Copyright San Diego Union-Tribune
Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 87-54 win against USD in its final preseason exhibition at Viejas Arena on Wednesday night: 1. Position battles We’re inside a week from the season opener, Tuesday against Long Beach State, and by this time we usually have a pretty good idea of who will start. Not this year. Position battles at point guard and center, the spine of the team, have continued through the summer and fall, and both remain unresolved. And may remain unresolved, to hear coach Brian Dutcher tell it, with starting lineups possibly changing “from time to time” as tactics and shifting form dictate. That’s a departure from the past preference of Dutcher, and before him Steve Fisher, who tended to select a starting five and then resolutely stick with it through the season, health permitting. But that’s how close some of the position and rotation battles are. You figure the three Mountain West preseason all-conference selections — Reese Dixon-Waters, Miles Byrd and Magoon Gwath — will start at the 2, 3 and 4 spots when healthy. That leaves point and center, and Dutcher offered different looks in the two exhibitions. Taj DeGourville started and ran the point against UCLA. Sean Newman Jr. did against USD. Miles Heide started inside against UCLA. Pharaoh Compton got the nod Wednesday night. DeGourville seems to have edged ahead of Newman, who has been limited by a nagging foot injury and hasn’t displayed the burst off ball screens that allowed him to rank third in Division I last season in assists per game. DeGourville scored in double figures in both games (10 and 11 points) while making 7 of 11 shot attempts. The downside is a negative assist-to-turnover ratio (three assists, five turnovers) that ideally should be 2-to-1 for an effective point guard. Newman fouled out in just 12 minutes off the bench against UCLA, but has more assists, fewer turnovers and is 2 of 2 on 3s. The battle between Heide and Compton is harder to call. Heide has been the better rebounder (15 in two games) but has only two points in 44 combined minutes. Compton has fewer rebounds and fouled out against UCLA (also in 12 minutes) but has been the more effective scorer (15 points on 6 of 8 shooting), even confidently knocking down a free-throw line jumper against USD. “I told Heide and Pharaoh, I was going to start one against UCLA and the other against USD,” Dutcher said. “It might be that way all year, because they’re pretty even.” Jeremiah Oden started at the 4 in both games, but that’s a function of Gwath’s return from offseason knee surgery. Once the Mountain West freshman and defensive player of the year is cleared for live action, which could come next week, Oden likely becomes his backup. The odd man out may be BJ Davis, who started 31 games last season but could come off the bench with Byrd withdrawing from the NBA Draft and Dixon-Waters’ season-ending foot injury behind him. Davis started against UCLA, then came off the bench Wednesday. “BJ didn’t start for the first time in a long time, and I thought he handled it pretty well,” Dutcher said. “I told these guys they have to find ways to be happy for themselves and be happy for their teammates, because we have a lot of depth on this team. If we all stay focused on the goal of getting better, then we could have a special season. “I think I’ll switch the lineup this year from time to time. With that being said, I don’t want to mess with a guy’s head if he’s playing well and take him out of the starting lineup just because I feel some other guy is depressed because he’s not starting. They have to be able to handle the stress of starting and not starting.” 2. The freshmen The other revelation from the two exhibition games is the freshmen don’t look like freshmen. Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons won’t start but that doesn’t mean they won’t play. Both made strong cases to be in the rotation. Harrington had 16 points in the two games and, more notably, no turnovers in 32 minutes while often running the point. Simmons has 11 points and 10 rebounds — second most on the team behind Heide — in 29 minutes. They are roughly the same height but completely different players. Harrington is a silky ballhander with elite court vision and an underrated jump shot. Simmons is a bruising, if slightly undersized, power forward who wills his way to rebounds, something this roster sorely (and statistically) lacked last season. “Elzie plays with such great pace, it’s natural to him,” Dutcher said. “I don’t have to teach him that. He’s smart. He knows how to play the game. And Tae has a body, he doesn’t look like a freshman. That’s a harder position to adjust to with all that physicality moving from high school to college. It’s a beating every time you go out there around the paint, but he’s got the body to deal with that. “I’m happy with both my freshmen.” They’re also mature beyond their years. Harrington was brought to Wednesday’s post-game news conference and eloquently described his journey as a freshman: “I think practice is a lot harder than the games, honestly. The first half against UCLA, I was very nervous just because it was so built up. But I think by the end of the first half, I realized this is just basketball and the guys I’m going against every day (in practice) are just as good or better than what we’re going to play against. “The game, I’m not saying it feels easy, but I’m just going out there to have fun. I know I’m a freshman, and I kind of use that to my advantage. I can make mistakes. They’re expecting me to make mistakes, so I’m just trying to play carefree and have fun and find ways to help us win. “It’s just trying to stay ready all the time. I know I’m a freshman, and we have a lot of good players. The biggest thing for me is getting used to, when I’m called on, being ready to go. It’s different from high school, where you’re the guy and can do whatever you want and don’t come out. That’s the biggest adjustment, and I think I’m getting better at it.” 3. Across town In Steve Lavin’s first season at USD, he assembled a roster of fifth-year senior transfers. The next year he went in the opposite direction, with nine freshmen in an era where teams are getting old and staying old through the transfer portal and NIL inducements — saying they were “re-framing it as an opportunity to be the disruptors and go against the trend by using our youth to our advantage.” Lavin also said: “When you look at USD’s culture, the NIL approach is counter to the fabric and the history of (the university).” After losing 12 of their top 13 scorers from a 6-27 team, the Toreros are trying something else at Alcala Park: a more balanced roster with a mix of freshmen, transfers and European pros — and, notably, NIL and revenue-sharing resources estimated in the low seven figures. They also have a $35 million practice facility that opened earlier this year. Lavin is in the fourth of what is believed to be a six-year contract worth, based on federal tax returns, close to $1 million per season. Usually, coaches who go 2-16 in conference play don’t stick around. But strapped with an atypically long contract from predecessor Bill McGillis and without the funds for a buyout, new USD AD Kimya Massey gave Lavin another year and gave him financial resources the program has never previously enjoyed. That also raises expectations and shortens leashes, and Wednesday’s display at Viejas Arena wasn’t promising. The Toreros trailed 19-4 out of the gate and by 38 in the second half against an Aztecs team without a pair of preseason all-conference players. Lavin has a new roster that, on paper, is more talented than last season, but new rosters take time to mesh. The question now becomes, how long? “San Diego State, they were hitting on all cylinders, playing like a well-oiled machine,” Lavin said. “They’re unique in how stout they are, how experienced they are, how cohesive they are because of that continuity, where we’ve got 14 new players. We’re kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum. We bring back less experience than most teams in the country, and San Diego State brings back as much experience as any team in the country. “It was a study of contrasts.”
