The Mountain West men’s basketball schedule doesn’t begin until Dec. 17, but the conference’s media has already decided San Diego State has won the offseason.
By a lot.
The Aztecs and their eight returnees are the unanimous pick for the regular-season title in their final year in the conference, receiving all 26 first-place votes in balloting that was announced at media day Thursday morning in Las Vegas. They also have five of a possible 13 individual honors.
Junior wing Miles Byrd is preseason player of the year. Elzie Harrington is preseason freshman of the year. Byrd, sophomore forward Magoon Gwath and senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters were all selected to the 10-player preseason all-conference team.
Utah State is picked second, followed by Boise State, Mountain West newcomer Grand Canyon, New Mexico with former UC San Diego coach Eric Olen, and UNLV.
The bottom six, in order: Colorado State, Nevada, Wyoming, San Jose State, Fresno State and Air Force.
Byrd and Gwath were considered locks for preseason all-conference, but voters did not forget about Dixon-Waters, who received the honor a year ago before being sidelined the entire season with a broken foot.
The only other team that has more than one all-conference player is Grand Canyon, with UNLV transfer Jaden Henley and Norfolk State transfer Brian Moore Jr. (who also was preseason newcomer of the year).
The others: Utah State guard Mason Falslev, Boise State forward Andrew Meadow, UNLV forward Kimani Hamilton, Nevada forward Elijah Price (who transferred from Fresno State) and New Mexico guard Deyton Albury (who transferred from Utah State).
Five of the 10 are transfers, three from other Mountain West teams. Byrd and Falslev are the only returning members of the 15-player all-conference team from the 2024-25 season; eight ran out of eligibility, and five transferred out of the conference (most notably player of the year Donovan Dent from New Mexico to UCLA).
This is the 11th time in the 27-year history of the Mountain West that the Aztecs have been picked first (and fourth in the last six years). History says that could be a good or a bad thing.
Seven times, they reached the NCAA Tournament. Six times, they won at least a share of the regular-season title. The other four times, they were a combined 39-29 and finished third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
In 2022, they were picked first and finished first — and reached the national championship game. The following year, they were picked first and finished fifth at 11-7.
The only other schools to receive an unanimous nod for first place were Utah in the conference’s inaugural season in 1999-2000 and Utah State in 2019-20. Utah went on to tie for first, but Utah State finished five games back in second place behind 17-1 SDSU.
As regularly as SDSU has been picked first in the media poll, this is only the second time it has had the preseason player of the year. The other was Jamaal Franklin in 2012-13. He averaged 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game but was just a first-team all-conference selection (New Mexico’s Kendall Williams was player of the year) after the Aztecs went 9-7 and finished fourth.
Franklin turned pro and was a second-round pick by the Memphis Grizzlies. After appearing in 21 NBA games in 2013-14, he carved out a long and lucrative career in China.
The 6-6 Byrd was second on the team in scoring last season (12.3 points) while ranking in the top 10 of the Mountain West in steals and blocks, a rare double that caught the attention of pro scouts. He provisionally entered the NBA Draft last spring, played well in the combine’s scrimmages and projected as an early second-round pick before opting to return to SDSU for his redshirt junior season.
The 7-foot Gwath was the Mountain West freshman and defensive player of the year last season. He initially entered the transfer portal, speaking with both Kentucky and Michigan before returning to SDSU.
Originally Published: October 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM PDT