Mountain West Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2023-24 season

The Nevada Wolf Pack also earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament last year. Steve Alford’s team left a sour taste in everyone’s month, however, when it was destroyed by Arizona State by 25 points in a First Four game.

Nevada snuck into the Big Dance last season despite losing four of its last six regular season games. Despite the late struggles, Nevada has something to build on thanks to the return of its two leading scorers from a year ago.

Guard Jarod Lucas starred for Alford after arriving over from Oregon State last year. He was the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and a Second Team All-Conference player, averaging 17 points per game with a 37.8 percent mark from three. Expect him to be one of the Mountain West’s top scorers again.

Guard Kenan Blackshear is back, too. The former Florida Atlantic star – who may be rueing that he missed his chance to play on last year’s Owls squad – also made All-Mountain West Second Team last year, averaging a robust 14.1 points, 4.6 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game.

The big swing factor for this team will be the availability of Hunter McIntosh. After transferring from Elon before last season, he missed nearly the whole year with an injury before burning his eligibility by playing in the final six games. If he can recapture the player he was at Elon, the Wolf Pack’s ceiling soars.

It feels largely like Nevada next season will be more of the same from last year. The Wolf Pack should be good no matter what, but greatness may prove elusive.