Another banner, No. 1 seed on line for No. 5 San Diego State

SAN DIEGO — San Diego State forward Yanni Wetzell said he could practically sense when the calendar turned to March.

“I felt this little edge about me,” the big New Zealander said Tuesday before the No. 5 Aztecs held their first full practice for their Mountain West Conference Tournament opener Thursday in Las Vegas, against the winner of Wednesday’s game between ninth-seeded Air Force and eighth-seeded Fresno State.

“It’s just this feeling inside of me, just I’m ready to go,” said Wetzell, who along with fellow transfers Malachi Flynn — named MWC Player of the Year on Tuesday — and KJ Feagin have lifted the Aztecs from no postseason appearance last year to the cusp of being a No. 1 seed for the first time .

“It’s the month that we’ve been all working for, for all our whole lives, almost,” said Wetzell, a graduate transfer who suffered through 20 straight losses to end last season at Vanderbilt. “For all of us, we’re all very excited to get going and get this conference tournament under way.”

For top-seeded SDSU (28-1), it will be the chance to hang another banner. They clinched the regular-season title with four games to go and then unveiled the banner before their only loss, 66-63 at home to UNLV on Feb. 22.

“Absolutely. It’s going to be the ultimate challenge,” said Brian Dutcher, who was named MWC Coach of the Year by his peers a day after winning the same award in voting of the media. “Obviously the upper half of the conference is playing very well right now. … We’re looking for nothing but challenges on a neutral floor and excited to get out there.”

The Aztecs and their fans have been looking forward to March since early in this historic season. They won at No. 15 BYU and then beat No. 11 Creighton and No. 18 Iowa on consecutive nights to win a tournament in Las Vegas.

They went 27-0 and were the nation’s last unbeaten team before losing to UNLV.

They’re projected as the No. 1 seed in the East, where the regionals will be played at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“I think we have to probably win a game or two to be a No. 1 seed,” Dutcher said. “I don’t know if we have to win all of them. A lot of that depends on how everyone else does. But we want to play our best basketball, regardless. We don’t want to go there and take a step back. I tell the guys every day, ‘You either get better or you get worse. We have to get better leading into the conference tournament and obviously into the NCAA Tournament.

“I think the No. 1 seed obviously has been proven over the years to give you the best chance to advance,” said Dutcher, in his third season as head coach after serving as Steve Fisher’s top assistant for 18 seasons. “A No. 1 seed would be nice in order to try to advance. But as much as the seeding is, sometimes you just have to get the right draw. You have to get matchups that are suitable for your team. Someone who doesn’t play strong where you’re weak. Obviously, I’m not going to discuss what those weaknesses are. I have a feeling we have a few but I’m not looking to put them out there for everyone to know.”