By Aidan Joly
It was another good year for the Mountain West, when you look at it. Six teams made the postseason, four of them in the NCAA tournament. Four of those teams did not win a game, but San Diego State made up for all of that with a run to the national title game.
The league is safe, for now, from conference realignment after SDSU to the Pac-12 fell through. We will see what happens in the coming months.
It should be another strong year for the Mountain West. Let’s see how it stacks up.
San Diego State Aztecs
2022-23: 32-7 (15-3 Mountain West), lost in national championship game
A repeat trip to the Final Four seems unlikely, but a conference title seems much more reasonable for this squad.
Some of the key players from last year’s team are gone, but they retain plenty of talent and bring a few intriguing players in.
Keshad Johnson, Matt Bradley and Nathan Mensah are all gone. The two key returners are Lamont Butler, who averaged 8.6 PPG but etched his name into March Madness lore forever with a buzzer-beater against FAU that sent the Aztecs to the national title game. Darrion Trammel is also back and will likely be the scoring guard after putting up 9.5 PPG last season.
Micah Parrish (7.9 PPG) and Jaedon LeDee (7.8 PPG) are also back.
It’s a pair of transfer adds in Reese Dixon-Waters and Jay Pal for Brian Dutcher’s squad. Dixon-Waters averaged 9.8 PPG off the bench for USC last season and was the Pac-12’s sixth man of the year, while Pal averaged 12.3 PPG at Campbell. Four-star freshman B.J. Davis should have a solid role quickly.
Again, a trip to the Final Four again is unlikely, but the Aztecs will still be the team to beat in the Mountain West.
Boise State Broncos
2022-23: 24-10 (13-5 Mountain West), lost in round of 64
Leon Rice’s Bronco squad is coming off of a great season, but they lose a lot of talent for this year.
However, leading scorer Tyson Dogenhart and his 14.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game is back for another season. As is coach’s son Max Rice, who put up 14.0 PPG last season and shot over 40% from three.
The best new player is UC San Diego transfer Roddie Anderson II, who was the Big West freshman of the year after averaging 13.1 PPG last season. The second best is Chibuzo Agbo, who averaged 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game at Texas Tech. Cameron Martin (Kansas) and O’Mar Stanley (St. John’s) both have high major experience as well, but had small roles at their previous schools. Emmanuel Ugbo played professionally in Germany and is now a Bronco.
The pieces are there for Boise State to put together a run to the NCAA tournament, but the question is if everything works out right.
Utah State Aggies
2022-23: 26-9 (13-5 Mountain West), lost in round of 64
Usually, the Aggies are towards the top of the Mountain West. This year, that is unlikely to be the case.
The program lost just about everything this offseason. Virtually every contributor from last year is gone, as is head coach Ryan Odom, who left to take the job at VCU.
Former Montana State coach Danny Sprinkle arrives to try to pick up the pieces. He brings Darius Brown II with him, who averaged 9.1 PPG for Montana State last season. He figures to be the Aggies’ best player. Josh Uduje averaged 13.2 PPG at Coastal Carolina and will likely be a large part of the offense as well. Ian Martinez was a role player at Maryland last season and also has a previous stop at Utah.
As for the rest, the cupboard is pretty barren, and there’s a lot of freshmen. Sprinkle is a good coach, but the talent does not appear to be there. Expect some growing pains in year one. Here’s to hoping the program can get its swagger back.
Nevada Wolf Pack
2022-23: 22-11 (12-6 Mountain West), lost in First Four
Nevada snuck into the tournament last season as a play-in team, despite losing three of the last five regular season games and then bowing out in the conference tournament quarterfinals. But, it lost by 25 in the First Four game.
There is a good amount of continuity. Jarod Lucas was one of the best players in the Mountain West last year and averaged 17.0 PPG and shot 37.8% from three. He figures to be one of the best scorers in the league. Guard Kenan Blackshear is back too after a season of averaging 14.1 points and 4.6 assists per game.
One interesting player is Hunter McIntosh. He averaged 13.3 PPG at Elon in 2021-22, but was limited to just six games at the end of last season due to injury. It will be intriguing to see if he can re-claim what he was at Elon. If he can, Nevada’s stock rises dramatically.
It seems like a season of more of the same for Nevada. A good team, but being one of the best in the league is likely elusive.
San Jose State Spartans
2022-23: 21-14 (10-8 Mountain West), lost in CBI quarterfinals
Tim Miles’ second season at the helm was the program’s first 20-win season since 1980-81. It was the first time the program won double digit conference games since 1993-94.
There are now some levels of expectations at the long-dormant program. Miles lost his best player in Omari Moore, but return a fair amount.
The scoring duties will likely fall on Alvaro Cardenas, who averaged 10.0 PPG, as well as Robert Vaihola, who put up 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last year.
One interesting addition is Washington State transfer Adrame Diongue. He played sparingly at Wazzou, but he is a seven-footer and a former top 100 prospect, so he will likely get more chances at playing time in a probably better situation.
We’ll see how SJSU does this season. Could Miles leave for a better job if San Jose State has a good season? That may be something to monitor.
