Headline: The Mountain West is awesome this year, but can the conference get 6 bids?? This seems possible with how many great teams are in the conference. San Diego State is as good as usual, Colorado State, Utah State and Nevada all looked great out of conference and picked up nice wins. New Mexico and Boise State have been strong in conference as well. Every time 2 of these 6 face off it’s must see TV. The sport is in a good place when the Mountain West is good!
Contenders:
Utah State Aggies – Utah State has one of the best records in college basketball. The Aggies are 17-2 and the crazy thing is they have a first year head coach! The Aggies are really balanced, they have a great offense but their defense is solid also.
Boise State Broncos – Boise State didn’t start out the season the best. They had several non-conference opportunities but didn’t capitalize much, only beating a St Mary’s squad that was struggling. Once conference play came around the Broncos caught fire and picked up some nice wins. They are squarely on the bubble so they must keep winning.
New Mexico Lobos – New Mexico has one of the most exciting offenses in the Mountain West. The Pit is electric and rocking once again. All is well in the college basketball world. New Mexico just entered the top 25, but once again they can’t afford a late season skid like they had last season.
San Diego State Aztecs – The Aztecs are coming off an incredible season where they made a run to the national title game. Their defense is once again very strong, although possibly with a slight step back from last year’s amazing unit. That being said, their offense seems to have a little more pop this season too.
Colorado State Rams – Colorado State was the star of this conference in non-conference play. They rolled through their schedule and picked up a lot of quality wins. They took a couple losses when some injuries hit but otherwise the Rams have looked like the team with the highest upside in the conference.
Nevada Wolfpack – Nevada got off to an awesome start this season. The Wolfpack opened 15-1 while picking up multiple quality wins along the way. The challenge for Nevada is they’ve struggled a lot lately, losing their last 3 games. The Wolfpack moved from comfortably in the tournament to the bubble so they need to snap this losing streak soon and keep the 6 bid Mountain West dream alive.
Surprise(s): Utah State Aggies – The coaching change threw everyone off the scent of the Aggies. They were picked 9th in preseason! From picked near the bottom to currently leading the Mountain West and in the Top 20, amazing!
Disappointment(s): UNLV Runnin’ Rebels – Ill admit, this isn’t a huge disappointment and is getting better by the week. We were hopeful this would be the year that UNLV would return to tournament contention but because of various injuries they struggled miserably to start out the year. UNLV now has their full team finally and is playing a lot better. They’re now a massive inconvenience for this conference because they play like a tough opponent when they want to, but you don’t get the credit for a tough win because their ratings are so bad.
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