Mountain West Basketball: 2019-20 power rankings heading into conference play

At 7-7 overall, 1-1 in the Mountain West and 176th in KenPom’s rankings, Air Force is the epitome of mediocrity in the NCAA. Despite returning Lavelle Scottie and Ryan Swan-Ford, perhaps the best tandem in Air Force history, the rotation suffers from a lack of depth.

While scoring comes relatively easy for the Falcons, it is their complete lack of defense that has caused their forgettable start. The Falcons have given up 75 or more points in half of their games, and their opponents have shot 50% or better in six of their seven losses. Improvement on defense will be the key to a competitive year for the Falcons, who will not be able to win many games in the Mountain West unless they can stop opposing defenses.

With the lack of frontcourt size, the Falcons usually compensate with a solid rotation in the paint, allowing their players to have more energy than the opponent. With just three players over 6’5” tall playing more than 10 minutes per game, there will be plenty of games where the opponent will control the paint. Because of this, the Falcons’ 42.6% from deep becomes an important focal point.

If his players can continue to shoot well, Dave Pilipovich should have another relatively competitive team. However, a return to earth by his backcourt could cause the Falcons to drop even further in these rankings. This will be a team that should make for exciting, high scoring battles without a lot of wins to show for it.