Mountain West Conference Basketball Updates & Power Rankings

We are about to hit the halfway point of the Mountain West Conference season. The race is an absolute logjam.

In one week, you can go from appearing to be out of the race to absolutely being in the middle of it this week. The only thing that makes sense from all of this is parity.

Just about all of the conference leaders have protected the home court very well.

As of Wednesday night, there was a four-way tie for first between San Diego State, New Mexico, UNLV and Utah at 4-2. The Aztecs are 3-0 at home and 1-2 on the road. The Lobos are 3-0 at home and 1-2 on the road. The Runnin’ Rebels are 3-0 and 1-2 on the road. The Utes are 3-0 at home and 1-2 on the road.

Notice the trend?

While parity is a good thing and winning on the road is extremely though, this could ultimately work against the conference when it comes to the NCAA tournament. Last year, the conference sent UNLV and BYU to the tournament. There have been a couple of seasons where three teams have advanced.

But the way it is trending this year, it looks like the conference tournament champion is going to get the only bid.

Speaking of the Aztecs

When Steve Fisher was at Michigan, most of his critics believed that his coaching ability was limited because he couldn’t coach great talent. That was because he never won a NCAA tournament title with the Fab Five that was led by Chris Weber.

But in his seven seasons in sunny Southern California, Fisher has directed SDSU to four postseason tournament appearances. The Aztecs have been to the NIT three times and the NCAA once.

This year, a 15-5 record has the program on pace to be playing into the latter half of March. And they are on pace to collect their fourth consecutive 20-win season under Fisher.

This is arguably one of the best eras for this program. But the issue is going to be for them to be really strong at the end to battle for a NCAA bid should they not get the postseason tournament automatic bid.

What has made them very effective has been senior guard Lorrenzo Wade. He’s been in double figures in nine of his first 10 games and is averaging more than 15 per game. Wade has been dealing with issues off the floor including the theft of a television set. However, the matter has been resolved.

And that’s a good thing because the Aztecs have really been a different team since their leader returned to the floor.

Notable

Colorado State has not had a 20-win season this decade…Utah has one of the best rebounding margins in the nation at 9.2…Will Wyoming run out of gas in February? Three of its starters – Brandon Ewing, Sean Ogirri and Tyson Johnson – are averaging 36 minutes or more per game.

Power Rankings

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