San Diego State's first family of fandom doesn't take Aztecs' success for granted

The SDSU men’s basketball team now makes almost annual appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Friday’s game against top-seeded Alabama marks the Aztecs’ third trip to the Sweet 16 in just more than a decade.

“I really appreciate what they’ve done, and it’s not easy what Brian Dutcher has done to take over for Coach Fisher,” Ables said. “Yeah, he was on the staff, he’s been here since 1999, but that’s not easy to do to follow a legend and keep it going without, really, any hiccups.” Ken Ables has carried on the family tradition, attending more than 450 football games and some 750 basketball games since the early 1960s.

“Smokey Gaines came in and he had some good years. Went to the tournament and brought in some great players, like Michael Cage and Anthony Watson and those guys.”“They had some up and down years,” Ables said. “After Smokey left, things kind of went downhill. Jim Brandenburg couldn’t do it.”“Basketball just hadn’t caught the city’s attention,” Ables said. “At the San Diego Sports Arena a good night, was when they drew 4,000 people. But it was usually around 2,000.

There have been several sellout crowds of 12,414 at Viejas Arena since then, but Ables points to one gathering in particular as being another milestone. “It’s been like that for the most part ever since,” Ables said. “That was Kawhi’s second season when things really, really took off.”Young Aztecs fans may not realize that SDSU didn’t have a Division I postseason win until beating UC Santa Barbara in 2003.The Aztecs didn’t earn their first NCAA Tournament win until 2011, when they beat Northern Colorado during their first Sweet 16 run.“It’s the depth of this year’s team and the overall athleticism,” Ables said.

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