The college basketball transfer portal offers countless tempting options with eye-popping stats and jaw-dropping athleticism, but San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher constantly reminds people that he It is often more about intangibles than measurables.
The Aztecs were looking for a true point guard who could play off ball screens. They wanted someone who could hit it from 3. They wanted a committed defender with decent size. They wanted a veteran leader with big game experience. And perhaps most of all, they wanted a winner.
The perfect solution, or so they hope: Florida Atlantic guard Nick Boyd, who committed to SDSU Saturday afternoon via social media with the message: “Let’s do this.”
Boyd entered the portal this month when FAU coach Dusty May, who recruited him from Garnerville, N.Y., left for Michigan. He played as a true freshman, redshirting, then played two more seasons, leaving him with two years of eligibility (counting a COVID year).
His commitment to SDSU was widely expected, especially after he began following several Aztec players and coaches on Instagram earlier this week and players began calling him “teammate.” The official announcement simply took several more days.
The 6-foot-3 left-hander is a natural point guard, but can play the ball with a career 37.8 percent accuracy from behind the 3-point arc, giving the Aztecs two ball handlers if Lamont Butler, like most expect it, returns for its final season. Boyd is also an excellent all-around defender who provides more size and length to replace the departed 5-10 Darrion Trammell.
His numbers last season weren’t very impressive – 9.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 23.8 minutes per game while shooting 34.1% from 3 – and he lost his starting place for the last eight matches. But the Aztecs bet on the intangible; after all, he started 37 times for a team that went 35-4 and became just the third No. 9 seed in NCAA Tournament history to reach the Final Four.
And if Butler hadn’t beaten the buzzer with a contested pull-up jumper after Boyd followed him to the floor and interrupted his baseline workout, the Owls would have been playing for the national championship last year instead of the Aztecs . Boyd was FAU’s second-leading scorer in the semifinals with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc.
SDSU passed several guards into the transfer portal with gaudy stats, including at least one who averaged 20 points last season.
They rely on a change of scenery and system modifying its productivity. Last season, Boyd missed the first seven games with a leg injury, then played a supporting role on a team that became dependent — too dependent, some say — on ball-dominant goalkeeper Johnell Davis .
Boyd’s 117.2 offensive rating in 2022-23 by the Kenpom metric was higher than everyone on last season’s SDSU team except Jaedon LeDee’s 119.8. Butler (103.1) and Trammell (107.1) both ranked near the bottom of Mountain West starters.
The Aztecs weren’t the only program to offer this assessment. Boyd visited Louisville before coming to SDSU last Sunday, and some sources say Cardinals boosters offered him six-figure NIL incentives. Other Power Conference schools were reportedly interested in him: Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri, Georgia, Butler, Miami and Clemson.
Boyd fills one of two available scholarships. The other will almost certainly go to a big to help replace LeDee.
Rashaun Agee, a 6-8, 225-pound forward from Bowling Green who ranks among the nation’s top rebounders, came over last weekend. He is also believed to be considering Arizona State as well.
Another possibility is Mady Sissoko, a 6-9, 250-pound center from Michigan State who also has one year remaining and is scheduled to visit in the coming days. In a radio interview earlier this week, Spartans coach Tom Izzo mentioned SDSU as a possible landing spot along with Cal, Colorado and Washington.
Dutcher hinted at adding a third transfer, likely a shooting guard to replace Micah Parrish, who entered the portal last week and committed to Ohio State earlier Saturday.
Fresno State’s Xavier DuSell, the Mountain West’s leading 3-point shooter last season after transferring from Wyoming, was mentioned and some social media posts indicated he was visiting SDSU this week. But several sources say no visit is planned and he may no longer be a priority.
SDSU has also been linked to Aidan Mahaney, the Saint Mary’s guard who averaged 13.9 points per game and is close friends with Aztecs guard Miles Byrd. But Mahaney has attracted the attention of some of the nation’s most storied programs — Duke, UConn, North Carolina and Michigan — with bottomless NIL war chests and is expected to go elsewhere.
Adding a third player would require freeing up another purse. The most obvious candidate is 6-10 forward Demarshay Johnson Jr., who has played sparingly in his three years in the program. Johnson, however, has yet to enter the portal with less than two weeks until the May 1 deadline.