The Excitement of the Mountain West

By Michael Schneid

All the early season hype around the Big Ten suggests they are the best conference in basketball. The Big East is always fun and the PAC-12 may be on the rise. The Big 12 has few serious challengers to Kansas and the ACC and SEC are both a little down.

The Big Ten might be the best conference, but top top to bottom the best conference in the country might be the Mountain West.

Five teams have legitimate chances to win the conference while it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the other four teams won some games they possibly shouldn't. Looking at out of conference wins, the Mountain West has a strong resume of big wins. Their losses are not considered bad either.

Mountain West Standings

TEAM	CONF	OVERALL
New Mexico	1-0	14-2
Boise State	1-0	13-2
San Diego State	1-0	13-2
Air Force	1-0	9-4
Colorado State	0-0	13-2
Wyoming	0-1	13-1
UNLV	0-1	13-3
Nevada	0-1	9-6
Fresno State	0-1	6-8

Who would have ever thought Boise State would be relevant in anything other than football? They lost early in the season to 15th ranked Michigan State by just four points. Their other loss came to an improving Utah team. The Broncos made a huge statement early in the season beating Creighton, ranked 11 at the time, in Omaha. They also beat LSU by 10 at home, and recently ended Wyoming's 13 game winning streak on the road too. The Broncos have showed some early season toughness and a tendency to come up big in the clutch. Jeff Elorriaga hit a buzzer beating three in Wyoming to end their perfect season. Derrick Marks and Anthony Drmic are both scoring over 15 points per game. Ryan Watkins leads the conference in field goal percentage.

New Mexico has three ranked wins early on. Lobos knocked off 21 UConn to win the Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands. They beat 8th ranked Cincy on the road by one point in a hard fought game. and also won at home over 24 UNLV to open conference play. New Mexico is led by a junior backcourt Kendal Williams and Tony Snell. 7 footer Alex Kirk has had a major impact down low for the Lobos scoring 12 ppg and 7.6 rpg.

San Diego State has had a lot of recent success in the NCAA tournament. The Aztecs have two losses. #9 Syracuse and #3 Arizona. Arizona loss came by one point in Hawaii in a Christmas day tournament finale. There's no shame in either of those losses. Their biggest win came against UCLA on December 1. Jamaal Franklin might be the best player no one has ever heard of. Franklin is a 6'5 junior guard, averaging 17.4 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 3.6 apg. He leads the MWC in rebounding, despite being 6'5. It also helps to have Chase Tapley averaging 14.9 ppg also. SDSU is balanced and have different weapons to win games.


Wyoming opened the season 13-0. It was a nice story for the Cowboys, who failed to crack the top 25 despite their early success. They lost earlier this week to Boise State on a buzzer beating three pointer. Two wins that stand out are Colorado and @ SMU. Wyoming's lackluster schedule is the reason for the lack of attention they have gotten. Senior guard Luke Martinez is out with an injury which could hurt them as the open conference play. They will rely heavily on senior forward Leonard Washington, who is averaging 14.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg, and leads the MWC with 2 blocks per game. Larry Nance Jr, the son of former Cleveland Cavalier Larry Nance has been a big piece early on. The sophmore is scoring 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

UNLV was one of the teams receiving a lot of early season hype, led by freshman Anthony Bennett and Mike Moser. UNLV lost to Oregon and UNC and opened conference play with a loss to New Mexico. The Oregon loss is not bad with the way they have played early on but UNC oddly seems like a rough loss, due to their lackluster play. UNLV's standout wins are Iowa State and California. UNLV will be a threat to win the Mountain West and make a run in the NCAA tournament because of Anthony Bennett. Bennett is averaging 19.4 ppg (best in MWC) and 8.9 rpg. The Rebels also have the conference's assist leader in Anthony Marshall, 5.6 apg. Mike Moser has struggled with injuries this year, but he has potential to be a star too.

Colorado State does not have a stand out win. They have beaten Washington and Virginia Tech and their two losses are Colorado and Illinois-Chicago. The UIC loss could come back to haunt them later. The Rams opened the season with six straight wins before losing two and winning seven. They are led by Minnesota transfer Colton Iverson, scoring 14.7 ppg and 8.9 rpg. Iverson's 8.9 rpg are not even best on his team, despite being third best in the conference. Puierce Hornung is averaging 10.2 rpg, along with 9.6 ppg. Colorado State's aggressiveness on the glass will keep them in games this year.

The Mountain West has a lot of exciting players. Most of whom do not receive proper attention because of where they play. When it is all said and done expect three, maybe four or five teams could make a run at qualifying for the NCAA tournament. But while ESPN and the world focuses on the major conferences, keep an eye on the Mountain West, which will be a very exciting conference all season.