A team-by-team break down of the Mountain West as the college basketball season has arrived

The Mountain West has rarely, if ever, lost as much individual talent in one offseason as it has since last March when the conference landed a record six teams in the NCAA Tournament, the same number as the Big Ten and more than the ACC, Pac-12 and Big East.

That followed back-to-back seasons of four teams in the Big Dance, so in some ways, the Mountain West was riding high. Then came the buzzkill of conference realignment this fall with five teams announcing they will be bolting for the Pac-12 in the 2026-27 season. Now, there's the reality that one of the country's best basketball non-power conference leagues has a lot of teams with a lot of holes to fill and questions to answer.

With the season starting Monday, Nov. 4, the Mountain West will be hard pressed to continue the four (or more) teams in the Big Dance trend it has been on, but there are six or seven teams that feel they have rosters that can keep them in contention in the league.

Here is a look at the preseason media poll results and the All-Mountain West team as voted by a select media panel and then a team-by-team breakdown of the season ahead compiled by Journal staff writer Geoff Grammer:

Preseason Mountain West Media Poll

(as selected by a preseason panel of select media around the league with first place votes in parenthesis and total points)

1. Boise State (19) — 276

2. New Mexico (1) — 233

3. Nevada (1) — 219

4. San Diego State (2) — 213

5. UNLV (2) — 178

6. Utah St. (1) — 169

7. Colorado State — 160

8. San Jose State — 88

9. Wyoming — 67

10. Fresno State — 62

11. Air Force — 51

Preseason All-Mountain West Team

(as selected by a preseason panel of select media around the league)

• G Alvaro Cardenas, Boise State

• F Tyson Degenhart, Boise State (voted Player of the Year)

• F O’Mar Stanley, Boise State

• G Nique Clifford, Colorado State

• F Nick Davidson, Nevada

• G Donovan Dent, New Mexico

• C Nelly Junior Joseph, New Mexico

• G Reese Waters, San Diego State

• G Dedan Thomas Jr., UNLV

• G Ian Martinez, Utah State

AIR FORCE FALCONS

Coach: Joe Scott (90-141, 9th season at Air Force; 274-318, 21st season overall)

2023-24: 9-22 (2-16 Mountain West, t-10th)/no postseason

Preseason poll: 11th

Grammer’s ballot: 9th

Starters returning/lost: 3/2

Players returning/lost: 15/3

Key losses: F Rytis Petraitis, F Kellan Boylan

Key players: F Beau Becker, G Jeffrey Mills, G Ethan Taylor, G Byron Brown

Note: At Air Force, after a player’s sophomore year, they must make a multi-year commitment to the military or transfer. So, when AFA does strike gold and get a star, they’re hard to keep around, like with last season’s leading scorer Petraitis (15.7 points, 6.3 rebounds) and 2023’s leading scorer G Jake Heidbreder (15.1 ppg, 40% 3-point FG). Those two are now in the ACC, Petraitis at Cal, Heidbreder at Clemson.

Stat to watch: Air Force’s average possession length last season on offense was 20.5 seconds, the slowest tempo (or longest time of offensive possession) in the country out of 362 Division I teams. The Falcons have ranked between 342 and 362 in tempo in the five seasons since Scott returned in 2021 (he also coached Air Force in the 2000-2004 seasons).

Boise State Broncos

Coach: Leon Rice (290-166, 15th season at Boise State and overall)

2023-24: 22-11 (13-5, t-2nd)/NCAA Tournament (first round)

Preseason poll: 1st

Grammer’s ballot: 1st

Starters returning/lost: 2/3

Players returning/lost: 6/11

Key losses: G Max Rice, G/F Chibuzo Agbo, F Cam Martin, G Roddie Anderson, G Jace Whiting

Key players: F Tyson Degenhart, F/C O’Mar Stanley, G Alvaro Cardenas, F Andrew Meadow

Note: A lot is riding on a smooth transition for in-league transfer point guard Cardenas, who played 97 games and started 88 of them the previous three seasons at San Jose State. Meanwhile, Degenhart was voted the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year and now has the chance to bookend his college career by becoming just the third MW Freshman of he Year (he won that in 2022) to later win MW Player of the Year. The other two: Andrew Bogut of Utah (2004 FOY, 2005 POY) and Kendall Williams, UNM (2011 FOY, 2013 POY).

