Film review: The defensive tendencies Syracuse could exploit against SDSU Courtesy of SDSU Athletics For Syracuse to advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament, they'll need to break SDSU's defense open. Facebook Subscribe to our sports newsletter here. San Diego State is a defensive-minded program under head coach Brian Dutcher. It has ranked in the top 40 in adjusted defense in three of his four seasons, including 11th this year and 10th in 2020. “Our expectations are that we play passionate and perfect basketball on the defensive end,” Dutcher said in November. SDSU, which held teams to under 60 points in 13 games this season, plays man-to-man defense with an emphasis on helping into the paint — similar to a pack-line — and can press when it needs to. The Aztecs play a traditional center almost all the time and don’t like to switch screens.