New Mexico Lobos
2022-23: 22-12 (8-10 Mountain West), lost in NIT first round
The Lobos made the postseason for the first time since 2014 this season, a great step in Richard Pitino running the program.
Now, the younger Pitino might be building something good at New Mexico. The Lobos bring back both of their two leading scorers in Jamal Mashburn (19.1 PPG) and Jaelen House (16.9 PPG).
The rest of the leading scorers should be transfers. Fresno State transfer Jemarl Baker Jr. will likely be the third member of the leading trio after putting up 12.5 PPG in the same league last season. Nelly Junior Joseph was a great player at Iona last season and should have a fairly large role. Mustapha Amzil was a guy in the rotation at Dayton last year and it should translate fairly well to New Mexico.
Four star freshman Tru Washington will likely have some kind of role, as will three star freshman Jadyn Toppin.
San Diego State is the odds-on favorite to win the league, but New Mexico shouldn’t be far behind. The program has not won a postseason game since 2012, it has the talent to change that.
UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
2022-23: 19-13 (7-11 Mountain West), no postseason
UNLV doesn’t have the best talent in the league, but it has depth and a deep rotation.
Luis Rodriguez is the top scorer returning after he put up 10.7 PPG last season, while Justin Webster is also back after averaging 8.2 PPG last year.
Oklahoma transfer Jalen Hill is a great defensive presence and a good rebounder who will likely be a glue guy for the Runnin’ Rebels this season. Coach Kevin Kruger also picked up brother Keylan and Kalib Boone. Keylan was great at Pacific last season, with 13.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while Kalib was a great role piece at Oklahoma State and finished with 10.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. The reunion of brothers should be a lot of fun to watch.
Roster turnover is always tough, but Kruger seems to have managed it well. A top half finish should be in order here.
Colorado State Rams
2022-23: 15-19 (6-12 Mountain West), no postseason
The conversation of the Rams begins and ends with Isaiah Stevens, one of the best players in program history. Last season he averaged 17.9 points and 6.7 assists per game, and should continue to be one of the best guards in the league. Where he goes, Colorado State goes.
Patrick Cartier will be a strong number two after he averaged 12.3 PPG last season for the Rams. He also shot 64.7% from the field, giving the team a strong interior presence. Jalen Lake is back for another year after putting up 7.5 PPG last season.
One new player to keep an eye on is Joel Scott. Scott was the Division II player of the year at Black Hills State while leading his squad to the D2 Final Four. He averaged 23.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game at Black Hills and should be a double-double threat every night. Meanwhile, New Mexico transfer Javonte Johnson and Colorado transfer Nique Clifford will be solid depth additions.
Last year was certainly a down year, but with this talent and a good head coach in Niko Medved at the helm, it’s unlikely to happen again.
Fresno State Bulldogs
2022-23: 11-20 (6-12 Mountain West), no postseason
After getting to the postseason in 2022 for the first time since 2017, the fortunes flipped in Fresno last season with some struggles.
Former four-star prospect Joseph Hunter likely would have had a big role on this team, but was kicked off the team due to felony gun charges against him.
Instead, it’ll probably be Isaiah Hill leading the charge after he put up 12.6 PPG and shot over 30% from three last season. Eduardo Andre also returns after putting up 8.3 PPG last year. Donovan Yap and Leo Colimaro will also be part of the rotation.
For the rest, it is seemingly new guys. Isaiah Pope spent the past three years at Utah Tech, becoming one of the best scorers in the WAC and put up 13.1 points per game and also averaged over one steal per game. One other transfers Xavier DuSell (Wyoming) lines up to be in the rotation as well.
Fresno State is a dark horse to do well in this league, but right now it is towards the bottom of the pecking order.
Air Force Falcons
2022-23: 14-18 (5-13 Mountain West), no postseason
Air Force has not had a winning record in conference play since the 2006-07 season and has not been over .500 overall since 2012-13.
Several key players are now gone, but the main player back is Rytis Petraitis is back after he had a great freshman season where he averaged 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Ethan Taylor is also back after a good all-around season, and he’s also a good three-point shooter, making 38% of his shots from behind the arc.
There are no new players – and only 10 on the roster to begin with. But this is a military school that will always struggle to bring in high-level players and this year’s squad is no different. Air Force has not made the NCAA tournament since 2006. Don’t expect that to change.
Wyoming Cowboys
2022-23: 9-22 (4-14 Mountain West), no postseason
In 2021-22, Wyoming won 25 games and got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
That script flipped quickly, with a last place finish in the Mountain West and single digit wins.
Most players are gone, including Hunter Maldonado to graduation, Graham Ike transferring after being out all season due to injury and Jake Kyman off to Washington State.
There isn’t much left. The top scorer will likely be Tulsa transfer Sam Griffin, who put up 15.2 PPG at Tulsa last season. The second leader will probably be Brendan Wetzel, who started 21 of his 24 games played and averaged 7.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest.
The rest of the roster has experience, but is very unproven. It’s tough to tell who will step up. An older roster should keep them in a lot of games, but it’s unlikely that will transfer to a lot of wins. There is a good chance the Cowboys will be in the cellar for the second straight season.
AJ Hoops 