Each week, we inch closer to March Madness and Selection Sunday where we get a clearer picture of who deserves to make the Big Dance and whose season will end early.
One conference, however, is shockingly standing near the top: The Mountain West.
While the Mountain West has always been a decent conference — a few teams generally sneak into the seven through 10 seeds — this year, the Mountain West has come to shake up the tourney.
Last year, San Diego State made it all the way to the National Championship before succumbing to the highly talented UConn Huskies. However, it showed the world that the Mountain West plays some good basketball.
This year, the conference is loaded with talent.
Currently the top six teams in the conference standings have 16 or more wins, with four having 19 or more. Those six teams (Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Colorado State, Boise State and New Mexico) combined for an out of conference record of 68-8 with notable wins over teams such as Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Washington, TCU and Creighton.
All of these teams have made some sort of impact on power six teams throughout the course of the year, and I can’t see how March Madness would be any different.
The best are San Diego State or Colorado State.
The Aztecs and Rams have the most wins over power conference teams and I believe have the talent to go far in March.
Out of conference, Colorado State beat Washington, Boston College and Creighton. While Boston College and Washington aren’t the most formidable opponents, beating power conference teams as a non power team is impressive.
The Rams have four players who average double-digit points, but are led by senior guard Isaiah Stevens who leads the country in assists per game at 7.5 while also averaging nearly 16.3 points on great efficiency. It may be difficult for teams to stop a guy who can score at will while also distributing the ball well.
San Diego State is led by senior forward Jaedon LeDee who is averaging 20 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while dominating the low game for the Aztecs.
Don’t forget about former Trojan, junior guard Reese Waters, the Aztecs second leading scorer averaging around 11 per game (Please come back Reese, USC needs you so badly).
Out of conference, San Diego State has wins over Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Washington and Cal. Their only non-conference loss came to BYU, currently ranked No. 19.
Both these teams are deadly and have head coaches who have been at the helm for a while now whose experience could be crucial. Don’t be surprised if either team makes a deep run in March.
The final team I believe could be deadly is New Mexico. The Lobos have some of the best guard play in the country, with their three rotational guards, sophomore Donovan Dent, and seniors Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House all averaging over 15 points per game.
If New Mexico runs into a team whose guard play isn’t strong, the Lobos could run circles around them.
To add onto the guard play, freshman forward JT Toppin is averaging 12.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, meaning New Mexico isn’t afraid to pound the paint either.
Currently in Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracketology, there are five Mountain West teams projected to make the NCAA tournament with Nevada on the bubble as one of the first four teams left out.
The Mountain West will make its mark on the NCAA tournament this year, mark my words. Hopefully I will be able to triumphantly write about how I predicted the Mountain West would be great in a few weeks time.
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