A look at Thursday’s first round match-ups for BYU, San Diego State

By Ryan Greene

Thursday, March 17, 2011 | 2:10 a.m.

The Mountain West's two other participants in this year's NCAA tournament — BYU and San Diego State — begin their quests for the second weekend and beyond on Thursday.

SDSU, who has never won an NCAA tournament game in program history (0-6), now all of a sudden is a team with a massive target on its back. After claiming a share of the league's regular season title and then the MWC tournament crown, the Aztecs earned a No. 2 seed in the West regional. They earned the benefit of only having to travel to Tucson for the first weekend.

The Cougars, despite some shaky play down the stretch, are a No. 3 seed in Denver, where Jimmer Fredette becomes the temporary talk of the town simply by stepping off of the team's airplane.

Here's a look at their opening round match-ups, what they'll need to do to win and avoid doing in order to stay out of trouble.

No. 2 San Diego State (32-2) vs. No. 15 Northern Colorado (21-10)

Who can hurt the Aztecs: 6-foot-1 senior guard Devon Beitzel can fill it up, and he should command SDSU's attention the entire way. He's averaging 21.4 points per game this season, and has scored at least 22 in each of the Bears' last nine games. That's scary.

How the Aztecs can dominate: SDSU has a front-court trio in Kawhi Leonard, Billy White and Malcolm Thomas that can overwhelm any team it faces in the tournament. Those three combined for 50 points and 27 rebounds in Saturday's MWC title game rout of BYU, and if they come anywhere close to that type of performance, advancing here should be a breeze. Also, D.J. Gay needs to remain steady. The heady senior point guard has only committed more than two turnovers in a game five times this season. In other words, the Aztecs don't give up much cheap offense. Finally, the players seem pretty intent in rectifying the program's past failures in the NCAA tournament. That leads you to believe that they'll either be just as fired up or close to as pumped as they were to finally dispatch of the Cougars on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center. As long as they're not emotionally flat, the Aztecs should be fine.

How the Aztecs can find trouble: Steve Fisher's club cannot afford to get into a shoot-out with the Bears, who are very capable of racking up big offensive numbers. If SDSU doesn't defend overwhelmingly like it's capable of doing, UNC can suck it into the type of up-and-down game that doomed the Aztecs in two regular season meetings with BYU — The only two losses on their profile. A half-court game dictated by defense and rebounding is SDSU's best bet.

No. 3 BYU (30-4) vs. No. 14 Wofford Terriers (21-12)

Who can hurt the Cougars: Senior forward Noah Dahlman is just 6-foot-6, but he's crafty. He averages 20 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He's efficient, too, shooting an incredible 61.2 percent from the floor while showing discipline and limiting himself to playing inside of the 3-point arc.

How the Cougars can dominate: BYU needs to keep the pace of this game high. The Terriers nearly pulled off a monster first-round NCAA tourney upset last season by slugging it out and playing Wisconsin's pace, ultimately bowing out, 53-49. If they can keep Wofford from getting up in them on the defensive end, it allows Jimmer Fredette to essentially do what he wants, and don't think for a second that he doesn't want to explode on the national stage here. To balance things out, Charles Abouo, who at just 6-foot-5 has found himself as BYU's starting power forward in the wake of Brandon Davies's season-ending suspension, has to be aggressive on the glass and on the defensive end against Dahlman.

How the Cougars can find trouble: Jackson Emery cannot have a repeat performance of his weekend in Las Vegas at the MWC tourney. In three games, he was 10-of-35 from the floor and just 5-of-23 from 3-point range. If he's not hitting shots, Fredette commands more defensive attention. If he's hitting shots, opposing defenses really have no answer for the Cougars' backcourt.