After a remarkable season that led the Aztecs to the NCAA finals, the San Diego State men's basketball team returned to San Diego Wednesday afternoon following a heartbreaking loss to the UConn Huskies.
The team's chartered Allegiant Air plane touched down at San Diego International Airport shortly after 2:45 p.m., where a quartet of buses was waiting to shuttle them back to campus, a large welcome was planned for the returning sports heroes.
The buses began making their way to SDSU a little before 3:30 p.m. with a full complement of police escorts. Players, band members and staff were expected to all be hitching a ride on the caravan. After taking Interstate 5, the buses were greeted by a wide-open Interstate 8, patrol officers having held traffic for the buses.
Once they stepped off the bus, they were greeted by a loud and large hometown crowd, with some players and Coach Brian Dutcher expected to address the crowd from an awaiting podium.
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Herds of fans approached players — many of them donning cowboy hats — and Coach Dutcher, asking them to sign basketballs, newspapers, T-shirts, hats, signs and more. Fans were seen smiling for photos with players.
NBC 7's Jeanette Quezada asked Coach Dutcher how he was feeling amid the warm welcome.
"I mean come on, with this kind of support, Aztec nation, we're so excited. We wish we could have brought the title home. It didn't happen but we're really proud of our effort and happy we could bring this kind of excitement to San Diego," Coach Dutcher said.
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What's next for the team?
"Well, we gotta get to class now. We're students athletes, so they better be in class tomorrow and we better start working towards our education again," Coach Dutcher said.
San Diego State lost the national championship game to Connecticut 76-59 at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, a disappointing end to a remarkable season. Read more about the game here:
