It’s conference preview time!
Over the next few months, we’ll break down one league every week, featuring key questions, preseason power rankings, preseason awards, and more.
This week’s focus is on the Mountain West.
Check below for a comprehensive breakdown of the conference:
Five Questions entering the Mountain West
1. What can San Diego State do for an encore?
Just stay the course. Last season’s 30-2 campaign shouldn’t be expected to be replicated, so it’s important for everyone in the Aztecs’ program to simply keep reiterating the same principles that made San Diego State so successful last season in the first place. Three of the Aztecs’ top six scorers from a year ago — Malachi Flynn, KJ Feagin, and Yanni Wetzell — are gone, but Matt Mitchell, Jordan Schakel, and Nathan Mensah all return. Brian Dutcher will need a major contribution from Terrell Gomez — a graduate transfer from Cal State Northridge — in an effort to replace Flynn’s production in the back court. San Diego State doesn’t necessarily have what it had, but it still has enough to win the Mountain West and be a participant in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
2. Who will be San Diego State’s top challenger?
Boise State. This is the season that Leon Rice has been waiting for. The former Gonzaga assistant has taken the Broncos to a pair of NCAA Tournaments during his decade in Idaho, but something bigger now appears to be on the horizon. Boise State will boast arguably the Mountain West Conference’s top overall individual talent in 6-10 guard Derrick Alston Jr., who returned to school after flirting with the 2020 NBA Draft. Rice will also add a pair of transfers from Arizona in Devonaire Doutrive and Emmanuel Akot as well as impact import from East Tennessee State in 6-10 big man Mladen Armus. Portland transfer Marcus Shaver is also expected to be an immediate factor in the back court after redshirting last season. Anything less than a Mountain West regular season title and trip to the NCAA Tournament will feel like a disappointment for the Broncos in 2021.
3. Which Mountain West guard is about to become a national star?
Bryce Hamilton. UNLV’s go-to scorer averaged 16 points and 5.5 rebounds a year ago as a sophomore and has the ability to be the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year as a junior. Hamilton scored in double-figures in the Runnin Rebels’ final 19 games of last season, including a stretch where he scored 25 or more points in four consecutive tilts. An effective rebounder at 6-4, Hamilton also grabbed 10 or more rebounds four separate times during league play. Everything is aligned for this kid to emerge as one of the best perimeter players in the country.
4. Can Craig Smith keep Utah State in the hunt?
It would seem like a safe bet considering he’s amassed a combined record of 54-15 during his first two years in Logan. Smith — whose led Utah State to back-to-back Mountain West Conference Tournament titles — won’t have a player to create offense at the end of the shot clock like Sam Merrill, but he still possesses arguably the sport’s most underrated power forward/center combination with Justin Bean and Neemias Queta. The 6-7 Bean broke out last season as a sophomore thanks to his intangibles and averaged a double-double (11.9 points, 10.5 rebounds) next to Queta up front. The Aggies need mileage out of Virginia transfer Marco Anthony in the back court, but it should be noted that Utah State returns a pair of reliable veterans on the wings in Brock Miller and Alphonso Anderson. A word to the wise: keep an eye on Anderson. A walking bucket getter, the 6-6 junior averaged 12.5 points last season in games where he averaged 20 minutes or more.
5. Who is the sleeper?
Colorado State. The Rams lost a walking double-double in big man Nico Carvacho, but still returns several key pieces from last season’s team that won 20 games under Niko Medved. Several Mountain West coaches believe Isaiah Stevens — who averaged 13.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 4.5 assists last year as a freshman — has a chance to be the conference’s next great guard. Meanwhile, David Roddy, Adam Thistlewood, and Kendle Moore are all back after each averaged 9 points or better last season. The Rams won’t have the same interior presence they possessed a year ago with Carvacho, but college basketball is a guard’s game and they’ve got a budding star in the 6-foot Stevens. Colorado State has all the requisites needed to be considered a team on the rise in the Mountain West.
Mountain West Preseason Power Rankings
1. San Diego State
2. Boise State
3. Utah State
4. UNLV
5. Colorado State
6. New Mexico
7. Nevada
8. Fresno State
9. Wyoming
10. San Jose State
11. Air Force
Mountain West Preseason First-Team
Isaiah Stevens, Colorado State
Bryce Hamilton, UNLV
Derrick Alston Jr., Boise State
Matt Mitchell, San Diego State
Neemias Queta, Utah State
Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year
Derrick Alston Jr., Boise State
5 Impact Freshmen
*In no particular order
Che Evans, San Diego State
Lamont Butler Jr., San Diego State
Zahar Vedischev, Utah State
Szymon Zapala, Utah State
Nick Blake, UNLV
10 Impact Transfers
*In no particular order
Terrell Gomez, San Diego State (Cal State Northridge)
Joshua Tomaic, San Diego State (Maryland)
Devonaire Doutrive, Boise State (Arizona)
Emmanuel Akot, Boise State (Arizona)
Marcus Shaver, Boise State (Portland)
Marco Anthony, Utah State (Virginia)
David Jenkins, UNLV (South Dakota State)
Saquon Singleton, New Mexico (JUCO)
Desmond Cambridge, Nevada (Brown)
Warren Washington, Nevada (Oregon State)
5 Under-The-Radar Transfers
*In no particular order
Mladen Armus, Boise State (East Tennessee State)
P.J. Byrd, Colorado State (VCU)
Jeremiah Francis, New Mexico (North Carolina)
Moses Wood, UNLV (Tulane)
Devin Gage, Fresno State (DePaul)
