Around the Mountain: League lacks killer instinct, and here's the stat to prove it

There’s a stat for everything in college basketball.

Some mean more than others. Or maybe that’s just what the person wanting you to like a particular stat would say.

Nevertheless, here’s a stat I love to follow — and one that seems to be hinting that the Mountain West lacks the killer instinct it has shown the past four years, when at least four league teams made it to the NCAA Tournament each season.

The “kill shot” is the baby of Evan Miyakawa, the creator of the great analytics website Evanmiya.com.

A “kill shot” is any 10-0 (or better) scoring run in a game. The thought, as the name implies, is it’s really hard to surrender such a run and come back from it.

Not surprisingly, his “kill shot margin per game” statistic painted a picture of success last season with 21 of the top 25 teams (84%) in that category playing in the NCAA Tournament — a tournament where only 68 out of 364 of all Division I teams (18.7%) get in.

In the Mountain West, league champion New Mexico led the way in total kill shots (25), kill shots per game (0.74) and were second in kill shot margin per game (plus 0.41) and ranked in the top 30 nationally in each.

Each of the league’s four NCAA Tournament teams were among the league leaders in kill shot margin.

Also of note, current UNM coach Eric Olen’s squad at UC San Diego ranked third in the nation in kill shots per game (1.07) and fourth in kill shot margin (plus 0.76).

As this November has played out, it’s starting to look like the Mountain West is headed for a down season, it’s no coincidence there seems to be a lack of kill shots.

Here’s a list of total kill shots per Mountain West team with last year’s total in parenthesis:

0 — Boise State (20)

0 — Colorado State (20)

0 — Fresno State (15)

0 — San Diego State (20)

0 — San Jose State (16)

0 — UNLV (7)

0 — Utah State (22)

1 — Nevada (20)

1 — New Mexico (25)

3 — Air Force (7)

3 — Wyoming (13)

6 — Grand Canyon (17 in WAC)

Considering the Mountain West has largely played a weak strength of schedule entering this week, it’s not a good sign of things to come.

Players of the week

Here are the league’s weekly winners:

MW Player of the Week: Utah State guard M.J. Collins — the senior transfer from Vanderbilt and South Carolina before that, scored 40 points in Sunday’s win over Davidson in the championship game of the four-team Charleston Classic. He also scored 21 points with five assists in a win over Tulane in the event. Through six games, he’s averaging 21.0 points and is shooting over 52% from 3-point range.

MW Freshman of the Week: UNM’s freshman center Tomislav Buljan averaged 15 points and 14 rebounds in the team’s Hall of Fame Classic split with Nebraska and Mississippi State. Buljan also shot 64.7% from the floor (11-of-17) and his 19-point, 21-rebound game in UNM’s win over Mississippi State broke Kenny Thomas’ freshman rebounding record of 17 for UNM.

POW note

Utah State has had a different player win MW Player of the Week in back to back weeks (there have only been three POW awards given out this season). Last week, Texas A&M Corpus Christi transfer forward Garry Clark won the award.

It’s no wonder the Aggies are the last remaining unbeaten team in the league (6-0) with the highest rating in KenPom (27).

Poll position

There are no Mountain West teams in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, but there is one — Utah State — in the “others receiving votes” section.

Utah State (6-0), 16 points, nine spots (and 84 points) from No. 25. Individual voter data was not available Monday afternoonto see the Aggies’ highest vote in formation

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My five

Here are five nonconference Mountain West games I’m looking forward to this week, listed in order of when they are played:

Boise State vs. No. 23 NC State: Tuesday, 12:30 p.m. MT (Maui Invitational) — Boise State is still trying to find its way since the graduation of Tyson Degenhart, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2022. Will Wade’s NC State team is led by 2023 MW Freshman of the Year Darrion Williams (at Nevada then). Beware, Broncos. The loser of this game plays Chaminade on Wednesday and Boise State is already 0-1 this season vs. Division II teams from Hawaii.

San Diego State vs. Oregon: Tuesday, 9 p.m. MT (Player’s Era Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada) — The Aztecs will be getting their second Big Ten foe in as many days. Oregon, coached by Eastern New Mexico University graduate Dana Altman(any other ENMU news going around lately?), lost to No. 21 Auburn 84-73 on Monday. Oregon has 6-3 guard Rian Gonzales, a walk-on from Volcano Vista High School, though he’s yet to play this season.

UNLV vs. No. 8 Alabama: Tuesday, 10 p.m. MT (Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada) — I’m not optimistic this will be competitive, but I am interested whenever the Mountain West gets a shot at a Final Four contender. For added intrigue, Runnin’ Rebels freshman Naas Cunningham was at Alabama last season, but didn’t play.

Nevada vs. Washington: Thursday, 2:30 p.m. MT (Acrisure Series in Palm Springs, Nevada) — Remember when Danny Sprinkle — now Washington’s coach — coached Utah State to a MW championship? And coach Steve Alford’s Nevada team finished a game back in the standings, but he made a point to say Utah State didn’t have to play in Reno that season due to the league’s unbalanced schedule? OK, maybe nobody cares but me. But these are also two fringe teams that need all the decent nonconference wins they can get.

Wyoming at No. 20 Texas Tech: Sunday, 1 p.m. MT — Former Wyoming coach Jeff Linder left the Cowboys high and dry after the transfer portal closed more than a year ago to be the top assistant in Lubbock. This game may not be close, but I like storylines and I want to see Sundance Wicks and the Pokes get a shot at their old coachand the Red Raiders.