Mountain West Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season

1. San Diego State

In recent times, San Diego State has been the class of the Mountain West and that’s likely to continue in the coming years, especially with what Brian Dutcher has done with this program. The Aztecs were back in the NCAA Tournament again last year, winning at least 21 games for the fifth straight year and posing one of the best defenses in the nation. With what they’ve got on this team this season, this could be another special year in San Diego.

Scoring stud Matt Bradley (16.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and defensive superstar Nathan Mensah (7.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg) both return for their final campaigns. Important pieces like Keshad Johnson, Lamont Butler, and Chad Baker-Mazara all return, while the loss of Trey Pulliam is offset by two nice transfers: former Seattle point guard Darrion Trammell and former Oakland wing Micah Parrish. This is a deep and talented roster bringing back two impressive players who could both end up All-MWC by season’s end.

San Diego State will have quite a fight from Wyoming and a few other programs, but this roster is the best in the conference, and this team should make some legitimate noise this season. At this point, we cannot say that this team is comparable to that 2020 team that won their first 26 games, but the Aztecs are really good. With Bradley causing havoc in the paint and Mensah leading a dynamic defense, don’t be shocked when San Diego State is one of the best defenses in the country again this season.

We’ve finished our deep dive into the current state of the MWC teams. Which team or teams do you think were ranked too low or too high at this point in the offseason?