Doug Gottlieb talks Sim Bhullar, Aggies/Aztecs

"I've never met a person who doesn't like Marvin Menzies," said College basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb, who will call Thursday's New Mexico State/San Diego State Round of 64 match up on TruTV.

Gottlieb provided another link between Menzies and San Diego State since Menzies helped get Gottlieb's brother, Gregg, hired on Fisher's staff, where he spent eight years before taking a job at Cal in 2007. Menzies was at SDSU from 1999-03.

"He was in my brothers wedding. He got my brother the job. Steve Fisher offered the job to somebody else. Marv went into Fisher's office and said, 'You need to hire this guy. Aerick was my brother's recruit. I have a great affinity of what they are trying to do."

On Sim Bhullar
"I think he's gotten better. I think he's a very good passer. I think that's a very underrated skill. Obviously he's massive. If he gets an angle, he's going to score. They do some pretty good things to hide some of his foot speed issues. How they defend ball screens, they let him sink. They do some unique things defensively so he doesn't have to come out on the floor. He helps them with pressure, feeding him the ball, people come to him and he feeds other people. They don't just have him rim run and demand the basketball. They have him do some different things."

Bhullar's future
"For him to play (in the NBA) you have to be able to defend the ball screen. Post defense, you can't just lay behind  a guy and try to push him out. I think he posts up well, he steps out of the double team well. He has soft hands. Those are things you can't teach."

NMSU vs. San Diego State
"They have two good post defenders. Skyler Spencer is a very good shot blocker (2.5 blocks per game). Traditionally they play behind guys. Some they double, some thy don't. They will probably play behind (Bhullar), but if he's really good at it, he can back them in and catch the ball and lay the ball up. I think initially they play behind him and see how it goes. I don't think they double team because he is such a good passer. But I think they will try to pressure them. Maybe that is where they miss KC."