Stat to watch: Don’t expect many second chances against a Rice-coached team. In his 14 seasons as a head coach, his team has ranked in the top 25 nationally in preventing offensive rebounds 12 times and in the top 10 five times.

COLORADO STATE RAMS

Coach: Niko Medved (117-75, 7th season at Colorado State; 196-162, 12th season overall)

2023-24: 25-11 (10-8 Mountain West t-6)/NCAA Tournament (first round)

Preseason poll: 7th

Grammer’s ballot: 7th

Starters returning/lost: 1/4

Players returning/lost: 5/10

Key losses: PG Isaiah Stevens, F Joel Scott, F Patrick Cartier, G Josiah Strong

Key players: G/F Nique Clifford, G Jalen Lake, F Rashaan Mbemba, F Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, G Kyan Evans, G Ethan Morton

Note: Senior guard Lake was a high school teammate of UNM transfer forward C.J. Noland at Waxahachie (Texas) High School and the two are still close friends. Medved has had four 20-win seasons in his six at CSU, but all four were with a healthy Stephens running the point. The year before Stephens arrived on campus CSU went 12-20. In 2023 when Stephens broke his foot and played 25 less-than-fully-healthy games, the Rams went 15-18.

Stat to watch: CSU assisted on 64.9% of its made FGs in Division I games last season (second best in the country) and 61.5% in 2023 (12th nationally). As a result, the always-efficient CSU offense ranked in the top 15 in both of those seasons in 2-point FG% .

FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS

Coach: Vance Walberg (0-0, first season at Fresno State; 14-35, third season overall)

2023-24: 12-21 (4-14 Mountain West, 9th)/no postseason

Preseason poll: 10th

Grammer’s ballot: 11th

Starters returning/lost: 0/5

Players returning/lost: 2/13

Key losses: G Isaiah Hill, G Xavier DuSell, G Isaiah Pope, G Donovan Yap, F Enoch Boakye, F Eduardo Andre

Key players: G Amar Augillard, G Jalen Weaver, C Pierre Geneste Jr.,

Note: Walberg has NBA (assistant) and past DI head coaching (Pepperdine) experience and is also a long-time high school coach (697 career wins), including the previous eight at nearby Clovis (Calif.) West High School. He knows ball, but does he know the new era of college basketball? He brought in some intriguing players to fill a roster that returns just 11% of its minutes and scoring.

Stat to watch: Augillard averaged 22.7 points per game last season en route to being named National Junior College Player of the Year at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. If the 6-foot-4, 220-pound bulldog of a guard, can transfer that to the DI level better than he did when he averaged 3.0 points per game two seasons ago at Georgia Southern, Fresno State could have an all-league scorer.

NEVADA WOLF PACK

Coach: Steve Alford (96-58, 6th season at Nevada; 683-357, 34th season overall)

2023-24: 26-8 (13-5 Mountain West, t-2nd)/NCAA Tournament (first round)

Preseason poll: 3rd

Grammer’s ballot: 3rd

Starters returning/lost: 3/2

Players returning/lost: 7/8

Key losses: G Kenan Blackshear, G Jarod Lucas, G Hunter McIntosh

Key players: F Nick Davidson, F Tre Coleman, G Kobe Sanders, F Daniel Foster, F KJ Hymes, G Xavier DuSell

Note: Sanders, the Preseason Mountain West Newcomer of the Year, is a 6-foot-9 point guard who transferred from Cal Poly, where he averaged 19.6 points per game last season after not averaging better than 7.7 in his first three seasons. Much like UNM, who lost well-known high-volume scorers, Nevada actually returns an awful lot of overall production and minutes (56.1% of the team’s minutes) from last season’s No. 2 seeded team.

