Aztec Fans Proving That San Diego Loves a Winner

Build it, and they will come. Build a winner, that is. That's what Steve Fisher has done on Montezuma Mesa, and getting a seat at Viejas Arena will never be the same.

Sure, it's filled to capacity for hot concerts and San Diego State graduation ceremonies, but for basketball? And it doesn't even have to be a marquee matchup like Saturday morning's Top 10 showdown with Brigham Young, which will be televised nationally on CBS.

This season alone, there have been more sellouts at the 12,414-seat facility than in the previous 13 seasons combined, dating back to the arena's opening in 1997. San Diegans are finally getting a whiff of what fans at Big East and ACC schools experience at every game—December, January and February madness.

The Cameron Crazies at Duke have nothing on the students behind the east basket at San Diego State games. One can only imagine what shenanigans they'll come up with Saturday to distract the BYU players, particularly the nation's leading scorer, Jimmer Fredette, who burned the Aztecs for 43 points in Provo  as the  Cougars handed SDSU its only loss.

Add in the fact that BYU is leaving the Mountain West Conference, meaning this could be the last meeting between the rivals in San Diego for the foreseeable future,  and it's no wonder students have been lining up for days to get student tickets that will be made available at 7:30 a.m. The school smartly moved the time up from 4 p.m., when rain is expected to be falling.

As the saying goes, winning isn't everything, it's the only thing, at least if you want to fill your arena or stadium. The excitement San Diegans felt when the Padres came back to beat the Cubs and earn a World Series berth in 1984 and when the Chargers won in Pittsburgh in the 1994 AFC title game to reach the Super Bowl is spreading through the county again.

Let's hope it lasts well into March. The Aztecs have never won an NCAA tournament game, but they are expected to rectify that next month. A win on Saturday will go a long way toward securing a high seed and making the road to the Final Four a bit less bumpy.

"We're playing for the city and the school ... the nation's going to get a chance to see what our program is all about," observed Aztecs point guard D.J. Gay.

Hopefully, there will be plenty more chances.