Mountain West Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

2. Sam Merrill

We just mentioned Utah State’s rise and Merrill certainly played a major role in that success with the Aggies. He’s a 6’5 point guard from Bountiful, Utah who arrived on campus back in 2016. He had two decent seasons under head coach Tim Duryea before becoming a major part of Craig Smith’s revival with the Aggies, giving us plenty to talk about today.

A 22-point performance against San Jose State as a freshman showed Merrill’s potential and he’d average more than 16 points a game after making quite a sophomore leap. Those upperclassman seasons were pretty special though. His junior year started with 37 points against Morehead State and ended in the Big Dance, winning the MWC Tournament title. Utah State would repeat the feat in 2020, with Merrill scoring at least 27 points in all three wins to finish off his career. He’d actually average around 20 points per game in each of those final two seasons.

The MWC Player of the Year in 2019, Merrill was the league’s leading scorer as a junior but wasn’t too shabby as a senior either. He was actually named MWC Tournament MVP at the end of both seasons and was one of the best shooters in recent memory in the conference. Not only did he lead the league in free throw shooting and have great assist numbers, but his rise as an upperclassman resulted in two impressive seasons and conference titles for the Aggies.