San Diego State guard Miles Byrd had reportedly reduced his list of transfer destinations to seven by early this week: Kentucky, Texas, Louisville, Baylor, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt and Providence.
And his choice?
Surprise: the Providence College Friars.
It undoubtedly will be a step up in NIL and revenue-sharing income, from mid-six figures at SDSU to likely in the $1.5 million to $2 million range. But whether it’s a step up in level is more debatable.
Byrd left a program that had reached the NCAA Tournament for five straight seasons before just missing this year … to one that hasn’t been to the Big Dance in three seasons and went 12-20 and 15-18 in the last two. The Friars are coming off Big East finishes of tied for eighth and tied for seventh.
“Go Friars,” Byrd said in a social media post Thursday afternoon.
But there’s a new energy in Providence with the hiring of coach Bryan Hodgson from South Florida. Hodgson knows the Aztecs well, having faced them in the Sweet 16 of the 2023 tournament as an assistant on Nate Oats’ staff with No. 1 overall seed Alabama — and lost 71-64.
Byrd was a true freshman on that Aztecs team, sitting out all but the first few games and ultimately receiving a medical redshirt. That gave him the extra year of eligibility that he’ll use at PC.
“We’re never going to be the highest bidder for anybody,” Hodgson, who went 25-9 in his only season at South Florida, said at his March 24 introductory news conference. “I don’t want to be. I don’t relate to those people. I grew up poor. I understand the value of a dollar. More importantly, I understand the commitment and the want-to that a young man has to have to be here. We’re going to find the right players.”
In Byrd, the Friars get the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year who didn’t quite live up to his billing as preseason player of the year, averaging 10.4 points per game — down two points from the previous season — and finishing as a third-team all-conference selection. But he’s played in four NCAA Tournament games, something no one else at Providence can say.
“He will bring experience, leadership and a strong defensive presence to our roster,” Hodgson said in the school’s news release about Byrd. “As we watched film on Miles, we felt he had all the attributes that we look for when we are building a roster. He also has been a part of a winning culture and has had experience in the NCAA Tournament over the last four years.”
On social media, Hodgson said: “We got our guy, a real one!!”
Byrd becomes the first of five SDSU players currently in the transfer portal to find a new home. BJ Davis reportedly will visit Auburn and Oklahoma State. Magoon Gwath, Miles Heide and Pharaoh Compton are portalling as well.
Byrd was widely expected to leave, having spent four years at SDSU and on schedule to get his degree next month. Former teammates Lamont Butler (Kentucky) and Keshad Johnson (Arizona) made similar decisions for their final seasons of eligibility.
“It’s no different than Lamont or Keshad,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said last month. “He’s going to graduate from San Diego State. … He’ll have an interesting decision financially, whether it’s at another college or whether he thinks he has a chance to get into the NBA this year.
“I will be supportive over whatever one he decides to make.”
A year ago, Byrd provisionally entered the NBA Draft and attended the combine while committing to a return to SDSU if he ultimately withdrew. He played well enough in combine scrimmages to move into the upper half of the second round on many draft boards, but without a promise of a guaranteed contract, he took the safer route of guaranteed revenue-sharing money in college.
This year, he announced he would enter the portal for “the next chapter of my journey” with no mention of the draft. Increasingly, veterans with eligibility remaining and questionable NBA futures are staying in college, where they can get more money in one year than they might make in an entire non-NBA professional career.