Stat to watch: 4 and 17. Those are the win totals to watch for Nevada. More specifically, for Alford. Four wins gives him 100 victories at Nevada, which would be the fourth school Alford has recorded at least 100 wins at (155 at New Mexico, 152 at Iowa, 124 at UCLA). Seventeen wins gives him 700 for his career.

NEW MEXICO LOBOS

Coach: Richard Pitino (61-41, 4th season at UNM; 221-178, 13th season overall)

2023-24: 26-10 (10-8, t-6th)/NCAA Tournament (first round)

Preseason poll: 2nd

Grammer’s ballot: 2nd

Starters returning/lost: 2/3

Players returning/lost: 8/6

Key losses: G Jaelen House, G Jamal Mashburn Jr., F J.T. Toppin, G Jemarl Baker Jr.

Key players: G Donovan Dent, G Tru Washington, C Nelly Junior Joseph, F Mustapha Amzil, G C.J. Noland, G Filip Borovicanin

Note: On the one hand, UNM has to overcome the loss of three all-league players in House, Mashburn Jr. and Toppin. And yet, in the transfer portal world, the Lobos still return more points from last year’s roster than any non-Air Force team in the Mountain West (46.6%) and more minutes from last season (49.8%) than any team other than Nevada and Air Force.

Stat to watch: New Mexico made just 6.5 3-pointers per game last season, which ranked 265th in the country and 10th out of 11 teams in the Mountain West. This year’s team doesn’t exactly have a knockdown shooter. Pitino has emphasized the importance to shoot more 3-pointers, not only with the obvious hope of making more, but to stop opponents from packing the paint defensively.

SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS

Coach: Brian Dutcher (177-58, 8th season at SDSU and overall)

2023-24: 26-11 (11-7 Mountain West, 5th)/NCAA Tournament (Sweet 16)

Preseason poll: 4th

Grammer’s ballot: 4th

Starters returning/lost: 1/4

Players returning/lost: 9/8

Key losses: F Jaedon LeDee, G Lamont Butler, G Micah Parrish, G Darrion Trammell, F Elijah Saunders, F Jay Pal

Key players: G Reese Waters, G B.J. Davis, G Nick Boyd, G Miles Byrd, F Miles Heide, F Pharaoh Compton, F Magoon Gwath

Note: SDSU always finds a way, it seems. Its streak of 19-win seasons (19 years in a row) is tied for third in the nation, trailing only Kansas (41 years) and Gonzaga (27). As for Mountain West dominance, the Aztecs have 16 hoops titles (regular season or tournament). UNM is second on the list among active MW teams with nine. No other active member has more than four.

Stat to watch: 21.2%. While technically SDSU returns 10 players who were on the roster last season, 21.2% is the percentage of points from last season’s Sweet 16 roster that are back this season , easily the lowest total of any of the top seven teams expected to be in the upper tier of the MW this season. The Aztecs are always in the mix, we know. But losing more than 75% of production (points, rebounds, assists and minutes) is a big mountain to climb.

SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS

Coach: Tim Miles (38-60, 4th season at SJSU; 401-371, 28th season overall)

2023-24: 9-23 (2-16 Mountain West, t-10th)/no postseason

Preseason poll: 8th

Grammer’s ballot: 8th

Starters returning/lost: 1/4

Players returning/lost: 5/11

Key losses: PG Alvaro Cardenas, G Trey Anderson, F Tibet Gorener, G Mayron Amey Jr.

Key players: C Adrame Diongue, C Robert Vaihola, G Josh Uduje, C Chol Marial, G Donovan Yap, G Will McClendon

Note: SJSU has five players who previously played at other Mountain West schools: Vaihola, Yap and guard Steven Vasquez at Fresno State and Uduje at Utah State. Top end potential for Vaihola and Uduje could be getting some votes for all-conference honors.

