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KPBS Evening Edition

Little Enthusiasm Among Aztecs For San Diego State's March Madness Game

San Diego State Playing First Round of NCAA March Madness

San Diego State University men's basketball team is heading into March Madness but there's little excitement among its community.

Despite losing the division championship game to Wyoming last Saturday 45-43, the team is headed to the NCAA tournament for the sixth year in a row. It will face St. John's in the first round Friday night but there's little interest among the university's community.

Freshman RJ Scott was watching the tournament on campus between midterm classes.

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"If you make it for the first time in a long time, everyone's like really pumped for you," Scott said. "They're excited — they're motivating you. But if you go six years in a row and you don't take home the title, people just kind of lose faith."

Jhim Ballesteros, a junior, remembers what it was like last year when the Aztecs had a better ranking going into the tournament.

"I think it's just the fact that last year we were expected to go far," Ballesteros said. "We were, I believe, a fourth seed as opposed to this year being an eighth seed."

In a KPBS interview with Coach Steve Fisher in 2011, Fisher explained how fans reacted when the team scored its first national ranking in 41 seasons.

"You know when success happens everybody's your father and when it's a struggle you're an orphan," Fisher said.

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Tip off for the game against St. John's will be at 6:40 p.m. Friday.