Mountain West Basketball: 2022 conference tournament preview

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 22: The Mountain West logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the San Diego State Aztecs andthe UC San Diego Tritons at the Viejas Arena on December 22, 2021 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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Mountain West Basketball Abu Kigab Boise State Broncos (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images) /

Key Teams

Top Teams: Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State, Wyoming

Team to Beat: Boise State

Boise State is the outright winner of the Mountain West regular season, so it would be unfair to not have them as the team to beat heading into the Mountain West Tournament. This is the first time in program history for the Broncos men’s basketball program with winning the Mountain West regular-season title as an outright.

The Broncos and Coach Rice showed all year long how dangerous they really are out there in Idaho. How dangerous has Boise State been? In their last 25 games, they are 21-4 heading into the Mountain West Tournament. The Broncos may be the number one seed in the upcoming conference tournament, but it will not come easy with the other teams looking to go home and clinch the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Top contenders: Colorado State, San Diego State, Wyoming

What is so great about basketball is that really anybody can beat anybody on any given night. The Mountain West is so tight at the top as they are literally within just a few games from being in first place to fourth place.

They have to all get to the semifinals, but if the top four teams do make it to the semifinals in the Mountain West Tournament then it really is going to be a toss-up on who comes out on top. This tournament is really going to be an exciting one and could not be more excited for it.

Darkhorse team: UNLV Rebels

If you told me that any of the four teams ahead of the UNLV Rebels ended up winning the conference tournament I would not be shocked as they all are capable of doing that. Kevin Kruger is only in his first year at UNLV but has them competing and playing better than last year.

The Rebels have two huge wins over Colorado State under their belt, plus have a big win over Wyoming this past Wednesday evening. UNLV has also played Boise State tough as well. The Rebels have shown they can battle with the top teams in the conference. Bryce Hamilton will have to come up huge for UNLV to cause some chaos in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.