Keshad Johnson says national perception of 2023 Final Four provides 'a chip on our shoulder'

As the Final Four fast approaches, the debate rages on about how quality a group this is in the penultimate pairings. It’s been a topsy-turvy tournament, to say the least.

But with Florida Atlantic and San Diego State and Miami and UConn set to meet on Saturday, two teams will advance with the right to play for a national championship. At least on those two teams, any notion of a “boring” Final Four will be pretty quickly quelled.

And, in fact, San Diego State is already using the outside criticism of the Final Four teams as fuel.

“It’s nothing really crazy about it. We understand what they mean,” forward Keshad Johnson said. “And it’s a chip on our shoulder. We’re used to it. We’re used to mid-majors. People not expecting mid-majors to be on a stage like this. I wouldn’t really take it personal. I take it with a grain of salt and stay focused and get it done.”

Johnson is one of the team leaders for San Diego State, a force in the post on a team that likes to play physical.

For him, it’s really simple when asked about the Final Four being “boring.”

“I mean, you understand what they’re saying, like, so you could take the message personal or you could not understand where they’re coming from,” he explained. “We understand where they’re coming from. No bluebloods in here or anything like that, mid-majors in here.”

But for others on the team, it is a little bit of a slight. After all, San Diego State has been a high-level program for a while now, even if the program had only been to two Sweet 16s prior to this year.

Leading scorer Matt Bradley took on the critics head on with a pretty blunt argument.

“For somebody to make that statement, you can’t be a true March Madness fan, you can’t be a true basketball fan, because at the end of the day everybody has a chance to be here,” Bradley said. “Those teams they wanted here, they’re not.”

At the end of the day, San Diego State likely won’t care much what people say about the quality of the Final Four as long as they keep winning. But that’s kind of the ticket.

They’re here because they have been winning.

“We got here fair and square. We beat some really good teams,” Bradley said. “So have the other teams in the Final Four. Everybody had a chance to participate in Final Four. And if they didn’t make it, better luck next year. And you’ve got to keep moving forward.”