Villa Park
34
91
22.2

Carson Lane, Huntington Beach
33
93
20.2

Alex Mascaro, El Modena
33
94
25.0

Cooper Berger, University
33
106
30.0

Matthew Solorzano, Fountain Vly
32
124
31.0

Nicholas Moreno, Katella
31
112
23.1

Will Clark, Costa Mesa
31
122
30.0

Luis Tinoco, Katella
31
138
34.0

Jonathan Rodriguez, Valencia
30
91
18.2

Andrew Vega, Bolsa Grande
30
101
21.2

​ Orange County Register 

US renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022

• March 28, 2023

By Isabella O’Malley | Associated Press

Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday.

Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022 after first doing so last year.

Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14% of the electricity produced domestically in 2022.

“I’m happy to see we’ve crossed that threshold, but that is only a step in what has to be a very rapid and much cheaper journey,” said Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and assistant provost for sustainability at Brown University.

California produced 26% of the national utility-scale solar electricity followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%.

The most wind generation occurred in Texas, which accounted for 26% of the U.S. total followed by Iowa (10%) and Oklahoma (9%).

“This booming growth is driven largely by economics,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy. “Over the past decade, the levelized cost of wind energy declined by 70 percent, while the levelized cost of solar power has declined by an even more impressive 90 percent.”

“Renewable energy is now the most affordable source of new electricity in much of the country,” added Wetstone.

The Energy Information Administration projected that the wind share of the U.S. electricity generation mix will increase from 11% to 12% from 2022 to 2023 and that solar will grow from 4% to 5% during the period. The natural gas share is expected to remain at 39% from 2022 to 2023, and coal is projected to decline from 20% last year to 17% this year.

“Wind and solar are going to be the backbone of the growth in renewables, but whether or not they can provide 100% of the U.S. electricity without backup is something that engineers are debating,” said Brown University’s Porder.

Many decisions lie ahead, he said, as the proportion of renewables that supply the energy grid increases.

This presents challenges for engineers and policy-makers, Porder said, because existing energy grids were built to deliver power from a consistent source. Renewables such as solar and wind generate power intermittently. So battery storage, long-distance transmission and other steps will be needed to help address these challenges, he said.

The EIA report found the country remains heavily reliant on the burning of climate-changing fossil fuels. Coal-fired generation was 20% of the electric sector in 2022, a decline from 23% in 2021. Natural gas was the largest source of electricity in the U.S. in 2022, generating 39% last year compared to 37% in 2021.

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“When you look at the data, natural gas has been a major driver for lowering greenhouse gas emissions from electricity because it’s been largely replacing coal-fired power plants,” said Melissa Lott, director of research for the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

“Moving forward, you can’t have emissions continuing to go up, you need to bring them down quickly,” added Lott.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) influenced the amount of renewable energy projects that went online in 2022, Lott said, and it’s expected to have a “tremendous” impact on accelerating clean energy projects.

​ Orange County Register 

Clippers’ Paul George discusses knee injury: ‘I couldn’t walk right’

• March 28, 2023

His first thought wasn’t good.

As he lay on the court last week, Paul George began thinking the worst. Is this what a torn anterior cruciate ligament feels like? Did he tear his medial cruciate ligament?

“I was just like (darn) when is the pain going to stop?,” George said. “It was like throbbing; it was hurting. And the only thing going through my mind is like I hope I didn’t tear any major stuff. I hope I didn’t blow out my knee.”

George publicly spoke about his knee injury for the first time on an episode of “Podcast P” that was released on Monday but recorded last week. The Clippers’ All-Star wing suffered a sprained right knee last Tuesday after colliding with Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort while jumping for a rebound during the fourth quarter. He called it a “wild play.”

“It was crazy because I couldn’t walk right. I tried to put pressure on it when I tried to walk off the court, but they had to carry me,” George said. “But then when I got back into the locker room, I felt the pain go down. So, I was like maybe it ain’t that bad.”

The eight-time All-Star is not expected to have surgery, and could be back for the postseason, should the Clippers advance past the first round. Any return before that is thought to be too soon.

