Mountain West Basketball: Final power rankings for 2019-20 season

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 07: Sam Merrill #5 of the Utah State Aggies is names MVP after defeating the San Diego State Aztecs to win the championship game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 7, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Aggies defeated the Aztecs 59-56. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/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) /

5. Nevada (-2)

I don’t think anybody had a more disappointing Mountain West tournament than Nevada. They were a somewhat popular dark horse pick to win the tournament but ended up getting knocked out by the tournament’s bottom seed in their first game.

That loss to Wyoming wasn’t nearly as bad as I’m sure many would have made it out to be. Wyoming was a tough out for a lot of teams this season and they were especially tough against Nevada, who needed a late bucket to beat them in one matchup and a strong finish in the other.

My placement of Nevada might seem harsh after they earned the 3rd seed in the conference tournament, but they had a couple of factors working against them for their final ranking. The first is that they lost to San Jose State. Even on the road, losing to the team that’s last in the power rankings is always going to hurt your placement. The second is that they didn’t have a win over Utah State. The fact that the two teams ahead of them both have a better win and neither has a worse loss made it really difficult for them to be placed any higher.

There isn’t much that separates spots 3-5, but at the end of the day, I think Nevada had resume issues that should put them at the bottom of that pack.