Oct. 6, 2009
DENVER -
PREDICTIONS | SCHEDULE | SEASON TICKETS (starting at $99) | MINI PLANS (starting at $30)
The San Diego State men's basketball team was predicted to finish in second place in the 2009-10 Mountain West Conference preseason men's basketball media poll, the league announced at its annual media day in Denver at The Mtn. studios on Tuesday. The Aztecs received 166 points, including one first-place vote.
SDSU finished behind Brigham Young, which earned 215 points and 23 first-place votes, and ahead of UNLV (161 points), Utah (143), New Mexico (141), Wyoming (89), TCU (82), Colorado State (58) and Air Force (25).
Junior Billy White was voted to the five-man preseason all-conference team and was joined by TCU's Zvonko Buljan, BYU's Jimmer Fredette and Jonathan Tavernari and Tre'Von Willis of UNLV. The two-time all-MWC performer returns as the team's top returner in scoring average (8.8), field-goal percentage (.663), blocked shots (26) and steals (31). He also returns as the Mountain West leader in field-goal percentage and is among the conference leaders in blocked shots. White, who scored in double figures 13 times in 2008-09, joins Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter in 2005-06 as the only non-seniors in school history to be named to the preseason all-league team.
Kawhi Leonard, meanwhile, becomes San Diego State's first Mountain West Preseason Freshman of the Year after a senior season at King High School in Riverside, Calif., that saw him earn Los Angeles Times Player of the Year honors and CalHiSports.com Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year accolades. Leonard, who had at least 20 points and 20 rebounds six times as a senior, averaged 22.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.0 blocks, while leading King High to the CIF-Southern Section Division I-AA title, a runner-up finish in the Southern California Regional and a 30-3 overall record. In addition to earning the highest honors from the L.A. Times and CalHiSports.com, Leonard was a CalHiSports.com all-state first-team selection, was one of seven Los Angeles-area players to receive the John R. Wooden High School Player of the Year award (CIF-SS Div. I) and finished the year ranked No. 56 on ESPNU's Top 100.
This is the fifth straight season in which SDSU has been picked to finish in the Mountain West Conference's upper half. In the six previous years, the Aztecs were picked to finish in the upper division of the league just once and that was in 2001-02 when they were picked fourth.
San Diego State is coming off a 2008-09 season in which it won a school-record 26 games and advanced to the postseason NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City. SDSU has won 20 or more games and advanced to the postseason four straight seasons and returns White, two-year starter D.J. Gay, Tim Shelton and a top-15 recruiting class.
San Diego State 2009-10 season tickets start at $99 for reserved chair-back seats and are available now. Additionally, two mini-plans are on sale, one being an eight-game Mountain West ticket package and another being a three-game non-conference plan. Season tickets and mini-plans can be purchased online at GoAztecs.com or by calling the Aztec Ticket Office at (619) 283-7378.