For the first time in history, a Mountain West team will be playing in the Elite 8.

It was a tight game of 51-50 with 7 minutes left, but Darrion Trammell would hit the next two baskets to extend the lead to 5. At that point, Alabama kept playing catchup but the Aztecs Matt Bradley hit a few big shots to build the lead to 9 with about 2 minutes to play.

Alabama would cut the lead all the way to 66-64 as Mark Sears would score the next 7 points of the game. But that would be as close as the Crimson Tide would get. Bradley hit a couple free throws to extend the lead to 4. Alabama’s Brandon Miller missed a three pointer, which led to Micah Parrish hitting another FT for the Aztecs to build the lead to 5.

And then maybe the most symbolic moment. Jahvon Quinerly drove hard to the basket, and San Diego State’s Nathan Mensah had a massive block to stop him. Mensah had 5 of the Aztecs’ 8 blocks that continued to stop the talented Alabama guards as they drove to the basket. San Diego State’s team has always been known by its defense, and that defense managed to hold the explosive Alabama team to 64 points. This includes the Aztecs completely shutting down future NBA lottery pick, Brandon Miller, who only scored 9 points on 3-19 shooting from the field.

San Diego State would hit more free throws and would finish off the #1 seeded team in the tournament with a 71-64 victory. And as I was getting ready to turn to the Miami / Houston game, one of the announcers said something that stuck with me. At this moment, one team from this list will be playing for the National Championship – #3 Kansas State, #5 San Diego State, #6 Creighton, #9 Florida Atlantic, or #15 Princeton. Let that sink in – it is not that one of those teams will make the Final 4 (since two of them will). One of those teams will be playing for the National Championship.

So, my apologies to Alabama fans. Apparently, my picks still had a chance to catch up – and so the Lunatic curse obviously had to strike. Although I am not sure that this is all my fault. But that will have to wait for the next post. For now, congratulations to the Mountain West conference champion for becoming the first Mountain West team to make the Elite 8.