After years of being, well, pretty darn terrible, and even in their best years never advancing past the first round of any post-season tournament, San Diego State's Men's Basketball Team is headed to New York to play an NIT semi-final game against the Baylor Bears. After leading by 16 in the first half, and as many as 13 in the second, the Aztecs had to fight off a gritty St. Mary's squad before wrapping up the huge victory.

The Gaels, led by Australian Patrick "Patty" Mills, were overwhelmed from the opening tip, going behind 13-0 as the Aztecs fed off the sell-out crowd of 12,414 to take control of the game. St. Mary's, though, at one point in the season ranked #16 in the nation before Mills was temporarily lost to a hand injury, hung tough and had a chance to tie the game with under a minute left before Mills missed the first of a "1 and 1" free throw situation. The Aztecs grabbed the rebound off Mills' miss, and sealed the game thanks to senior point guard Richie Williams making 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch.

Now it's certainly no surprise to anyone out there that I support anything and everything San Diego sports, but it might raise an eyebrow or two that I rank this in my top 10 San Diego sports moments. I know, I know, it's pretty "Bush League" to be so stoked on a quarterfinal win in the NIT, but hey, we don't get many important wins here in San Diego, and this one was against a solid opponent, on national TV no less (not that anyone was really watching) to take us to a national semi-final.

Steve Fisher has done one heck of a job since taking over this once hapless program in the late 90's, and to have them playing in Madison Square Garden at the end of the season is impressive. Perhaps even more impressive, and certainly a result of Fisher's teams' success this decade, is that the Aztecs have the #15 ranked recruiting class in Division 1 Men's Basketball in 2008/2009 (top 5 if the rankings were to count transfers: http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111408aaa.html), so the future is certainly bright on Montezuma Mesa. That's a story for another night, though.

The Aztecs are headed to The Garden, baby! How you like them apples?!?!


Cheers,
Sir Bolt