The newest edition of San Diego State Men’s Basketball is back on the Mesa for summer workouts. Fortunately for Aztecs fans it’s a lot of familiar faces in the JAM Center.
A year ago, the Aztecs lost all five starters due to graduation, transfer, or injury. The team that picked up the pieces for the 2024-2025 season was one of the youngest, most inexperienced rosters in Division-1 basketball. Yet Brian Dutcher’s squad still managed to win an impressive 21 games—good enough to make the First Four in the NCAA Tournament.
This year, Coach Dutcher and his staff pulled a rabbit out of their hat in the offseason by retaining 6 of the 9 rotational players:
• Mountain West Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year, Magoon Gwath was a long shot to return to SDSU. Having been wooed by ‘blue blood’ programs like Kentucky and Texas Tech, Magoon entered the portal—only to pull his name back out and return to the Montezuma Mesa.
• Mountain West 2nd teamer Miles Byrd’s stock rose during the NBA Draft process with a breakout performance at the NBA Draft Combine. Projected to go in the 2nd round, Byrd had a difficult decision to make of whether to remain in the draft or return to SDSU. He chose to run it back with the Aztecs.
• Preseason Mountain West 1st teamer Reese Waters ended up missing all of last season due to an injury. Despite not logging a minute of game time, Mr. Waters could have landed at a bevy of other universities out there—he’s just that good. He chose loyalty to the program & staff that helped rehab his comeback.
• BJ Davis, Miles Heide, Taj DeGourville and Pharaoh Compton all came back with another year of experience—even while knowing the real chances many of their upperclassmen teammates may or may not return.
The Aztecs also added three impact transfers in pass-first point guard Sean Newman, a stretch 4 in Jeremiah Oden, and a former conference opponent in dynamic guard, Latrell Davis.
But wait, there’s more.
Additionally, two 4-star freshmen in Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons, are both on their way down to San Diego and are expecting to make an immediate impact. Lastly, 7-footer Thokbor Majak is now available full-time after having redshirted last season.
All the stars have aligned for SDSU to make a run in March 2026 with a deep, athletic, and experienced team that could see up to 11 players vie for playing time.
Observations From Swish Pro-Am
Several of these Aztecs have already participated in the Swish Pro-Am league at Lincoln High School during the 1st semester of Summer School. Being San Diego’s official premier basketball ProAm, the league is in it’s 7th season of operation and is quickly becoming a must participate to many of the top talents to come from or through San Diego County.
Though there’s been a lot to say about the league not making rosters public as they have in years past, it’s important to note that the league has a ton of moving parts that come together on behalf of both the league and the players. The league’s focus is to raise up basketball scene across all San Diego.
Personally I’m thankful for each of you that have watched on the livestream, came down to the gym, and taken the time to enjoy the celebration of hoops. Though the league is not only for SDSU and SDSU fans, it’s important that we continue to support the league now in its 7th year of operation. It without a doubt has become a must participate summer showcase for not only Aztecs players but all pro & amateur ballers that have come from or through our beautiful city.
The league has continued to evolve in these seven years through different locations, a pandemic, and the changing landscape of pro/amateur sports. One thing that has remained is the solid relationships the league’s founders have forged with the San Diego State basketball program and all of the other major college basketball programs in town.
Here are some of the Aztecs that have been a part of the Swish this summer and what we’ve gleaned.
Miles Byrd, playing for Valley Farm, has flashed his playmaking ability with electrifying reverse dunks and impacting the game on multiple levels like we saw last season. One area he will continue to develop in the summer and at Swish, is his ability to create shots for himself and make plays on the offensive end.
Sean Newman Jr. also plays for Valley Farm and has wowed spectators already with his passing abilities. While he doesn’t have a super quick burst of speed, he is one of the fastest from baseline to baseline. This could lead to more points in transition for he Aztecs as well as getting back on defense more in order to prevent easy transition buckets for opponents. One area that still needs improvement is knocking down shots from the outside.
Taj DeGourville playing for Loew Ballerz has also impressed with his passing abilities often linking up with teammate Pharoah Compton for alley oop dunks. He dropped 32 points in his most recent game and filling up the stat sheet every night that he is there at the Swish League, is quickly spreading excitement of his game through out the Aztecs faithful spectators.
Pharoah Compton has impressed with his work in the paint this off season, but what may be more impressive is his ability to stretch the floor with range out to 20 feet. If Compton can play inside at the 5 or stretch the floor as a 4, he may be seeing a significant rise in playing time this upcoming season.
More Aztecs are expected to play in the Swish League now that summer workouts begin back on campus. The Swish Pro-Am League runs through August 3rd with games on Thursdays and Sundays at Lincoln High School.
Two games will be broadcast live on Sundays through the Sons of Montezuma YouTube channel. Subscribe to the channel for updates on which games will be broadcast or come down to “The Hive” to enjoy the finest basketball San Diego has to offer.
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