Around the Mountain: Here's the All-Mountain West ballot submitted by the Journal's Geoff Grammer

The Mountain West will unveil the final coaches/media postseason awards on Tuesday afternoon.

I figured I'd get a head start on the criticism and let the Mountain West world know what was on the ballot I submitted — sure to draw both criticism locally for not enough Lobo love and around the conference for too much Lobo love.

I think the races that will have the most discussion will be Player of the Year (Utah State's Mason Falslev vs. UNLV's Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn), Coach of the Year (Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun vs. New Mexico's Eric Olen) and Sixth Man of the Year (Utah State's Karson Templin vs. New Mexico's Uriah Tenette. Notably, SDSU's B.J. Davis is disqualified from winning this award because he started more than five league games).

Without further rambling, here's the ballot I submitted:

MW superlatives

• Player of the Year: Mason Falslev, Utah State

• Freshman of the Year: Jake Hall, New Mexico

• Newcomer of the Year: Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, UNLV

• Defensive Player of the Year: Miles Byrd, San Diego State

• Sixth Man of the Year: Uriah Tenette, New Mexico

• Coach of the Year: Eric Olen, New Mexico

First Team All-Mountain West

M.J. Collins, Utah State

Mason Falslev, Utah State

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, UNLV

Jake Hall, New Mexico

Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon

Second Team All-Mountain West

• Tomislav Buljan, New Mexico

• Miles Byrd, San Diego State

• Reese Dixon-Waters, San Diego State

• Drew Fielder, Boise State

• Elijah Price, Nevada

Third Team All-Mountain West

• Corey Camper Jr., Nevada

• Colby Garland, San Jose State

• DeShawn Gory, Fresno State

• Jevin Muniz, Colorado State

• Makaih Williams, Grand Canyon

All-Mountain West Defensive team

• Nana Owusu-Anane, Grand Canyon

• Miles Byrd, San Diego State

• Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon

• Tyrin Jones, UNLV

• Elijah Price, Nevada

MW weekly awards

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

• MW PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Drew Fielder, Boise State — The Broncos big man led BSU to a 2-0 week, averaging 23.0 points and 7.5 rebounds. He shot 16-of-18 from the free throw line against San Diego State in a game the Aztecs couldn't seem to do anything other than foul him.

• MW FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Tyrin Jones, UNLV — Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn gets all the attention for the eighth-seeded Rebels, but Tyrin Jones might be the guy who breaks the NIL bank this offseason. Jones, a 6-foot-9 forward, is dripping with next-level potential and in a 1-1 week, he averaged 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game, while shooting 70.8 percent from the floor.

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.

• WEEKLY NIQUE POW: Reese Dixon-Waters, San Diego State — These are weekly awards, but in a week void of a clear cut winner (other than Fielder, who rightfully got the league's top award), I sort of feel like Dixon-Waters gets the benefit of the doubt a little bit here for a solid college career coming to an end for an SDSU team that insists on playing so many players, it makes it really hard to honor individual players with awards, be it weekly or yearly. There's a reason SDSU fans get so upset every time their players don't dominate the postseason awards when they've clearly been the best program in the league's history. Nevertheless, Dixon-Waters seems to be SDSU's go-to guy down the stretch of game when they need a bucket, and he did average 21.0 points per game in a 1-1 week (win over UNLV, loss at Boise State).

• WEEKLY NIQUE FOW: Jake Hall, New Mexico — Wins don't often matter as much to the league for the freshman honors, but maybe that was the decider here as the Lobos went 0-2. In those losses, Hall averaged 22.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals while hitting 10 3-pointers. And in a game with a championship on the line in the toughest road environment in the league over the past several seasons (statistically speaking), the true freshman went off for 32 points at Utah State and UNM wouldn't have been in the game at all without him. He also set freshman program and league scoring records last week. Yeah, Hall should be honored.

Fresno State's Wilson Jacques deserves a shout out, too, especially after his 16-point, 19-rebound, three-blocked shot game in a win over SJSU last week. He's quietly developed into one of the better bigs in the league.

And here's a look at the Weekly Nique show this week, with some all-league talk in addition to our weekly player honors:

Poll position

There were no Mountain West teams in Monday's Associated Press Top 25 poll, but Utah State — after a week that included a 27-point loss to UNLV and Saturday's road win over UNM — is still holding on to a spot in the "others receiving votes" section.

UTAH STATE: Two points, tied with four others at 10 spots outside the rankings, appeared on two of 61 voter ballots with each voter giving the Aggies a vote of No. 25.

NET gains

Here are the KenPom.com rankings for all Mountain West teams as of Monday morning:

• 35 Utah State

• 47 San Diego State

• 49 New Mexico

• 55 Boise State

• 60 Grand Canyon

• 76 Nevada

• 85 Colorado State

• 98 Wyoming

• 104 UNLV

• 131 Fresno State

• 237 San Jose State

• 344 Air Force

Here are Monday's NET rankings for all Mountain West teams:

• 29 Utah State

• 45 New Mexico

• 47 San Diego State

• 57 Boise State

• 68 Grand Canyon

• 73 Nevada

• 87 Colorado State

• 98 Wyoming

• 111 UNLV

• 149 Fresno State

• 256 San Jose State

• 349 Air Force

Need a ride?

The crew at Amazing Jumps, Tents and Events are still taking reservations 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 (Excalibur)/$825 (Mandalay Bay); couples/shared room $990 (Excalibur)/$1,390 (Mandalay Bay).

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

My five

I usually fill this last spot in Around the Mountain with my five games to watch this week.

This go 'round, I'll just say I'm looking forward to all 11 games of the tournament — one I genuinely believe will send the league in its current configuration off with a grand finale.

Should be fun. Enjoy Las Vegas.

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