Officially, San Diego State’s recruitment of Latrell Davis began last spring, when the 6-foot-3 guard from San Jose State entered the transfer portal and the Aztecs’ coaching staff reached out.
It really began 55 years earlier, in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Donny Stewart was a star quarterback at Eastern Michigan University in the late 1960s and decided to play basketball during his senior year. The Eagles’ head coach: Jim Dutcher, father of current Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher.
Stewart ultimately was inducted into the Eastern Michigan athletic Hall of Fame and became a decorated high school basketball coach in Naples, Fla. His son, Scott, played basketball at the University of Florida and then for 12 years in overseas pro leagues before becoming a high school coach in Naples as well, at Faith Baptist Academy.
So where does Davis, who is from the West Yorkshire region of England and is redshirting this season at SDSU, fit into all this?
Fifteen years ago, Scott Stewart’s Faith Baptist was playing in a Thanksgiving tournament in Tampa, and the other team had an English player named Josh Metcalf.
“I just went up and introduced myself,” Stewart said, “because I played 12 years of international pro basketball. I was more or less checking on him. Is your school doing a good job taking care of you? I wanted him to feel comfortable and wanted to shoot the breeze with him about international stuff.
“That was it. I never talked to that guy again.”
Until he got a WhatsApp message a decade later from Metcalf, explaining that he was coaching in Leeds, England, and had a promising player who wanted to come to the United States to finish his high school career. Davis had lost one season to pandemic shutdowns. He didn’t want to lose another, and Florida was open for athletics.
Stewart, who had some international players at Faith Baptist, figured he had room for another.
“Sight unseen,” Stewart said. “I trusted him.”
Davis got on a plane to Florida.
“I prayed about it, and it felt like the right decision,” Davis said. “I didn’t want to miss another year of basketball, so I decided to go. Sixteen years old, first time flying by myself. It was nice. I had the whole row to myself because of COVID. I was asleep the whole flight, until they woke me and asked me: ‘Are you OK?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’
“Didn’t know what to expect, didn’t know how it was going to go.”
It went well. Faith Baptist reached the state Final Four in Davis’ first year. Davis’ senior season, he averaged 23.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game and was named an all-region selection.
Stewart called the son of his father’s college coach. Dutcher was receptive but didn’t have room for another guard with Lamont Butler returning and BJ Davis incoming. Latrell Davis considered attending a junior college before Tim Miles and San Jose State saw him leading Great Britain to a 6-1 record in the European under-18 championships that summer and quickly grabbed him.
But SDSU was always on Davis’ mind, always on his radar. The Aztecs reached the national championship game during his senior year at Faith Baptist, and Stewart couldn’t stop talking about the coaching pedigree of Jim and Brian Dutcher — and the school on the opposite coast with regularly packed 12,414-seat arena, 75-degree winter days and no mosquitoes.
He’s such a big fan that his daughter, Zara, is freshman libero on SDSU women’s volleyball team.
“I believe in the school,” Stewart said. “It’s a great school. Coach Dutcher does a great job. The facilities are great. The pro guys come back and train here. For a big school in a big city, it feels like a small town. That resonates with Latrell and Zara. They like that feel. And of course, San Diego is beautiful.”
Davis became a believer the first time he stepped foot in Viejas Arena as a San Jose State freshman. He had 13 points, a season high for a road game, and admitted: “I low-key fell in love with the school. … It became, yeah, I want to go to this school at some point in my life.”
San Jose State guard Latrell Davis drives past San Diego State forward Miles Heide (40) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
As a sophomore, he had 23 and 21 points against the Aztecs in games the Spartans led big before losing late.
This time when Stewart called the son of his father’s college coach, Dutcher had room on the roster. He also didn’t have to watch film on Davis. Knew him well.
At the time, Miles Byrd had not yet withdrawn from the NBA Draft. Davis agreed that if Byrd returned, he would strongly consider redshirting if everyone else entered the season healthy.
Now Davis plays on the scout team at practice, and on many days he’s arguably the best player on the floor. His skillset is suited to the modern, analytics-driven game, able to shoot 3s or get “downhill” to the rim with his 212-pound, running back’s physique.
Two of SDSU’s six active guards — Reese Dixon-Waters and Sean Newman Jr. — are seniors, and who knows how many others will return in this transient era of college basketball? Davis, with two years of eligibility remaining, should have a featured role as SDSU transitions to the Pac-12 Conference in 2026-27.
The current plan for SDSU guard Latrell Davis, shown here in the exhibition game against USD, is to redshirt this season. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At San Jose State last season, he had six 20-point games and a career-high 30 against Fresno State while shooting 38.3% from 3-point range despite primarily coming off the bench. During one scintillating seven-game stretch in January and February, he averaged 20.7 points while shooting 52% from 3.
His offensive efficiency rate in the Kenpom metric ranked higher than every returning SDSU player and was fifth best among returning players across the entire Mountain West.
Now he’s playing for the son of the man who coached his high school coach’s father.
“If you’re in the business long enough, your paths are going to cross with people,” Dutcher said. “I guess that’s one of the benefits of being a head coach who’s been doing it a long time and having a father who was a coach. There are lot of basketball connections developed over my dad’s career and my career that we were able to take advantage of at times.”
The kid from West Yorkshire is more succinct: “It’s a small world, really.”
SDSU (14-5, 8-1) vs. Colorado State (12-8, 3-6)
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Viejas Arena
TV: Fox Sports 1
Radio: 760-AM