April 4, 2011 will forever go down in San Diego history as “San Diego State Aztec men’s basketball team day.”
City of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders made it official Monday afternoon, issuing the proclamation at the on-campus celebration of the team’s historic season. An estimated 1,000 fans filled up the area around the Free Speech Steps, and even lined up along the second story balcony of the Student Services West building to catch a glimpse of the players and honor the once-in-a-lifetime team one last time.
“I thought this was terrific,” head coach Steve Fisher said. “None of us had a chance since we got back from Anaheim to express our thanks to our fans and to our students and to everybody who made it such a great, great season. They were a huge part of it and I heard that loud and clear in Houston for the Final Four. Everybody talked about how loud and fantastic our crowd was, and you could see that and feel that on TV. So it was special for us to do this.”
Ted Leitner, the Aztecs’ radio play-by-play announcer, was the master of ceremonies and introduced Sanders, the assortment of other politicians, the dance team, cheerleading squad, and of course the coaching staff and players to the crowd.
Kawhi Leonard, who is still undecided about whether or not he will forego his remaining two seasons of eligibility at SDSU and declare for the NBA Draft, was introduced to chants of “Stay, Kawhi stay!”
The sophomore forward said his glowing reception by fans did nothing to make his decision easier.
“It makes (the) decision harder because you see how much support you have behind you,” Leonard said. “And you don’t know what’s at the next stage so it just makes the decision harder.”
Other Aztec players were floored by the outpour of support from fans.
“The fan support was great,” freshman guard Jamaal Franklin said. “They traveled with us well, every away game felt like a home game for us … I’m glad we have such fan support. It really provided a chance to show our appreciation to the fans telling them that we really care about what they did for us and we’re thankful for having them.”
“To come back to school and all these fans are here from class just to show their support, it’s a great feeling for us,” senior forward Billy White added.
The ceremony was also a big hit with fans, who had the opportunity to cheer on their beloved SDSU men’s basketball team one last time.
Journalism senior Beau Bearden said this season was the most memorable experience of his four years at San Diego State.
“It’s been a great experience, I’ll never get to experience this again in my whole life,” Bearden said. “I literally missed so much class and so many other priorities in my life just for basketball, so I feel like I put so much into it. It’s rough for it to end the way it did and have to go back to the real world now.”
When asked what his best memory from the season was, business management senior Chad Colvin said, “Too many.”
“This campus hasn’t experienced this pretty much ever, so for us to get this far and to have this celebration, it’s a great thing,” Colvin said with a smile.
Leitner concluded the celebration by saying, “This is not an end, this is a beginning.” White, who will no longer get to step on the court as an Aztec, felt the same way.
“There’s a lot of players coming back next year that can do the same thing and even better,” White said. “I’m excited for them to get their moment to shine.”
