Around the Mountain: Before league splits, Mountain West delivering epic final two weeks of regular season

Mountain West basketball in its current form is on its last leg.

There are just two more weeks of regular-season play before the Pac-12 defectors move on and a new-look Mountain West takes form.

For now, though, let's raise a glass to the basketball gods (or at least the schedule makers) who managed to give us one hell of a last dance for what has been a fascinating league to follow for a little more than a quarter-century. 

The three teams currently separated by only one game in the standings — Utah State (13-3), San Diego State (12-4) and New Mexico (12-4) — each play one another over the final two weeks, each getting one home game against one of those top teams and one road game against one of those top teams, who each happen to have the three best home venues in the league over the past decade. 

Basically, we're being treated to a round-robin-esque tourney for the Mountain West regular season championship before the week of the Mountain West tournament, which looks right now like it could also be epic.

Here's a look at the top five teams in the standings entering the week — three appearing to be in a title chase, two appearing to be fighting for the final bye into the MW Tournament quarterfinals.

Remaining games for Top 5 MW teams:

(These reference current standings, not potential tie-breakers for tournament seeding)

Utah State (13-3, 1st MW)

• Plays at San Diego State (t-2nd), vs. Grand Canyon (t-4th), at UNLV (6th), vs. New Mexico (t-2nd).

San Diego State (12-4, t-2nd MW)

• Hosts Utah State (1st), at New Mexico (t-2nd), at Boise State (t-7th), vs. UNLV (6th).

New Mexico (12-4, t-2nd MW)

• Plays at Nevada (t-4th), vs. San Diego State (t-2nd), vs. Colorado State (t-7th), at Utah State (1st).

Nevada (10-6, t-4th MW)

• Hosts New Mexico (t-2nd), at UNLV (6th), at Wyoming (t-9th), vs. Air Force (12th).

Grand Canyon (10-6, t-4th MW)

• Hosts UNLV (6th), at Utah State (1st), at Air Force (12th), vs. Fresno State (t-9th)

Odds and ends...

• AIR FORCE: It's been reported in the Journal and elsewhere, but this'll be the first mention in the weekly ATM column. Air Force coach Joe Scott and the school "parted ways" last week after a month-long investigation into his treatment of cadet athletes. Both sides said nice things about each other on the way out and no specific details about Scott's contract were released.
• COLORADO STATE: The Rams wore orange in Saturday's win vs. San Diego State and are now 15-2 in their annual "orange out" game.

• NEVADA: Coach Steve Alford is being honored at the Final Four by Athletes in Action, an international sports ministry, with its Coach Wooden “Keys to Life” Award. Named after legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden, the award is presented to a basketball figure who best displays the character and leadership for which the Legendary Coach Wooden was known.

• NEW MEXICO: With last week's home win over Air Force, Eric Olen became the fifth UNM coach to win at least 20 games in his first season with the program. Saturday, his 21st win put him in a tie for fourth with Norm Ellenberger, who went 21-6 in his debut season of 1972-73. (that also happens to be UNM's current record).
• SAN JOSE STATE: Tim Miles won his 50th Mountain West game with that upset of Nevada last week — 28 as the head coach at Colorado State (2007-08 through 20011-12) and now 22 at San Jose State (2021-22 to present). ... Colby Garland scored his 1,000th college point in the loss Saturday at Boise State.

MW worst?

I share this not to pile on the Falcons, but for some historical context. Air Force is, to say the least, having a rough season (coaching change, winless in league play, pretty much counting almost entirely on freshman, non-scholarship players).

It's rough. I feel for them. I was asked recently on X if this was the worst team I have seen in Mountain West history. I don't think so, but it's close. 

And what's weirdly exciting is that there is a game Tuesday night between the last-place Falcons and the second-to-last place San Jose State Spartans that could end up helping decide if this version of the Air Force Falcons is the league's worst. 

My candidates for worst MW team ever

• 2025-26 Air Force Falcons: Currently 3-24, 0-16 in Mountain West games, KenPom ranking of 350 (of 365). Other notes: In-season coaching change ... pretty much all scoring at this point of season from freshmen... winless away from their 7,000-plus foot elevation home arena with all three wins coming over a four-day span in November in a home tournament against Alabama State (310 KenPom), Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (262 KenPom) and Indiana University at Indianapolis (311 KenPom). ... 15 of 16 MW losses thus far by double digits.
• 2014-15 San Jose State Spartans: 2-28, 0-18 Mountain West, KenPom ranking 347 (of 351). Other notes: No wins vs. Division I teams, or even Division II teams. The two wins were over Bethesda of the National Christian College Athletic Association and NAIA school St. Katharine. ... 16 of 18 league losses by double digits. ... 0-15 away from home. ... Barred from playing in the 2015 Mountain West Tournament for poor APR performance, forcing the league into a re-formatted 10-team tournament.

