Mountain West basketball power rankings: Aztecs, Aggies in rightful place

Mountain West Basketball power rankings: Utah State, Nevada rises on up

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 11: Matt Mitchell #11 of the San Diego State Aztecs cuts a piece of the net after defeating New Mexico Lobos 82-59 in a game at Viejas Arena on February 11, 2020 in San Diego, California. San Diego State Aztecs moves to 25-0 for the season and clinched a share of the Mouintain West Championship. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JANUARY 22: Head coach Paul Weir of the New Mexico Lobos (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

8. New Mexico (-1)

I had hoped that the returns of JaQuan Lyle and Vance Jackson would help New Mexico work their way back up this list a bit, but it has become abundantly clear that this is exactly where the Lobos belong in this conference and where they’ll likely stay for the rest of the year.

Hopes were so high for the Lobos just two weeks ago. they were coming off of a road game against Fresno State where they nearly stole a win against the Bulldogs even without Lyle and Jackson. Then those two returned and the Lobos scored 97 points in a win over Wyoming, giving fans hope that we might the Lobos start to turn things around down the stretch. Then we saw more disappointment.

First, it was the loss in San Diego where they were competitive with SDSU in the first half and then got blown out in the second half. Then they took one of their most disappointing losses of the season. They lost at home against UNLV in a game that could’ve gotten them back into a tie for 6th in the conference because they took a ton of bad shots, committed needless turnovers, didn’t defend at all, and worst of all, couldn’t make their free throws down the stretch.

Now they’re looking at a brutal finish to their schedule. It starts with a home game against Nevada on Tuesday. Nevada’s 3 point shooting makes them an awful matchup for a Lobo team that hasn’t defended the three all year. Then they go to Boise to face one of the most talented teams in the conference. Then they go to Air Force, who poses the same problem that Nevada does. Then they close out the year at home against a Utah State who is far more talented than them and should dominate inside.

We could genuinely be looking at a Lobo team who won’t win another game during the regular season and who will need to beat Air Force in the first round of the conference tournament just to earn the right to lose to SDSU again.

This season started with so much promise, but every last bit of that is gone and now it’s just time to hope that the Lobos don’t waste a year of Bayron Matos’ eligibility for nothing and that the young guys on this team can continue developing to maybe make the run next year that we should have seen this year.