The road to the Mountain West men’s basketball Championship has long gone through Viejas Arena—home of the San Diego State Aztecs. In February under head coach Brian Dutcher the team has amassed about an 80% winning percentage.
A large reason for that distinction has been their dominance of having the conference’s defensive player of the year on their roster.
For five of the last six seasons an Aztecs player has worn that crown. Mark that Magoon Gwath from last year in 2024-25. Lamont Butler in 2023-204. Nathan Mensah in 2022-2023 and in 2021-22. Malachi Flynn won the award in the 2019-2020 season.
Before that six year stretch SDSU has began their dominance when Skylar Spencer won the award twice in 2014-15 and 2015-16. And then again when Dakarai Allen won in 2016-17.
This year SDSU should be on track to win it’s fifth in a row and eighth the way that Miles Byrd is playing.
Miles Byrd currently ranks in the Mountain West’s top-3 in blocks (25) and top-2 in steals (47). No other player can claim to be as versatile as Byrd and have the numbers to back it up. No other player has kept their team’s hopes in each game with the defensive playmaking ability that Byrd has shown this season as well.
| Rank | Player | Team | Games | Blocks | AVG/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jones, Tyrin | UNLV | 21 | 41 | 2.0 |
| 2 | Price, Elijah | Nevada | 24 | 44 | 1.8 |
| 3 | Byrd, Miles | San Diego St. | 23 | 25 | 1.1 |
| Rank | Player | Team | Games | Steals | AVG/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falslev, Mason | Utah St. | 24 | 52 | 2.2 |
| 2 | Byrd, Miles | San Diego St. | 23 | 47 | 2.0 |
| 3 | Allen, Drake | Utah St. | 23 | 46 | 2.0 |
The 6’6″ 190 lb junior out of Stockton, California with his enormous wingspan is out performing other players in terms of blocks, that measure up around 6’9″ or above. Out stealing smaller, quicker players on the perimeter as well. He’s a true Swiss army knife in every sense of the word.
Though this season held heights for overall player of the year award predictions, the offensive side of Byrd’s game has been spotty trying to find his sweet spots within the offense. Often picked to be the playmaker or facilitator, the inefficiency has been a head scratcher at times, especially for an offense that is still putting up numbers in scoring not seen since the 1984-85 Smokey Gaines teams with Leonard Allen and Anthony Watson.
But one thing that has always been there is the defense. And that is saying something. Byrd has demonstrated his relentless defensive pressure on opponents, even at times when the shots haven’t all been falling. For an Aztecs hoops culture that prides itself on never letting up on that side, it’s a great example of always picking yourself up even when others want to tear your game down.
An Aztec for Life, Byrd as a redshirt freshman was there along for the ride of the National Title runner-up team in 2022-23 and those lessons of how important defense was to the recipe for success have always been paramount. And if we’re being honest Aztec Nation, that team in that special season, sure had their offensive issues at times.
With plenty of basketball left to be played this conference season there’s a lot of room to improve—or decline. The book is still out on how this year’s team will leave their mark, but for now a this point, the high risk, aggressiveness of Miles Byrd appears to be on track for that high reward.
San Diego State after a week off returns home vs Nevada to begin a tough stretch of conference games. Keep an eye out for our preview of the Wolf Pack in this second meeting of the teams and perhaps final matchup in a long time.
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