For those wondering, here are all the winless (in league play) teams in 27 years of Mountain West basketball:

Winless teams in MW play

• 1999-2000 San Diego State (0-14 — 5-23 overall)
• 2007-08 Colorado State (0-16 — 7-25 overall)
• 2008-09 Air Force (0-16 — 10-21 overall)
• 2014-15 San Jose State (0-18 — 2-28 overall)
• *2025-26 Air Force (0-16 with four games remaining — 3-24 overall)

Mountain West player awards

Here are the Player and Freshman of the Week awards as selected by the Mountain West league office:

• MW PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Colby Garland, San Jose State — Despite the 1-1 week, traditionally a disqualifier by the league for player of the week awards, Garland's week was too hard to ignore. The guard averaged 25.5 points, 7.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 55.9 percent in a week where the Spartans beat Nevada and lost at Boise State.

• MW FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Jake Hall, New Mexico — Hall's fourth MW Freshman of the Week award comes after averaging 18.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in wins over Air Force and Fresno State while shooting 65.0% (13-20) from the floor and also hitting five 3-pointers. His game-winner vs. Fresno State helped the Lobos complete the team's biggest comeback in program history, down 22 points in the first half to the Bulldogs.

Weekly Nique

In an effort to correct the league's weekly awards when needed, or at least recognize a few more players around the conference, Colorado State fan and podcaster Steve Ivy and I hand out our own player awards each Monday. We call them the Weekly Nique, named after current NBA player Nique Clifford who somehow only won the league's award once in his Mountain West career at Colorado State.

This week, we spread the love around plenty, even splitting the Weekly Nique for Player of the Week to two players.

• WEEKLY NIQUE, CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jase Butler, Colorado State — The Rams have won five in a row and last week Butler was the main reason for beating San Diego State and big part of the UNLV win, too (two much tougher games on paper than what his co-Nique winner had, although also with lower stats than that co-winner had). Butler averaged 17 points (25 in the SDSU win), 2.5 rebonds, 2.5 assists, 0 turnovers, no steals and no blocks. But here's the part I loved the most: 15-17 at the free throw line. I am a sucker this time of year for a guy getting to the line — taking games over by creating foul trouble and putting points on the board from the line. Butler did that, especially with his 11-of-12 showing at the line vs. San Diego State.
• WEEKLY NIQUE, CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Deyton Albury, New Mexico — I think Albury had his best week of the season, highlighted by carrying the Lobos back from a 22-point deficit on the road at Fresno State for a win. He averaged 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and just 1.5 turnovers. Great week, though it was against the current 10th and 12th seeds. Nevertheless, Albury heating up at the right time is really, really big news for the Lobos.
• WEEKLY NIQUE, FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Nas Meyer, Wyoming — Two big wins for the Pokes — vs. Fresno State and at Grand Canyon, and Meyer averaged 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in those wins. If there were an all-freshman team of five players, Nas would be one of the five in a season where there are numerous really good freshmen.

Poll position

No Mountain West teams were ranked in Monday's new Associated Press Top 25 poll, but the Utah State Aggies, again, are in the "others receiving votes" section.

• Utah State Aggies: 8 points, five spots out of being ranked, appeared on six of 61 voter ballots (including at No. 25 by the Journal's Geoff Grammer), two voters gave a high vote of No. 24.

Who are these guys?

There are four teams receiving votes this week coming from conferences that rarely, if ever, receive AP Top 25 votes. Of course one of them is Miami (Ohio) of the MAC thanks to a 27-0 record, despite having a bottom five (out of 365 Division I teams) strength of schedule. I, like most voters, have the Redhawks on my weekly AP ballot (I have them at 24 this week as a tip of the cap to earning a spot there, but not as an indication I would pick them against any other team in the Top 25 or even the next handful (or more) teams outside the poll.  

The other three teams in rare air for their leagues as they find themselves in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll this week are Navy (Patriot League), Stephen F. Austin (Southland) and High Point (Big South).

