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) /

5 of 11

RENO, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 23: Nate Grimes of the Fresno State Bulldogs (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images) /

7. Fresno State (+1)

It has taken a while for Fresno State to recover from a rough start to conference play, but they have finally overtaken New Mexico to move into 7th, their highest spot in the rankings this year. They didn’t exactly have the most triumphant couple of weeks to get here, but they at least did enough to edge out the Lobos.

They were put in a pretty tough position over the last couple of weeks. They had two home games, which were against Colorado State and Utah State. They lost both as expected. Their other two games were much more impressive, though. First, they went on the road and took UNLV right down to the wire, losing by 1 on a jumper with one second left. Then they followed that up with a win at San Jose State, which is something New Mexico failed to do.

Over the next couple of weeks, they could put themselves in an even better position and actually pass New Mexico in the standings. They get home games against Air Force and Wyoming which should be two winnable matchups. Their trip to Reno shouldn’t provide much hope for a win, but if they can win the other two then they will likely move into the 7th seed and avoid a 2nd round matchup with San Diego State.

This Fresno State team was expected to be better this season, but it looks like they are at least going to finish the year strong.