Mountain West Conference Basketball Updates & Power Rankings

It doesn’t pay to play good defense, and apparently it isn’t any good to play good offense either.

When you look at some of the great statistical oddities of the Mountain West Conference, there are some moments that are striking.

First, Wyoming leads the conference in offense at 80.8 points per game and is last in defense at 76.5 points per game. The Cowboys are 1-3 in conference play.

Air Force is second in the conference in defense at 59.7 points per game but is last in offense at 61.7. That defense has the Falcons at 0-5 and sitting at the bottom of the conference standings.

But here is where the statistics justify the results. Utah is second in conference at field goal shooting at 48 percent and leads the conference in free throw shooting at 79 percent. That’s why the Utes are 3-1 through the first two weeks.

For TCU, the Horned Frogs are 4-1 in part because they are third in the conference in free throw shooting at 72 percent and are second in 3-point defense at 30 percent.

And then there’s UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels are in the middle of the conference in scoring offense and scoring defense. No wonder why they are 3-2 in conference play.

Anyone want to win this?

So what have we learned through the first two weeks of the season? There is no clear favorite.

BYU looks impressive early and then travels to New Mexico and gets thumped by 18 points. UNLV starts out with a nice win over New Mexico and then loses consecutive games at TCU and Colorado State.

The Rams, who looked like they were going to be the worst team in the conference, are a nice story at 2-3.

The top five teams each have one loss. And really the only team that appears to be out of the race is Air Force. The Falcons can’t buy a win because, well, they really haven’t been any of their conference games except a 57-54 loss to TCU. Air Force has lost by an average of 15.5 points per game.

UNLV’s big win

One thing is for sure when BYU and UNLV get together, protecting the home floor had been the theme. For the last three years, the teams have split their last six conference meetings. UNLV has won in Las Vegas, while BYU, which of course had a 54-game winning streak snapped, has won in Provo. On Wednesday, they met again and the Rebels ended the trend with a 76-70 win at the Marriott Center. UNLV’s Wink Adams and BYU’s Lee Cummard, also contenders for player of the year, played like they normally did. Adams took over in the second half and scored 20 points as the Rebels ended BYU’s 25-game MWC home conference winning streak.

Notable

Utah’s Luke Nevill is making his case to be conference player of the year as he is third in the conference in scoring at 17.4 points, tied for the lead in rebounding at 8.4, leads in shooting at 61 percent and in the top 10 in free throw shooting at 77.8 percent. Other than that, he’s done nothing…

Power Rankings

1. San Diego State
2. TCU
3. UNLV
4. BYU
5. Utah
6. New Mexico
7. Wyoming
8. Colorado State
9. Air Force