Net gains

Monday morning's KenPom Mountain West rankings

• 23 Utah State
• 43 New Mexico
• 45 San Diego State
• 60 Boise State
• 62 Grand Canyon
• 67 Nevada
• 88 Colorado State
• 95 Wyoming
• 124 Fresno State
• 125 UNLV
• 227 San Jose State
• 350 Air Force

Monday morning's NET Mountain West rankings:

• 24 Utah State
• 43 New Mexico
• 44 San Diego State
• 62 Boise State
• 66 Nevada
• 75 Grand Canyon
• 88 Colorado State
• 97 Wyoming
• 127 UNLV
• 133 Fresno State
• 253 San Jose State
• 350 Air Force

Need a ride?

The crew at Amazing Jumps, Tents and Events opened another bus for their annual trip to Las Vegas for the Mountain West Tournament.

The trip package includes a ride to and from Las Vegas from Albuquerque, three nights hotel stay (Excaliber or Mandalay Bay), and shuttle to and from the Thomas & Mack Center for each Lobos game. Tickets to the games are not part of the package.

Prices are $295 for bus ride only; single person packages $625 (Excaliber)/$825 (Mandalay Bay); couples/shared room $990 (Excaliber)/$1,390 (Mandalay Bay).

Call (505) 974-0215 for information or booking.

My five

While I'm pretty excited about pretty much every Mountain West game remaining on the schedule over the next two weeks, including an Air Force game mentioned below, I did just stick with my usual number.

Here are the five Mountain West games I'm most looking forward to this week:

San Jose State at Air Force

(Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT — TheMW.com)

• Seriously? It's crunch time of the season and I'm interested in 11th place San Jose State at 12th place Air Force? Yup! This is Air Force's last good shot at its only league win of the season (its next three are against KenPom Top 100 opponents), it's at home, and San Jose State has five players listed as being out due to injury and three starting guards — reigning MW Player of the Week Colby Garland, Pasha Goodarzi and Jermaine Washington — each listed as questionable. What's more? As listed above, I think the worst team in Mountain West history bragging rights are on the line for this season's Air Force Falcons (sorry, guys) and the 2015 San Jose State team that also went winless in league play. So there is plenty on the line in Clune Arena here! (Sorry, Nevada at UNLV, a game with more top of the standings implications, but you're the odd game out this week because of my love of this SJSU/AFA matchup).

New Mexico at Nevada

(Tuesday, 9 p.m. MT — CBS Sports Network)

• Nevada is coming off one of the weirdest weeks of the MW season, losing at 11th place San Jose State and then beating first place Utah State. Considering the win was the latter game from last week, let's assume they're riding high off that, but if not, maybe they'll be motivated knowing they are in a heated battle with Grand Canyon to earn a bye in the Mountain West Tournament that goes to the top four seeds and that the New Mexico team coming to town, you know, the one where both Steve Alford and Craig Neal were once coaches, not only beat them in the Pit in January, but are riding a five-game win streak over the Wolf Pack. As for the Lobos, after Saturday's program-record 22-point comeback at Fresno State, they are still very much a bubble team trying to get wins like this one to push themselves onto the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Utah State at San Diego State

(Wednesday, 9 p.m. MT — FS1)

• The loser of this game won't be hurt too much in all the computer rankings, but a win would do wonders — possibly solidify Utah State (finally) as a lock for the NCAA Tournament and maybe get San Diego State it's second Quad 1 win and maybe put them back on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Oh yeah, and it's likely to have a huge say in who wins the Mountain West championship (or at least who gets a share of it). Sign me up for this edition of Mountain West After Dark!

San Diego State at New Mexico

(Saturday, noon MT — CBS)

• The final meeting in what, as I wrote about earlier in the season, is the best rivalry right now in the Mountain West. And don't expect it to continue, at least not in the Pit and at least not as long as Brian Dutcher is coach as he has said he won't schedule games at high elevations. The Lobos lost a game they had a final minute lead in in San Diego in January but have won in the Pit — in this same noon-start, cherry and silver stripe out promotion setting for a CBS-televised game — the last couple of seasons. They'd love to make it three in a row as the Aztecs leave the league — a win that would really make a good case for UNM over the Aztecs as two teams currently among the same four or five "last teams out" of most current NCAA Tournament projections.

Grand Canyon at Utah State

(Saturday, 8 p.m. MT — FS1)

• The Aggies will be looking for revenge for losing Jan. 17 in Phoenix. Grand Canyon is fighting for that last bye in the MW Tournament and has every belief if it can be playing well over the next two weeks they are as dangerous as anyone to win the MW Tournament in Las Vegas.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.