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“I don’t know when that (return) date is, but the last thing I can do is not be involved with what’s going on because who knows how long injuries take,” George said.

George is no stranger to significant injuries, the most serious of which occurred when he was playing in an exhibition game for Team USA in August 2014. George suffered a gruesome compound fracture to his leg when he jammed his foot in the base of the backboard stanchion.

​ Orange County Register 

Deputy U.S. Marshal from Brea convicted of framing ex-girlfriend over Anaheim condo dispute

• March 28, 2023

A deputy U.S. marshal from Brea was convicted last week of attempting to frame his ex-girlfriend for a hoax sex assault and made-up threats as part of a 2016 plot to get her to give up her share of a condo they owned together in Anaheim, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

A jury found Ian Richard Diaz, 44, guilty of all counts on Thursday, March 23 after a week-long trial held in federal court in Downtown Los Angeles.

He was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, one count of cyberstalking, one count of perjury and one count of obstructing a federal proceeding. Diaz is set to be sentenced in June; he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, according to a DOJ statement.

A federal grand jury indictment filed against Diaz nearly two years ago detailed his plans of revenge against his ex-girlfriend, Michelle Suzanne Hadley, of Ontario. The two had dated for two years, with their relationship ending in 2015. Diaz married his now ex-wife, Angela Diaz, in February 2016. The scheme began a few months later.

Prosecutors said the couple set up online accounts in Hadley’s name in May 2016, then used them to make it appear as though Hadley was threatening them. From one account on Craigslist, the couple made it seem as though Hadley had arranged for men to go to their home to sexually assault Angela Diaz.

In one of those purported incidents, the couple claimed a masked man sent by Hadley attacked Angela Diaz in their garage.

Ian Diaz reported the false crimes to Anaheim police, landing Hadley in jail for more than three months.

Eventually, Diaz’s story fell apart and Hadley was released, but it still took nearly five years for federal authorities to arrest and charge the deputy U.S. marshal in May 2021.

Diaz’s conviction Thursday “has brought so much peace to my family and restored some of the faith we lost in the justice system as a result of (his) crimes against me,” Hadley said in a statement to NBC News.

Hadley’s ordeal left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a lawsuit she filed against the city of Anaheim in 2018. After her arrest, Hadley lost her job and was forced to drop out of business school.

Court records show Anaheim police arrested Hadley in June 2016. She quickly bailed out. But less than a month later, Orange County prosecutors demanded she be rearrested — they claimed “escalating events” required them to jail Hadley in the name of public safety. Police took Hadley into custody in July, and she would remain jailed until October 2016.

Hadley’s lawsuit, and the later indictments against Ian and Angela Diaz, showed the couple convinced police of the alleged harassment campaign they said Hadley was waging against them.

“APD detectives willfully turned a blind eye to Ian Diaz’s obviously false reports because he was a fellow law enforcement officer,” Hadley’s lawsuit read. “He was friendly with the detectives investigating Ms. Hadley, texting and emailing with them.”

Angela Diaz was convicted for her part in the plot in 2017. She was sentenced to five years in prison.

Anaheim settled Hadley’s lawsuit in 2021 for $1.8 million, according to a city spokesman.

Attorneys for both Ian Diaz and Hadley did not return requests for comment on Monday.

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​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: For San Diego State, Final Four is a multi-faceted opportunity

• March 28, 2023

Yes, San Diego State men’s basketball has come a long way. It has, indeed, been nearly a quarter of a century since Steve Fisher arrived at the school, a former national championship coach at Michigan taking on the challenge of a program that had one winning season in 15 years.

The season before Fisher and right-hand man Brian Dutcher arrived, 1998-99, the Aztecs had won four games and averaged 3,136 spectators per game with Fred Trenkle in charge. Fisher’s first season, the Aztecs were 5-23, and he’d walk around campus with a fistful of tickets, asking – pleading with? – students to come to the games in the beautiful on-campus arena.

But here’s the thing: San Diego State basketball has long since gotten past the “coming out of nowhere” stage, even if much of the public outside of its own city hadn’t noticed. And reaching the Final Four, which the Aztecs did by beating Creighton, 57-56, on Sunday, was a first for the school but far from the first time they’ve had the opportunity.

