NCAA Basketball: Nebraska, Maryland, and UNLV headlines Sunday Mailbag
By Bryan Mauro
Dark Horse in the MWC? – Jay (@LoboSauce_777)
Let’s first start by defining dark horse for those who don’t know. A dark horse is a team who not many picked to win the league or even make the NCAA tournament but does have a good enough roster that puts them in a position to be the ultimate sleeper. These teams are usually picked in the middle of the pack and have some question marks on the roster that if they come together will make that team a lot better.
That will exclude teams like Nevada and Utah State who many felt had a great chance to win the league. I am also going to exclude Fresno State from this as well as they have been marked a dark horse in the league since day 1.
The team that has the biggest dark horse potential out of the rest of the teams is the UNLV Running Rebels. First-year head coach Kevin Kruger has his UNLV squad playing great basketball in the early season. The team already has wins against Gardner-Webb and California.
The pieces that coach Kruger was able to add via the transfer portal have really helped this team along with the best player on the roster over the last couple of seasons in Bryce Hamilton. Hamilton returning has really allowed UNLV to open the floor up on offense as Hamilton can score from a lot of different areas on the court.
Right now UNLV is defending like they have not previously and if they can keep that up they will be very successful. The Rebels have some of the best individual talent and one of the best rosters in the Mountain West so when they finish in the top three of the league and potentially secure an at large spot in the tournament.