Checking in on… the Mountain West
Posted by Brian Goodman on December 21st, 2010
Andrew Murawa is the RTC correspondent for the Mountain West and Pac-10 conferences.
[ed note: this post was written prior to Tuesday night’s games.]
A Look Back
Just like everywhere else, it was a sleepy week around the conference in terms of the number of games, as the student-athletes leaned more to the student side of the equation this week. TCU hasn’t even played a game since the last time we did this, and only two teams around the conference, UNLV and Wyoming, played more than one game this week. But still, there were some eventful games around the conference as, among other things, the number of undefeated teams in the conference dropped again after UCLA upset BYU at the Wooden Classic in Anaheim, leaving San Diego State as the sole remaining unblemished team. The Aztecs, meanwhile, took UC Santa Barbara out behind the woodshed just days after the Gauchos handed UNLV their second loss of the year in improbable fashion. Elsewhere, New Mexico is now whole, getting junior forward Drew Gordon eligible for his first game of the year, and the four-team race for the conference title is fully joined, with SDSU remaining the favorite.
- Team of the Week: San Diego State – There was just one game for the Aztecs this week, but they handled it with ease, as they had six players score in double figures on the way to a 26-point blowout of a UC Santa Barbara team that had just done in UNLV three days earlier. The Aztecs bounced back from their first really bad shooting night of the season against Cal Poly last Monday by shooting lights out against the Gauchos, going for a 66.7 effective field goal percentage, including 12 threes on 24 attempts – quite the turnaround from the 0-18 effort against Cal Poly. Of some concern for head coach Steve Fisher was his Aztecs were outrebounded by the Gauchos, including an 18-11 margin on the offensive glass, but that is easily glossed over when you’re shooting at such a remarkable clip. The Aztecs now sport the second-longest winning streak in the nation (behind Duke’s 20-game run), and have clearly separated themselves from the rest of the MWC teams as the favorite for the regular season conference title.
- Player of the Week: Will Clyburn, Junior, Utah – 22 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four threes, including the game-winner with 11 seconds left, capping a furious second-half comeback against Boise State. Yup – That’ll earn the Player of the Week award. Clyburn continued his spectacular season this week with perhaps his most complete game of the year (although given some of the lines he’s posted, it’s a tough task to pick just one) and he continues to lead the Utes in points, rebounds, steals, threes and three-point shooting percentage.
- Newcomer of the Week: Clyburn.
- Game of the Week: UC Santa Barbara 68, UNLV 62 – While the Utah win over Boise State perhaps had the most exciting ending, and the BYU-UCLA game had its share of action as well, this curious loss by the Rebels at home against UCSB deserves a closer look. This was a game of widely varied statistics, with each side doing some things very well and some things very poorly on the way to this final score. For instance, in just looking at the field goal percentages, you would think that UCSB won this game by more than six points as they hit 50% of their shots while the Rebs just hit 29%. To make matters worse for UNLV, they hit just six of their 29 three-point attempts and only hit 20 of their 34 free throw attempts. But that’s only the start of the numbers explaining how UNLV stayed in this game – they got to the line twice as often as the Gauchos, and, they killed UCSB on the boards, with 24 offensive rebounds (although given their shooting percentages, there were certainly a lot of offensive rebounds to be had). UNLV used their defensive pressure to force 25 UCSB turnovers but gave too many back, spilling the milk 17 times themselves. All things considered, this Rebel team is showing all the signs of being the team we thought they were at the start of the season, a squad that doesn’t feature a lot of great shooters, but a team that is going to defend hard and try to outwork their opponents. Unfortunately for them on this night, their shooting was bad enough to overcome any good they could do on defense.
Power Rankings
1. San Diego State (12-0): They’re the #5 team in the nation according to the RTC poll. They’re the only remaining undefeated team in the conference. They’ve got the second-longest winning streak in college basketball, and they’ve got what appears to be a downhill slide to a 15-0 record prior to their MWC opening trip to TCU in two weeks. Darn right they’re the top team in these power rankings. They are without a doubt, the team to beat in the conference. But, despite their success so far, and despite being superior to the rest of the conference, they’re going to lose some games in conference play and they’ve got more than a couple of all-out battles looming ahead of them. So far, they’ve done what they have needed to do, but bigger tests await.
A look ahead: The Aztecs play in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, in a field that is anything but classic. There’s a matchup with San Francisco tonight and the second neutral-site matchup with IUPUI on the season – the Aztecs won by 15 in Oxford, Ohio a month ago.
2. BYU (10-1): The Cougars traveled to Anaheim for the Wooden Classic and had some trouble with the physicality of UCLA. The Bruins did a pretty good job in corralling Jimmer Fredette (and he still had 25 – what does that tell you?), and BYU had no good answer for the frontline play of UCLA as Josh Smith, in particular, gave the Cougs’ more slender frontline players all sorts of trouble. Dave Rose and company got some good news this week, as Chris Collinsworth played for the first time in over three weeks due to an ankle injury, and led the team with seven rebounds in relief of Noah Hartsock, who was still a little groggy following a concussion that he sustained last weekend against Arizona.
A look ahead: BYU gets to stay close to home for the holidays, with an in-state trip to Weber State on Tuesday followed by a visit from UTEP on Thursday.
