With just over one month of regular season college basketball left, many heads will start to turn toward awards season, and how the best players stack up against the rest of the country.
In southern California, there are two players that have impacted their teams so greatly this year, it has earned them a spot among the best.
UC San Diego senior Hayden Gray and SDSU sophomore Miles Byrd both see their names on the midseason watch list for awards.
Gray is on the watch list for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award, while Byrd is among the top 10 players on the Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2025 Julius Erving Award watch list.
Gray is one of 15 Division I men’s athletes contending to be the top defender in the country. Gray leads all of Division I with 3.36 steals per game, and the San Diego Native has four or more steals in 11 games this season.
Byrd is a contender for the Julius Erving Award, which recognizes the top small forwards in the nation. The sophomore from Stockton leads the Aztecs in points per game (13.8) and total points (263) and is second in minutes (566) and assists (50).
Byrd and Gray have both played key factors in their team’s success to this point. Both San Diego State (Mountain West) and UC San Diego (Big West) are within striking distance of the top of their respective conferences.
The two awards and many others will have finalists announced at a later date.
