San Diego State began summer basketball workouts this week with a different look and feel, and not just because junior guard BJ Davis is almost unrecognizable after cutting his shoulder-length braids in favor of a more minimalist (and aerodynamic) haircut.
There’s palpable energy, effervescence and expectation inside the JAM Center, four full months before the start of the season.
“We want high expectations, we’ve always had high expectations,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “You can’t basically be an NCAA Tournament team seven of the last eight years and not have high expectations. That’s what the expectations are.
“Now we have to see what reality is. I tell people, ‘We look good on paper, but we don’t play on paper. We play on the court.’ The work between now and the start of the season will dictate what we look like on the court.”
Dutcher typically lets his players have the first session of summer school to themselves, then gathers the roster for the second session in early July for individual workouts and a limited number of hourlong practices with the full team. Everyone is here, and everyone is practicing except 7-foot forward Magoon Gwath, still rehabbing after knee surgery in late April.
That includes eight returnees and 60% of their scoring, impressive figures in an era of unlimited player movement and regular roster overhaul. To that, Dutcher added three veteran transfers that addressed specific needs and a pair of highly touted incoming freshmen.
The Aztecs went from a team that had six freshmen or sophomores in the rotation to one that could field a lineup with a junior, a fourth-year junior, a fifth-year senior and two sixth-year seniors, returning to SDSU’s tried and true formula of getting old and staying old.
“We have a team where we returned a lot of our points and minutes from last year,” said guard Miles Byrd, who showed well at the NBA Draft Combine before opting to return for his redshirt junior season. “We still have a youthful side to us, which is that young energy, it’s fun in here, it’s loud, there’s a lot of excitement.
“I also think we’re taking the next step in our level of maturity. All of us have more time on the court under our belt, and I think it’s going to lead to a great season. We need Goon back, obviously. But just off the first practice, the energy, the athleticism, the length, the versatility 1 through 5, might be the best I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”
(And remember, he was a freshman on a team that played in the national championship game.)
The most notable change from this time a year ago is practice humming along at a furious pace without the constant need to stop and correct.
Some other differences besides Davis’ hair (or lack thereof):
• Senior guard Reese Waters, after missing all of last season with a broken bone in his foot, is back on the floor (and making a ridiculously high percentage of shots), although only as a partial participant while recovering from a sprained ankle.
• Crowd favorite Kimo Ferrari has stayed on as a graduate assistant to finish his master’s degree and provides a sage presence on the scout team.
• The impact of Louisiana Tech transfer Sean Newman Jr. is immediately apparent as the kind of pass-first point guard the Aztecs haven’t had recently. Byrd called him “one of the people I’m most excited to play with,” adding: “He’s like a technician. You can tell he lived in the gym growing up, because he’s so tight with handles. I like how he carries himself on the court.”
• Gwath, unable to practice, has been spending his time in the weight room and has noticeably wider chest and shoulders after adding a good 15 pounds of muscle.
• Sophomores Pharaoh Compton and Taj DeGourville both transformed their diets and their bodies over the offseason, and both seem improved. “They are living their life right off the court,” Byrd said, “which is helping their success on the court.”
• True freshmen Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons don’t look out of place athletically, and Byrd predicted “both have a chance where they can play this year, where they can earn minutes and be a big part of the team.”
That, of course, would require them to beat out several veterans. The Aztecs are that deep, and the anticipated competition for minutes might be the reason everyone showed up in shape. No one was huffing and puffing.
“We went at a pretty good pace,” Dutcher said after Monday’s first practice, “and everybody looked like they were engaged and had gotten better. That’s the key. I told them all, ‘I’m going to be a better coach this year because I have better players. You’ve worked hard in the offseason, and I can see you’ve gotten better, all of you.’
“That was exciting to see.”
With the departure of point guard Nick Boyd to Wisconsin, the clear leader of this team is Byrd.
“I’m the most tenured player here, so it feels like I have to step up as leader,” said Byrd, in his fourth year in the program. “I also feel like I needed to earn it, and with the season I had last year and the continued development of my game and my continued maturity on and off the court, it allows me to feel like I earned my respect and earned my leadership. I feel like guys listen to me.”
Byrd was the final ingredient in the pot, waiting until a few hours before the deadline in late May to withdraw from the draft and reclaim his collegiate eligibility. He played well enough in scrimmages at the combine and was moving up draft boards that some speculated he would stay in.
Several mock drafts had him going in the early second round, but Byrd was seeking a promise of a guaranteed rookie contract instead of settling for a two-way deal that allows players to bounce between the senior team and its G League affiliate but isn’t guaranteed.
“It’s frustrating, because I feel like obviously I could have been selected, like I would have been selected,” Byrd said. “But at the same time, I want to put myself in the best position moving forward. Entering the NBA through the back door isn’t something I want to do. I think with another year of continued success here, I think I can walk into the NBA through the front door.”
Originally Published: July 9, 2025 at 5:37 PM PDT