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

By John Vaccaro

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)
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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RENO, NEVADA – JANUARY 02: A fan cheers along with friends holding a Nevada Wolf Pack flag (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images)
RENO, NEVADA – JANUARY 02: A fan cheers along with friends holding a Nevada Wolf Pack flag (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images) /

3. Nevada (+2)

Led by the recent explosion from Jalen Harris, Nevada has established itself as one of the most dangerous teams in the Mountain West. They won all three of their games over the last couple of weeks and won them all in impressive fashion. They absolutely demolished Air Force in Reno and then followed that up by convincingly beating San Jose State (who they had lost to earlier in the year). The impressive win, though, was when they went to Vegas to play an in-state rival, UNLV, and earned a hard-fought overtime win.

Honestly, the biggest reason why Nevada is in this spot is because of Harris. If San Diego State wasn’t so far ahead of everybody else in this conference, Harris would be the obvious pick for Player of the Year. He is averaging nearly three more points per game than anybody else in the conference and is also 5th in the conference in assists. His talent alone is enough to make Nevada one of the most dangerous teams in the conference.

At the end of December, I picked Boise State as my dark horse to win the conference tournament because I believed Derrick Alston Jr. could get hot for a few games and lead his team to victory. Harris has absolutely surpassed him as the player most likely to single-handedly win the tournament.

It would be surprising not to see them win at least three of their last four to finish the year and their home game against SDSU will be the last attempt for any team to end SDSU’s undefeated run. If there’s any team that could pull that off, it’s the Wolf Pack with a red-hot Harris.