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

4. UNLV

It’s been nine years since UNLV was in the NCAA Tournament, back when this program was in solid and consistent shape, with the final recruits of the Lon Kruger era playing out their careers. A decade later, it’s Kevin Kruger who mans the sidelines, leading the Rebels to a respectable 18-14 mark last season, his first as a head coach. In addition to coaching, he’s been very busy on the recruiting front, basically putting together a new team for next year.

After averaging 21.8 points per game last season, Bryce Hamilton is gone, but guard Donovan Williams (12.7 ppg) does return after flirting with the Draft process. A few solid pieces like Jordan McCabe and Justin Webster return, but it’s all about the impact of the transfers at UNLV. Among the new faces in this rotation, this year are former Oklahoma wing Elijah Harkless, former Colorado guard Elijah Parquet, former West Virginia center Isaiah Cottrell, and former Mississippi State wing Luis Rodriguez.

UNLV has plenty of talent, even to replace a big loss like Hamilton, but it’s going to depend on how all these new pieces come together. We’ve got a few solid players returning from last year’s upstart squad accompanied by four players with power conference experience, all of them looking for a chance to prove themselves this upcoming season. It’s fair to say that UNLV has a wide difference between their floor and ceiling based on these new additions, but we’re going to recognize the talent and anticipate big things in Vegas.