Mountain West Conference Basketball Weekly Recap

Scores

Monday, December 19

UNLV 81, Louisiana-Monroe 63

Denver 57, Wyoming 46

Colorado State 85, Texas Southern 61

Boise State 70, Fresno State 63

San Diego State 80, UC Riverside 55

USC 83, TCU 59

Tuesday, December 20

New Mexico 91, Montana State 46

Thursday, December 22

San Diego State 81, Elon 55

TCU 85, Grambling State 53

Iowa 81, Boise State 72

New Mexico 87, UMKC 62

Wyoming 80, Idaho State 56

Gonzaga 70, Air Force 60

Colorado State 92, Northern Colorado 78

Friday, December 23

UNLV 85, California 68

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There weren't a lot of high-end Mountain West games to be found this past week, so a lot of teams remained in a holding pattern. UNLV maintained its steady upward trajectory, bagging two more wins to make itself that much more of a certain bet to make the NCAA Tournament. It has to be said - and it will be repeated - that UNLV stunned North Carolina on Thanksgiving weekend, notching the kind of conquest which will go a long, long way on Selection Sunday. Vegas is in possession of one of the most precious poker chips a non-BCS conference team can possibly have at this point. UNLV hasn't given away bad losses in its non-conference portion of the 2011-2012 schedule, which means that the Rebels should be safely in the Big Dance thanks to their takedown of the Tar Heels. It's only if UNLV produces a .500 season in the Mountain West that its NCAA fate will be thrust into uncertainty. As long as UNLV can post a remotely decent record in the Mountain West (say, anything four games above .500 in league play), it will have absolutely no worries about making the field of 68 teams. That's something you can take to the bank in the final week of December.

San Diego State is another Mountain West contender. The Aztecs won two cupcake games this past week - it's not really breaking news, but at the very least, the boys from the Montezuma Mesa did not suffer an embarrassing, resume-destroying upset. Wyoming and Boise State split a pair of games this past week, reaffirming the belief that they're good enough to give anyone trouble but inconsistent enough to keep any opponent competitive on a given gamenight. TCU got thrashed by USC, underscoring the extent to which the Horned Frogs are buried in the Mountain West. New Mexico won a pair of cupcake games, but the bigger tests lie ahead for "Los Lobos." Air Force lost to Gonzaga despite playing really well; the Falcons just couldn't respond to the Zags' frontline strength. Colorado State won at Northern Colorado, thereby surviving a "local bragging rights" game which can get dicey for road teams even if they're from a more powerful conference.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer