Defensive efficiency is possibly the most telling statistic in all of college basketball. It wins championships. Ask any team that has won a national championship since 2002, they’ve been ranked in the Top 25 of it.
On Sunday, Ken Pomeroy released his preseason defensive efficiency rankings. San Diego State ranked fifth, the highest of any team in a mid-major conference. This comes after finishing second in the country last season.
The thing is they return almost all that team and add strong defensive players on top of it. One of those is Micah Parrish.
Parrish comes over from Oakland where he was one of the top defensive players in the Horizon League, ranking first in the league in steal his freshman season and making the Horizon League All-Defensive Team last season.
During his freshman season, he averaged 8.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while racking up 50 steals. The next season, he averaged 12.1 points and 6 rebounds per game, racking up 51 steals.
He’s drastically improved from his freshman to sophomore season with his body as well and with such an experienced staff in San Diego, you should expect that to continue.
During his Freshman season, he weighed in at 188 pounds. Now, Parrish is listed at 200 pounds.
Pair him with Nathan Mensah, the 6-10 center who won Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, and the Aztecs might have one of the scariest front courts in the nation. Don’t forget Darrion Trammell either who was a member of the WAC All-Defensive team in the backcourt.
San Diego State opens the season against two NCAA Tournament teams in Cal State Fullerton and BYU before heading to Stanford and then playing in the Maui Invitational Tournament. That front court will be put to the test early.
