When the Aztecs walked into their locker room at the McKale Center for the first time, "oohs" and "ahhs" filled the room. "Man, this is amazing," Aztecs' senior Billy White said with a smile as he looked around. "Our locker room is nothing like this."

After winning a school-record 32 games, the Aztecs earned the #2 seed in the West Region. As the highest seed in the Tucson sub-regional, the Aztecs were given the locker room usually occupied by the University of Arizona men's basketball team. To quote White further, "It is crazy."

The locker room features enough recliners for every player on the team; large, wooden lockers with the Wildcats' players pictures above each locker (including San Diego High School graduate Jamelle Horne who is a senior at Arizona); a giant neon "A" in the ceiling; and a massive glass trophy case featuring hardware won by the Wildcats' basketball program over the years, including the 1997 National Championship trophy."That's the one we really want," said freshman guard Jamaal Franklin as he pointed to the trophy. "They can keep everything else, we just want that. "

The Aztecs get to spend two more days in these comfortable accommodations after winning the first NCAA Tournament game in school history, 68-50 over Northern Colorado on Thursday. San Diego State and Temple both ended long droughts in the Arizona desert. Now, the two teams face each other in the third round at the McKale Center at 3:10 pm Saturday, with the winner moving on to Anaheim for the West Region semifinal.

Temple (26-7), the #7 seed in the West Region, beat Penn State 66-64 Thursday on a last-second shot from Juan Fernandez.

The point guard from Argentina called it the biggest shot of his career, but he couldn't celebrate very long, because he now has to run the Owls offense against the Aztecs.

"We're a team that tries to slow down the ball a little bit, play more half court offense and defense," Fernandez said after Temple held a closed practice. "That is where we feel more comfortable. On the other hand, they prefer to play an up-tempo game and go up and down and try to get as many fast break points as possible. So we have to establish our rhythm."

Fernandez and Ramone Moore give the Owls two big guards who can score, each poured in 23 points against Penn State. Temple also plays tough defensively, anchored by three-time Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year Lavoy Allen, who set the school record for rebounds and blocked four shots against Penn State.

"Tomorrow I'm going to try to assert myself and try to get it going early," Allen said.

For much of the season, that Aztecs found themselves ranked nationally in the top 10, and even top six. So if they do not advance to the Sweet Sixteen, disappointment would only begin to describe their feeling. "You're crestfallen. You're devastated (if you don't win)," said Aztecs coach Steve Fisher. "That is the way it should be. If you are in that winning locker room, there's no feeling like it. And if you are in that other locker room, you are 180 in terms of your emotions and your feelings."

"It has been a special season so far," added Aztecs point guard D.J. Gay. "We're not ready for it to end yet. But it's important to embrace the moment and the opportunity that we've been given and try to do whatever it takes to come out with the win."

The Aztecs, the #2 seed in the West, have won a school-record 33 games so far because of their ability to dictate a faster tempo and their unselfishness.

In the 68-50 win over Northern Colorado Thursday, four players scored in double figures led by Kawhi Leonard's 20 points and 10 rebounds; Billy White led SDSU to a win over BYU in the Mountain West title game with his first double-double of the season (20 points, 12 rebounds); Gay lifted the Aztecs past UNLV with a game-winning shot in the final seconds; and Malcolm Thomas came up two assists shy of a triple-double in the win over Utah.

In the last four wins, the Aztecs have had four different stars. Just the way they like it.

"We just love to play with each other," White said. "We don't care who scores. As long as we play team defense. Nobody's selfish in taking shots or getting mad if someone scores 30 points per game or whoever has zero. At the end of the day, we're just glad we have a win. "I think it's very rare. It's just team chemistry that we have."

Let's not forget the super sophomore shooters: Chase Tapley and James Rahon each dropped in a pair of three pointers to provide a much-needed spark against Northern Colorado

"We have a lot of weapons," Tapley said. "One person can have a great game and one person can have an off game and we can still be the same team. It's great to have many weapons."

Other than the UNLV game, Gay has had several off days recently. In fact, he went three straight halves without scoring a point (BYU game, first half of Northern Colorado game). But that's just fine with him. "This is a point guard's dream to play on a team like this," Gay said. "When you have an unselfish team like this, you just have to feel grateful for it that everyone is on the same page."