3. UNLV (10-2): The Rebels’ loss to UCSB is detailed above, but they got a chance to get back to winning when they beat up on Southern Utah this weekend. Despite a 22-point win in which they never trailed, the Rebels again struggled shooting the ball, hitting just three of their 16 three-point attempts in this game, putting them at just nine of 45 on the week. Carlos Lopez notched a double-double with career highs in both points (12) and rebounds (11), while sophomore guard Anthony Marshall also went for a career-high 17 points. Knocking off Southern Utah while struggling from behind the arc is one thing, but for the Rebels to have a chance against Kansas State tonight, they’ll need to regain their touch from deep.
A look ahead: Kansas State tonight then Central Michigan on December 30, and then all these preliminaries are out of the way and an incredibly appealing matchup with BYU on January 5 awaits.
4. New Mexico (9-1): The games themselves were forgettable this week, as the Lobos dispatched with Longwood and Citadel by an average of over 31 points per game, but the players were of interest. UCLA transfer Drew Gordon played his first game as a member of the team in the last of those two games and contributed 11 points in 20 minutes, while five other players scored in double figures at some point this week (none of them named Dairese Gary). Picking a key player on this squad is difficult because not only do somewhere north of ten players play on any given night, but many can contribute. It was freshman Kendall Williams with 20 points, six assists and three steals against Longwood, while junior Phillip McDonald led with 17 points, six rebounds and three threes against the Citadel, but altogether a total of six players have led the team in scoring on the season, four have led in rebounding and three have led in assists. There isn’t anything on the Lobo schedule so far that indicates a quality win, but things start to get a little more interesting over the next couple of weeks.
A look ahead: The remainder of the UNM non-conference schedule is not exactly a murderer’s row, but things do pick up a little bit, starting with a pair of games in the Las Vegas Classic, starting with a matchup with Colorado on Wednesday, followed the next night by a matchup with either Northern Iowa or Indiana.
5. Utah (7-3): We mentioned the big Utah come-from-behind win over Boise State above when we awarded our MWC Player of the Week to Will Clyburn, but he got plenty of help from his teammates in that game. Four other Utes scored in double figures and the team tallied ten total blocks on the night, including three by sophomore wing Shawn Glover who has been up and down for Jim Boylen. Glover added 12 points and nine rebounds against the Broncos, while playing a season-high 30 minutes, but has also played five games this year where he failed to garner 20 minutes. With normal starter Jay Watkins still limited due to an ongoing back injury, and with freshman J.J. O’Brien not ready after a stress fracture (he may be ready for some minutes this week), Glover has a chance at more minutes, and if he can continue to contribute like he did this week, he may earn himself more minutes as the season progresses.
A look ahead: Christmas in paradise for the Utes, as they head to Honolulu for the Diamondhead Classic, but they’d better bring their A-games with them as Butler awaits as their first opponent on Wednesday night.
6. TCU (7-4): No news for the Horned Frogs, as they haven’t played in nine days due to finals.
A look ahead: TCU returns to the court tonight against Northwestern State before earning another week off.
7. Colorado State (5-3): The Rams played their first game since December 11 last night and worked through some of their rust on the way to a 14-point victory over Northern Colorado whom CSU has thoroughly owned over the course of their 75-year rivalry. Wes Eikmeier led the Rams with a career-high 17 points, and the Rams earned their margin of victory basically by outscoring the Bears 27-11 from the free throw line. It was a successful, but by no means particularly impressive, return to action, but things pick up for CSU from here.
A look ahead: Tim Miles packs his team up for a trip to Cancun for the Governor’s Cup, where they’ll face Appalachian State in the opening round before likely facing Ole Miss in round two, assuming both teams win their openers.
8. Air Force (7-2): The Falcons padded their gaudy record with an 11-point victory over 0-10 Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday behind a season-high 24 points from sophomore Michael Lyons. After falling behind in the first half, UAPB used a burst of six threes in a hurry to spark a 20-6 run to tie the game at 36 at the 14:22 mark of the second half. But Air Force responded strongly with a 14-4 run and UAPB was never really heard from again. Sophomore center Taylor Broekhuis continued his strong recent play with 11 points and eight rebounds, and he has now scored in double figures in every outing this season save his seven-point performance in a win over Wofford.
A look ahead: The Falcons travel to Flagstaff for a matchup with Northern Arizona on Wednesday for their only game of the week.
9. Wyoming (6-6): A three-game winning streak for the Cowboys! Yes, they were wins over Denver, Western State (of Division-II fame) and Centenary, who are a combined 3-30, but when you’ve got losses to North Florida, South Dakota and UC Irvine on your resume, you take those wins and don’t look back. The Cowboys were solid in these games, with four players scoring in double figures in the first two games, but those two games couldn’t have been more different. Against Denver, Wyoming shot just four three pointers the entire game, while against Western State, they boosted 29. However, the one thing the two games had in common was the Cowboys getting after the glass early and often, outrebounding Denver 32-13 and Western State 48-33. Against Centenary last night, the Cowboys were back to bombing from deep (connecting on just six of 21 attempts), but they made their hay by outscoring their opponents 20-5 from the free throw line. While the Cowboys’ performance continues to be all over the map, at least Heath Schroyer seems to have settled into a rotation.
A look ahead: The Cowboys host Wisconsin-Green Bay on Wednesday, still not playing world-beaters, but a significant upgrade in the level of competition over the last three games.
Brian Goodman a Big 12 microsite writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BSGoodman.
