Mountain West basketball preview: Boise State, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State atop the pack

Coming off a historic three-year run, the Mountain West is a bit down this season on the men’s basketball front.

The conference received four NCAA tournament bids in 2022 and 2023 before getting a record six teams into the dance last March, breaking the previous mark of five in 2013. The Mountain West had more NCAA tournament participants than the ACC (5), Pac-12 (4) and Big East (3) with San Diego State advancing to the Sweet 16.

With three conference games already in the books and two more on the docket Saturday, the Mountain West does not have as many NCAA tournament candidates this season.

Utah State (10-1, 1-0) leads the way in the latest NET Rankings at No. 39. The Aggies, who are coming off a 75-73 loss to UC San Diego, can add to their NCAA tournament resume this weekend by defeating West Coast Conference power Saint Mary’s on the road.

No. 48 Nevada (8-3, 0-0), No. 52 Boise State (8-3, 0-0) and No. 56 San Diego State (7-2, 1-0) are also off to solid starts. No. 81 New Mexico (9-3, 1-0) is the only other Mountain West team in the top 125 of the NET Rankings.

Boise State, the preseason pick to win the Mountain West, holds two quality wins over Clemson (No. 27 in NET Rankings) and Saint Mary’s (No. 49).

“You look all over the country, when you can win those close games against good teams, that’s what makes a great season,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said of the Saint Mary’s victory. “So that was a big hurdle for us right there.”

Boise State, which has losses to San Francisco (No. 54), Washington State (No. 78) and Boston College (No. 194), opens conference play at 1:30 p.m. Mountain time Saturday at home against struggling Air Force.

The Wolf Pack banked Power 4 non-conference victories over Washington (No. 94) and Oklahoma State (No. 103).

San Diego State, which checked in at No. 23 in the latest AP poll, has won four straight games since a 78-68 loss to Oregon (No. 16). The Aztecs own impressive victories over Houston (No. 7) and Creighton (No. 80).

The Mountain West has largely struggled against stiffer competition in non-conference play. The conference holds a losing record against Quad 1 (4-13), Quad 2 (10-12) and Quad 3 (8-14) opponents. A season ago, the records were 8-14 (Quad 1), 9-5 (Quad 2) and 29-9 (Quad 3).

In the latest NCAA tournament predictions from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, the Mountain West only received two bids: San Diego State and Utah State. According to Lunardi, Boise State and Nevada have work to do to reach the NCAA tournament.

The Broncos have reached the NCAA tournament each of the last three seasons. Head coach Steve Alford has guided Nevada to back-to-back tournament appearances.