Mountain West Conference 2003-04 Recap
by John Eisel
Mountain West Conference Power Poll
1. Utah (17-3, 5-0)
2. Air Force (12-7, 3-1)
3. San Diego State (9-8, 3-1)
4. UNLV (9-7, 2-2)
5. Wyoming (10-8, 2-3)
6. New Mexico (14-5, 1-3)
7. Colorado State (9-9, 1-4)
8. BYU (7-13, 1-4)
Every Mountain West Conference team is playing for March in the Pepsi Center, except for Utah.
What has happened to this league? In past years, three or four teams would still be teetering around the bubble if not having the NCAA Tournament ticket firmly in grasp. This year, quality wins are few and far between, awful losses are scattered about and each team has suffered a plague of close losses to good teams or blowout losses to great teams.
New Mexico could have been the Mountain West version of Syracuse. Play a lot of gimme home games before the conference season starts and then finish at the top of the conference, validating their record. Then Danny Granger got hurt. The Lobos could have survived a few games, at least if they could have stayed above .500 in conference, but then they lost by 15 to Brigham Young. I know David Chiotti was missing for a lot of the game, but the Lobos’ schedule was set up so they didn’t have any leeway in conference.
BYU is rebuilding. Still, they talent and should be better than 7-13 and 1-4 in conference.
San Diego State’s 3-1 conference record would have been great, if they hadn’t lost to every mid-minor southern California college available.
It’s fitting that UNLV’s name is made up of individual letters. This is a team of individuals, just like in past years. Many thought Lon Kruger was going to fix this. Maybe the coach needs a year to fix the atmosphere.
The defining moment of Wyoming’s season is when Steve Neal hurt his knee in practice and Jay Straight became the primary scorer again, instead of the point guard with an ability to score. Pendelum performances aren’t helping things.
So Colorado State has more 7-footers than most NBA teams. Where has it gotten them? Then again, this team should be used to playing for March. They’ve been doing it for the past three years.
Yes, Air Force is doing very well. However, last year’s team was buoyed by winning the regular season conference championship by two games and beating NCAA Tournament teams BYU and Utah when Selection Sunday came around. The only NCAA Tournament-caliber team in this conference is Utah, and the Falcons have only one more shot at them. Even if the Falcons were to win out, which I don’t think will happen, their resume still wouldn’t be up to par.
Which leaves Utah as the king of the hill.
This is definitely a great Utah team. Ray Giacoletti will win coach of the year. Andrew Bogut has sown up player of the year. Some may say that this is just like football, with Utah beating a bunch of mediocre teams, but the football Utes were one of the best teams in the nation, and I doubt anyone would like to make that case for these basketball Utes.
Coaches should start maneuvering for March 9 right now. Avoid the No. 8, 5 or 4 seeds at all cost. At least that way, they may avoid Utah until the conference tournament championship and hope for one great night.
