After winning the Mountain West Conference Championship, the San Diego State Aztecs will face Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, Mar. 19.

The Aztecs, finishing as the 19-ranked nationally, have won their last 14 games, including wins over Boise State (no. 50 NET) and Utah State (no. 39 NET). Their road to becoming regular-season champs looked unlikely after starting off with a 3-3 conference schedule, however, they won out and just barely squeaked by Boise State and Colorado State in the conference standings.

A year after finishing fifth in the national rankings, San Diego State went 8-4 against Quad 1 and 2 opponents. Three of four losses came against Quad 1 opponents (BYU, Utah St. x2), with a Colorado State loss being their only non-Quad 1 loss. The Aztecs went 8-0 in Quad 3 games and 6-0 in Quad 4 matchups.

The opposing team will be the 11-seeded Syracuse Orange (16-9). They went 7-8 in Quad 1 and 2 games, with seven losses in Quad 1 for the 40-ranked team in the NET Rankings. The eighth-place team out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Syracuse went 1-3 against top-25 opponents.

Junior guard Buddy Boeheim led the Orange with 17.1 points per game, and senior forward Marek Dolezaj led the school with a 54.8 field goal shooting percentage (min. 15 games played).

The two schools will play for just the second team in college basketball history after a 2012 season opening matchup on the USS Midway that saw Syracuse win 62-49. Game times have not been released yet.