Try the spring of 2011, Kawhi Leonard’s final season as an Aztec before turning pro. San Diego State was 34-3 that year, and the season ended with a Sweet 16 loss to Connecticut at Honda Center in a game that might have turned on a second-half technical foul, when UConn’s Kemba Walker and San Diego State’s Jamaal Franklin bumped on the way back to their respective benches and – well, let’s just say Walker did a little embellishing.

“I think he (flopped) a little bit,” Franklin said that night. “But that’s part of the game.”

Franklin was assessed the T, UConn responded with a 16-2 run and went ahead to stay, and the Aztecs went home, 74-67.

Then in the spring of 2014, San Diego State took a 31-4 record and a No. 4 seed into the Sweet 16, again in Anaheim. That time Arizona sent the Aztecs home, 70-64.

And 2020 might have been as painful as any near miss because of the what-could-have-beens. Dutcher, who succeeded Fisher in 2017, had San Diego State 30-2 and ranked sixth, and along with Dayton (29-2 and No. 3 in the AP poll) the Aztecs were considered a trendy pick to wreck lots of brackets and maybe take it to the final weekend. But after SDSU won the Mountain West Conference tournament, played a week earlier than usual, COVID-19 ended everyone’s season before brackets could even be unveiled.

“I didn’t play that much throughout the year,” forward Nathan Mensah, one of four players left from that team, told reporters during the Aztecs’ availability Saturday in Louisville. “I could only play 10 games, and I was hoping to get back on track and play (in the) NCAA tournament for the seniors. I feel like now we are here to represent them also and (that) they feel proud about what we have accomplished and what we are capable of doing in this tournament.”

These Aztecs are 31-6 and champions of a Mountain West Conference that received four tournament bids. They were 14th in the final NET rankings, and are 14th in the kenpom.com computer formula (and fourth nationally in defensive efficiency). They’re experienced (eight seniors, including three transfers), and they’re winning without stars. One player scores in double figures, 6-foot-4 Matt Bradley at 12.5, and seven others score 6.1 or more per game. Ten players average double-figure minutes.

“I tell them, if you are fortunate enough to play at the next level in the NBA, guess what? You’re going to be asked to come off the bench and make your first shot,’” Dutcher said. “If you can’t do that, you won’t play in the league very long. You have to embrace whatever role you play in. I’ve got a group that’s been able to do that.”

It’s not a sexy team, but it’s one with a chip on its shoulder that will force you to pay attention to it, and one that will defend you with extreme physicality. Case in point: The Aztecs held Alabama star Brandon Miller to 3-for-19 shooting, and 1 for 10 from the 3-point line, in eliminating the top-seeded Crimson Tide, 71-64, on Friday.

“They were good looks for him, I guess,” Bradley noted afterward. “But for us, they’re also good looks due to how we were guarding him. We just cause teams to take tough shots, and (with) our physicality, we just wear teams down with that and our depth.”

If there is ever a year to be a surprise team in the Final Four, this is it. The Aztecs get No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic in Saturday’s national semifinal in Houston, and if they get past that game they’ll be playing either a No. 4 (UConn) or a No. 5 (Miami) for the championship Monday night.

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To most of us, a Final Four without ones or twos or threes just sounds weird, but as Dutcher noted in Louisville, “We recruit and we say our goal is to win a national championship, so we can’t act surprised when we have an opportunity to advance to the Final Four.”

The irony here? The attention the Aztecs receive is limited because they’re in the Mountain West, but getting to the big stage could be a step toward getting them into the Pac-12. The departures of UCLA and USC have created openings, and SDSU’s location and athletic profile seem to have placed it first in line should the conference expand.

“I always thought the Pac-12 would not ask us in with UCLA and USC because they would put us on equal footing, and we would be too great a competitor to let in,” Dutcher said Saturday. “So now that they’re gone and Southern California has a really good team sitting in San Diego. I would think we would be desirable for the Pac-12, the Big 12, a lot of conferences.”

When you have an opportunity, you’ve got to run with it.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register