SAN DIEGO — Even for the home of the No. 4 college basketball team in the country (according to both polls), or the No. 1 team (if you prefer the NCAA’s metrics), this was madness.
The students who make up The Show, San Diego State’s rowdy student section, were in their seats an hour before game time, filling up the bulk of four full sections from top to bottom of Viejas Arena. They were there to see the undefeated Aztecs against Utah State, naturally, but the kid who wore a Riverside King High No. 22 jersey and held up the “Board Man Gets Paid” sign probably gave it away.
This was Kawhi Leonard’s night at his alma mater. Given where the Aztecs are now, and how they became a destination program for a higher level of recruit after Leonard’s two seasons on Montezuma Mesa, the question isn’t about retiring his jersey – he wore No. 15 as a college player – but what took SDSU so long.
Quite likely it was proximity. Those seasons in San Antonio and Toronto made it tough for the Aztecs to coordinate their schedule with the NBA calendar. With Leonard now a Clipper, clearing a date was comparatively simple.
Leonard put in his workday – 31 points, six rebounds in 23:34 of the Clips’ 118-106 afternoon victory over Minnesota at Staples Center – and then hustled down to San Diego with family, friends, his teammates – every last one of them – and other Clippers staff for a ceremony at halftime of what turned out to be the Aztecs’ 23rd straight victory, 80-68 over the Aggies.
Then again, due to recent events, things aren’t that simple any more. Leonard, like the late Kobe Bryant, had taken to using helicopters to bypass Southern California traffic.
This time, Leonard took a private plane.
“It’s (because of) more people coming with me,” he told Mirjam Swanson of the Southern California News Group in Los Angeles after his game. “Things happened (with helicopters) before that; it’s just so famous because it’s Kobe Bryant. … A lot of my helicopter flights got canceled because of fog, so if it’s a clear day, then maybe yeah, I would take it. Just not at this particular point just because I have people with me.”
It’s true that the Aztecs turned from doormat to respectable not too long after Steve Fisher arrived to coach them in 1999. But it was when Leonard arrived on campus in 2010, as a recruit that had been overlooked by the power conference schools until it was too late, that San Diego State took that next step. The Aztecs set a school record for victories (34-3) and reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in Leonard’s sophomore year, after which he turned pro.
Consider: Before Leonard the Aztecs were 163-40 under Fisher with two NCAA berths and three NIT trips. With Leonard they were 59-12 with two NCAA berths. In the eight-plus seasons since he left, counting the 22-0 record they’d compiled going into Saturday night, they’re 219-81, have reached the NCAAs five times and the NIT once and almost certainly will be playing in mid-March again this year.
Also, the Aztecs had one player drafted in Fisher’s first decade as coach, Randy Holcomb as a second-round pick by San Antonio in 2002. After Leonard, the 15th player selected in the 2011 NBA draft, Jamaal Franklin, Xavier Thomas and Jalen McDaniels were second-rounders in 2013, ’14 and ’19, respectively.
All of that should provide a sense of what Leonard meant to SDSU. What did SDSU mean to Leonard?
“It just shows that hard work paid off,” he said Saturday afternoon. “I was able to reach that goal while I was there, to be able to become a pro.”
He elaborated during the ceremony:
“Coming here I wanted to make a name for myself,” he said. “I wanted to put San Diego State on the map. I want to thank the coaching staff, Coach Fisher, who recruited me hard. This is why I’m a player today. And a great group of teammates, trusting a freshman to pass me the ball. They wanted me to lead the team.”
Leonard’s success is a reminder that recruiting can be incredibly hit or miss. Fisher and the Aztecs were in on him early when bigger programs were dubious about what position best suited him.
Some of that hesitancy from other people, as current coach (and then assistant) Brian Dutcher recalled, might have involved Leonard’s famously reticent nature.
“If you spend the time to build a relationship, you know he’s a quiet kid,” Dutcher said. “You know, if you go in there one time and try to recruit him (and) he doesn’t say anything, you leave and you say, ‘Well, the kid’s not interested in it. He didn’t say anything.’ But if you stick to it, you realize that’s his personality and you embrace it. You just say this is a rare kid that doesn’t boast about his game. He just plays his game. And he likes us. He likes the fact that we were there from the start.
“I thought he was gonna be a great player. I called back and told Coach, ‘I think this kid’s got a chance to play in the NBA. But nowhere in your wildest dreams do you think he’s going to be the best player in the world.”
Leonard committed to San Diego State before his senior year at King … and after he and his team took down a Mater Dei powerhouse in the CIF Southern Section final, Fisher and his staff worried that bigger programs would swoop in. But Leonard honored his commitment.
So it made a peculiar sort of sense when that vibrant, raucous SDSU student section erupted in a loud ovation when Leonard walked into the arena 10 minutes into the first half … and then turned unusually quiet, almost as if it were a sacred moment.
There was some symmetry this night. Another son of the Inland Empire, Matt Mitchell (Eastvale Roosevelt) led the charge from a 39-31 halftime deficit, scoring 24 of his 28 points in the second half including back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to put SDSU in front to stay in the second half.
Yes, the idea of having a big night with Leonard on the premises hit home. Leonard’s influence on this program influenced Mitchell during his own recruitment process, after he’d committed to and then decommited from Cal State Fullerton.
“He’s the biggest idol next to Reggie Miller in the Inland Empire,” Mitchell said. “So it’s a great influence for me to come here and be able to show out tonight.”
During the halftime ceremony, Fisher gestured toward the full house and said to Leonard: “This is your legacy, my friend. Look around this building.”
And then the former coach got to the heart of what makes Kawhi Kawhi, the attribute that his coaching staff had no trouble embracing.
“A lot of people talk a good game,” he said. “Kawhi doesn’t talk a good game. He plays a good game.”
They saw it here first.