Year after year you hear about the big-time conferences like the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Big 12, among others. One that you do not hear about enough overall is the Mountain West Conference. Personally, I believe that Mountain West basketball is one of the more underrated, and underappreciated conferences in the country.
Maybe it is not recognized among some of the other leagues because if you do not live in the western part of the country it is on later in the evening. Whatever is the reason you are missing out if you are not regularly tuning in and watching Mountain West basketball. This league features a ton of good players and programs that deserve more attention overall.
The Mountain West Conference is going to be a multi-bid league again in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. In 2022 a new team that made the biggest jump, and will be making the big dance is Wyoming. The Cowboys in the Mountain West were predicted to finish tied for eights with New Mexico in the preseason poll. Wyoming definitely surpassed those preseason expectations finishing in fourth during the regular season.
Two disappointing teams that really stick out in the 2021-2022 regular season in the Mountain West were Nevada and Utah State. Nevada was predicted to finish third, plus even received two first-place votes. The Wolfpack have a very talented backcourt which is odd as to why they had such a disappointing year. They just were not able to put it all together over long extended stretches throughout the year.
Utah State was predicted to finish fifth overall, so not as big of a disappointment compared to Nevada, but still, a down year when you factor in a key player like Justin Bean for them. The Aggies did lose their talented big man in Neemias Queta from last year’s team, and their head coach in Craig Smith who moved on to take over at Utah. Utah State will have to win the Mountain West Tournament if they want to punch their ticket into March Madness.
San Diego State comes in as the defending champion of the Mountain West Tournament after winning it last year in 2021. Will the Aztecs make it two in a row? Or will another team be cutting down the nets and securing the automatic bid?
Let’s get into what should be a very exciting Mountain West Conference Tournament slate.