Sweet 16 Skies: San Diego State Soars to Elite Status!

San Diego State basketball was left out of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, March 15, failing to reach March Madness for the first time since 2019. The Aztecs were one of the first four teams left out of the 68-team bracket, along with Oklahoma, Auburn and Indiana. SDSU lost to Utah State in the Mountain West Conference Championship, losing out on the conference's automatic bid.

REQUIRED READING: March Madness bracket, seeding, predictions, snubs for 2026 NCAA Tournament It's a tough blow for the Mountain West, which only got one team in the NCAA Tournament despite being one of the best non-Power conferences in college basketball. New Mexico, another bubble team, also missed the field. San Diego State has seen loads of NCAA Tournament success in recent years, reaching the Final Four in 2023 and the Sweet 16 in 2024 and 2025.

Did San Diego State make March Madness? San Diego State was left out of the NCAA Tournament when the bracket was revealed on March 15's Selection Sunday. The Aztecs finished the season with a 22-11 record and a 14-6 mark in Mountain West play.

They fell to Utah State 73-62 in the conference championship game. San Diego State was No. 47 in the NCAA's Net Rankings, with a 3-8 record in Quad 1 games and a 6-2 mark in Quad 2 games.