Mountain West Basketball: The newest one-bid league?

By Carmine Carcieri | Dec 11, 2016

Dec 10, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego State Aztecs guard Jeremy Hemsley (42) is defended by Arizona State Sun Devils guard Tra Holder (0) and forward Obinna Oleka (5) during the second half at Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

The Mountain West basketball conference is in loads of trouble due to minimal non-conference success.

With the SEC having better than expected success and the AAC sporting a Cincinnati team that is ranked in the top-25, the Mountain West Conference has been the most disappointing conference in the nation a month into the season. It has gone from a league that consistently put two or more teams in the NCAA Tournament, to a league that will receive only one-bid when March rolls around.

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San Diego State, who was expected to be the best team in the league, has suddenly fell off a cliff, losing three in a row to Loyola (Ill), Grand Canyon and Arizona State. The Aztecs currently have the worst record in the Mountain West (4-4) and have only one quality win on their resume (Cal in Sacramento).

Losing two road games to low major teams and not capitalizing on a chance to knock off Gonzaga on the road is not promising, and will greatly impact SDSU’s resume. In turn, that has a negative effect on the rest of the Mountain West, dropping the league’s overall RPI and limiting opportunities for quality victories.

Then there’s Nevada. Eric Musselman’s second season offered promise because of the return of Cameron Oliver and the eligibility of Marcus Marshall and Jordan Caroline.

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Nevada hasn’t played poorly – they are 7-2, with their only losses coming against Saint Mary’s and Iona – but they also have zero quality wins to show for with no games remaining in non-conference play to impress the NCAA Tournament committee.

But that’s not all. New Mexico has lost two of their last three games (to Illinois State and New Mexico State), Fresno State lost Marvelle Harris, UNLV is in a major rebuilding mode and Boise State and Utah State are only one game above .500.

The best team in the Mountain West Conference at this point in the season is Colorado State. The Rams are 8-2 but their best win has come at Colorado (a boarder-line NCAA Tournament team).

While these results have been discouraging for the league, this also happened in 2015-16, so it isn’t necessary a surprise to those who follow the conference closely. San Diego State won 16 games in league-play last season, won 25 games overall and reached the Mountain West Conference Tournament final.

Instead, of receiving an at-large bid, Fresno State was the only team to earn a berth to the Big Dance. The Bulldogs won the automatic bid by winning the conference tournament and lost in the first round to Utah.

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This doesn’t look like a down year for the MWC. This looks like a concerning trend that will continue to negatively impact the league’s stature nationally.