June 15, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State guard Brandon Heath announced Thursday that he is withdrawing his name from the 2006 NBA Draft. After not hiring an agent and participating in NBA workouts, the decision to withdraw before the June 18 deadline allows Heath to return to SDSU for his senior season.
"We're excited that Brandon will be a San Diego State Aztec for his senior year," said head coach Steve Fisher. "During the process of exploring his viability for the draft, he had exposure to several NBA teams. He received positive feedback on his game and gained some insight as to what he could do to continue to improve it.
"As we said earlier, this was a win-win situation for Brandon and now he is ready to get back to the business of focusing on his senior year at SDSU and helping our team build upon the success we had last year."
Heath, the 2006 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American, returns to an Aztec squad that finished 24-9 (13-3 MWC) in 2006, won the regular-season and tournament titles and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament.
A 6-4, 198-pound guard from Los Angeles, Heath led the league in both scoring (18.4) and three-point field goals per game (2.97) last season. In addition, he ranked among the top 66 nationally in scoring, three-point field goals made, three-point field goal percentage and free-throw percentage.
Heath was the only player to be named MWC Player of the Week three times this past season and established a new San Diego State record with five career weekly awards. The junior was also named to the all-district USBWA and NABC squads along with teammate Marcus Slaughter.