Stat to watch: In Miles’ past 17 seasons as a coach, his teams have ranked 219th or worse nine times in opponent 3-point shooting percentage. Opponents don’t tend to shoot a ton from the outside against his teams, but when they do, they tend to connect well above the national average. Opponent 3-point shooting vs. SJSU in his three seasons there compared to national average: 2024 — 38.9%/22.8% (ranked 361 out of 362 Division I teams); 2023 — 34.5%/34.0% (219); 2022 — 35.8%/33.6% (292).

UNLV RUNNIN’ REBELS

Coach: Kevin Kruger (58-40, 4th season at UNLV and overall)

2023-24: 21-13 (12-6 Mountain West, 4th)/NIT (third round)

Preseason poll: 5th

Grammer’s ballot: 6th

Starters returning/lost: 2/3

Players returning/lost: 5/8

Key losses: F Keylan Boone, F Kalib Boone, F Luis Rodriguez, G Justin Webster

Key players: PG Dedan Thomas Jr., F Rob Whaley, F Jalen Hill, F Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry, G Jailen Bedford, C Papa N’Diaye

Note: Thomas, a MW Player of the Year candidate, was expected to miss the start of the season with an ankle sprain and was in a walking boot around practice in late October. At Mountain West media day, he spoke highly of the frontcourt of Whaley and Cherry, a 6-11 transfer from New Mexico Junior College.

Stat to watch: They still have “Runnin’” in the nickname of the basketball team, but high tempo has hardly been the reality under Kruger. In his three seasons, the Rebels ran once, ranking 69th in tempo in 2023, but finishing seventh in the Mountain West. In 2022, UNLV ranked 230th in tempo and finished fifth. Last season, the Rebels slowed it down to 294th in tempo and finished fourth.

UTAH STATE AGGIES

Coach: Jerrod Calhoun (0-0, 1st season at Utah State; 242-144, 13th season overall)

2023-24: 28-7 (14-4 Mountain West, 1st)/NCAA Tournament (2nd round)

Preseason poll: 6th

Grammer’s ballot: 5th

Starters returning/lost: 3/2

Players returning/lost: 5/11

Key losses: F Great Osobor, G Darius Brown II, G Josh Uduje

Key players: G Ian Martinez, G Mason Falslev, C Isaac Johnson, G Drake Allen,

Note: Utah State is on its sixth coach since 2015 . Still, the Aggies have qualified for five NCAA Tournaments in that span. Remarkable, really, especially considering the past four coaches have all been external hires, turning over coaching staffs and philosophies.

Stat to watch: Despite the coaching turnover, the offensive blueprint has been the same for Utah State for years: Efficiency on offense. In the past 21 seasons, dating to Stew Morrill’s teams in the Big West, Utah State has finished in the top 25 nationally in effective FG% eight times and in the top 100 20 out of 21 seasons. Calhoun’s best team at Youngstown State was in 2023 when the Penguins ranked 22nd in FG%.

WYOMING COWBOYS

Coach: Sundance Wicks (0-0, 1st season at Wyoming; 18-14, 2nd season overall)

2023-24 record/postseason: 15-17 (8-10 Mountain West, 8th)/no postseason

Preseason poll: 9th

Grammer’s ballot: 10th

Starters returning/lost: 0/5

Players returning/lost: 4/10

Key losses: G Sam Griffin, G Akuel Kot, F Mason Walters, F Brendan Wenzel, F Cam Manyawu

Key players: G Jordan Nesbitt, G Kobe Newton, F Touko Tainamo, F Abou Magassa, G Dontaie Allen

Note: Former Wyoming coach Jeff Linder stepped down after four seasons to become an assistant at Texas Tech. Maybe bigger than the move itself was the timing. He made the decision May 9, after the transfer portal was pretty much wiped out, but still giving Wyoming’s roster 30 days to transfer (NCAA rule for any coaching change). Wicks, a former Wyoming assistant under Linder who had great first-year success at Green Bay last season, jumped at the chance to return to Laramie, even with his first season starting well behind the 8 ball from a roster-building standpoint.

Stat to watch: Wyoming returns the lowest percentage of minutes (10.6%) and points (9.1%) from last season’s roster as any team in the Mountain West.