SDSU DEPTH SHINES WHEN IT WAS MOST NECESSARY

The other day, San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher was talking about his team and its magical postseason run.

“Maybe that’s the story of our year,” he said, “our depth.”

It was Friday night in the biggest victory in school history, 71-64 against No. 1 overall seed Alabama in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

It was, again.

Nine guys played, no one more than 30 minutes, most in the low 20s. Eight scored. Nine had at least one rebound; seven had at least three. Five had an assist. Six had a steal. Eight drew at least two fouls. Six made a free throw.

Leading scorer Matt Bradley didn’t score for nearly the first 37 minutes after sitting most of the first half in foul trouble. Fellow starter Lamont Butler shot 1 of 7 and had four points. Aguek Arop fouled out in 14 minutes.

Darrion Trammell equaled his season high with 21 points. The only other player in double figures was Jaedon LeDee with 12. The rest of the box score was filled with nine, eight, seven, six, a couple guys with four.

“We’re not a one-player team,” Dutcher said. “Matt is a go-to guy for us, but we’re deep. And when he’s not in the game, I’m not uncomfortable that we’re not going to have an ability to score the ball.”

Bench scoring: 28-16, Aztecs.

Eight different players have led them in scoring this season. In the last seven games, six different players have: LeDee, Butler, Keshad Johnson, Bradley, Micah Parrish and Trammell.

“The issue is not (just) having a deep bench,” Dutcher said. “The issue is everybody buys into a deep bench. They’re not crying when they come out. I mean, we took (most of) the starting five out three or four minutes into the second half, even before the first TV timeout.

“And some programs would be a disaster. You would have to sit there and massage egos to get them ready to play when they got back in. This team is not wired that way. We’re wired to win. Everybody supports and cares about one another, and we sacrifice to do it.”

Family affair

It’s not easy having two sons playing Division I basketball for different schools, especially when both reach the NCAA Tournament with venues scattered across the United States.

Adam Seiko’s family is fortunate. It could be worse.

A year ago, Seiko and his younger brother, Creighton sophomore wing Arthur Kaluma, met in the opening game in Fort Worth, Texas. That was easy — fly to one venue and wear half-red, half-blue jerseys.

Then both teams were in the eight-team Maui Invitational last November. The teams even shared a charter flight there and back.

They weren’t so lucky in the tournament’s opening weekend this year, except that they played on opposite days. So the family flew back and forth between Orlando (Adam) and Denver (Arthur), the former with games on Thursday and Saturday, the latter on Friday and Sunday.

Then, lucky again. Both are in the South Regional in Louisville. Arthur’s Bluejays beat Princeton 86-75 in the other Sweet 16 game at the KFC Yum! Center, setting up another battle of the brothers on Sunday (11:20 a.m. PDT, CBS).

“For my family, it’s really a blessing,” Seiko said. “They’ve enjoying it. It’s a cool moment.”

Break out the half-red, half-blue jerseys. “I mean, it’s crazy,” Kaluma said. “Who would have known we would have had all these opportunities to see each other and play against each other, and in college basketball, where we’re in two separate conferences. It’s just amazing, man.”

Parity

Not long after the Aztecs knocked off a No. 1 seed, Houston lost — meaning all four No. 1s were gone before the Elite Eight. Three of the four No. 2s are gone, too. Two 5s, a 6 and 9 and are still alive.

“It’s just parity,” Dutcher said. “That’s what it is. You know, there’s not a lot of difference between the best team in the country and the worst team in the country. You’re seeing that on this stage. I mean, everybody is good. I mean, anybody in our conference could have beat us this year. We had a thousand close games, and we found a way to win them.

“So I guess the difference between being on the top and being on the bottom is finding a way to win a close game.”

Alabama coach Nate Oats knows. In the last three tournaments, he’s been eliminated by teams seeded nine, five and four spots below his.

“It’s a lot of really good programs in the country that have lost,” Oats said. “I mean, we could go down the list of them. That’s what makes the NCAA Tournament the NCAA Tournament. They’re all good teams. We were going to lose to a team seeded lower than us unless we won the national championship this year.”

Notable

It is the first time SDSU has defeated a team ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. The previous highest-ranked victim was No. 6 Nevada in 2019, 65-57 at Viejas Arena.

• It is the fourth time the Aztecs (30-6) have won 30 games in a season, joining 34 in 2010-11, 31 in 2013-14 and 30 in 2019-20.

• SDSU has won 13 of 14. The lone loss came at Boise State after blowing a late lead.

• Trammell became the first SDSU player with a 20-point game in the NCAA Tournament since Xavier Thames had 25 in a Sweet 16 loss against Arizona in 2014.