Livescore
“The Mountain West is having one of its best seasons in its 23-year history.”
That’s a sentence I wrote in February of last year.
In 2022-23, the league is even better. Like last season, the conference ranks seventh overall at KenPom.com. The last time the MW rated stronger was 2012-13, when the league sent five of its then-nine teams dancing. Five teams — Boise State (19), New Mexico (31), Nevada (33), San Diego State (30), Utah State (34) — rank top-35 in the NET. What’s more, the conference slots fifth in the NET, better than the Pac-12 and ACC. Thanks to an aggregate 99-39 mark in non-league play, the Mountain West has assured itself of being a multi-bid league again; it’s just a matter of which teams’ résumés shake out to warrant at-large inclusion in two months. The MW claims nine victories over the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.
Additional encouraging signs can be found at places like Air Force (12-7), which is trying for its first 20-win season since 2007, and San Jose State (12-7), which is above .500 in January for the first time as a Mountain West school (joined in 2013). Tim Miles has turned around a once-depressing program.
It’s an optimistic time in the conference. Gloria Navarez just took over as commissioner after running the WCC since 2018. She’s the second commish in Mountain West history; Craig Thompson had that job from Day 1 in 1998, when the league formed after splitting off from the WAC.
With six teams in the top 80 of the NET, the Mountain West is affording itself dozens of Quad 1/2 games, enabling the conference to almost certainly send at least three to the Big Dance. However, merely getting that many in won’t be satisfactory. There’s a reputation to fix. The MW went 0-4 after getting four teams into last year’s NCAAs. It hasn’t had a Sweet 16 team since 2018. If its image is going to be enhanced — and validated — multiple Mountain West teams have to pick off victories in March.
The power rankings have had at least one Mountain West team showcased in almost every edition this season, and that remains true this week. Let’s take a look.
Hey Nineteen Power Rankings
Reminder: My rankings are not solely about whom I think is “best.” This is a weekly encapsulation of the 19 hottest, most successful and/or most *interesting* teams, combining team quality with win quality but also having no shame for recency bias and rewarding significant winning streaks. All records shown are vs. D-I competition.
Read the full article here
