Mountain West Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2021-22 season

By Joey Loose | Oct 16, 2021

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 13: The San Diego State Aztecs celebrate their 68-57 victory over the Utah State Aggies in the championship game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) /

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Mountain West Basketball Utah State Aggies Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports /

547. . . . Aggies . 6. team

It’s a new era in Logan, as the Aggies are now lead by Ryan Odom, the coach who led UMBC to that historic upset three seasons ago. Former coach Craig Smith completely revitalized this Utah State program, leading them to NCAA Tournaments or MWC titles in each of his three seasons, leaving Odom quite a lot to build on. There are some big changes on the roster this season; this won’t quite be the same Aggies team finish near the top of the MWC standings.

Neemias Queta is gone, but forward Justin Bean (11.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and sharpshooter Brock Miller (8.8 ppg) are both back and get joined by a few people Odom is quite familiar with. The two top scorers from last year’s UMBC squad are now both Aggies, with R. J. Eytle-Rock (14.3 ppg) and Brandon Horvath (13.1 ppg, 8.7 rpg) both expected to make an immediate impact this season. Still, this team will really miss Queta, especially on the defensive end, but the talent on this team should be enough to secure Odom a decent finish in his first season out west.

As seems to be the case often lately, UNLV is ushering in a new era, this time under head coach Kevin Kruger, whose father Lon had quite the career himself with these Rebels. This last decade has been filled with high expectations and disappointment, though a rehashed roster this season could lead to big things in the future for the Runnin’ Rebels. Kruger has certainly gotten creative in filling the holes on this roster, having to replace the production from David Jenkins and several other key players.

UNLV 2021-22 season preview. light. Related Story

Bryce Hamilton (17.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg) is back for another year, leading a team completely littered with transfers that should make an immediate impact. UNLV adds in point guard Jordan McCabe from West Virginia, a couple of role players from Texas, and gets a big boost from former Kent State guard Mike Nuga, who averaged 17.8 points per game last year.

We’ve barely touched on all the changes, leaving Kruger with the unenviable task of figuring out how this roster pieces together. In the end, if he figures that out, this is a deep team with tons of talent that could finally make some noise.