San Diego State, Auburn arrive at Spokane Arena is raised expectations

Respect is earned, they say. But in college basketball, it must be earned every day.

Make that every minute.

Few coaches know that better than Brian Dutcher at San Diego State, which made it all the way to the NCAA Tournament championship game last season.

That was nice, but that was last year. Expectations are still high for the Aztecs going into their first-round NCAA East Regional game Friday morning at the Arena against UAB.

“You’re judged every day in this business,” Dutcher said. “Every possession, every win, every loss.

“I said two years ago when we lost to Creighton in the first round, people wondered if we’d ever win an NCAA Tournament game. Last year we won five games. People don’t think we’ll ever lose one now.”

Most fans don’t expect the fifth-seeded Aztecs to falter on Friday.

It’s the same story for the No. 4 seed, Auburn. Five years ago, coach Bruce Pearl led the Tigers to the Final Four. Now they’re a trendy pick to do it again.

First comes Friday’s game against Yale. Like San Diego State, the Tigers are heavily favored.

“If we played Yale a lot of times over period of time, we would have the advantage …” Pearl said. “But they can beat us in a game. Absolutely.”

If both teams win, the Aztecs and Tigers will meet with a chance to reach the Sweet 16 – and ratchet the expectations even higher.

“But we can’t do that until we win the first one,” Pearl said.