Team of the Week

Air Force – Maybe it is proof of the power of the home-court in the Mountain West (note that Ken Pomeroy carves out an altitude exception here to the declining value of the home court). Maybe it was visiting teams overlooking the previously 2-8 Falcons, a team run down by injuries. Maybe it was just plain old college basketball craziness. But, whatever the case, Air Force invited both New Mexico and Wyoming into Clune Arena this weekend and sent both those teams packing with losses. Against the Lobos on Wednesday, they scored the final nine points of the game, holding New Mexico scoreless for nearly seven minutes down the stretch, to pull out the close win. Then over the weekend, they absolutely put it to a Larry Nance-less Wyoming squad on the way to a 23-point victory. While they’ve struggled with injuries all year long, the Falcons are now about as healthy as they’re going to get this year and seem intent on making the most of it.

Dave Pilipovich and Air Force Are Riding High After A 2-0 Week (Isaiah Downing, USA Today)

Player of the Week

Derrick Marks, Sr, Boise State – There were quite a few other solid candidates for this honor this week (Marek Olesinski, J.J. Avila, Rashad Vaughn and Marks’ own teammates James Webb for starters). But really, as long as Marks keeps playing as well as he currently is, I’m just going to keep him penciled in about this spot. This week, his numbers actually dipped a bit, as the length and athleticism of San Diego State gave him trouble on Sunday and held him below a 100 offensive rating for the first time since January 10. Still, Marks manufactured 19 points in a variety of ways and kept the Broncos rolling on their way to the team’s seventh-straight win. For the week, Marks average 21 points, five boards, a couple assists and a couple steals while shooting it at a 56.9 eFG%.

Newcomer of the Week

Rashad Vaughn, Fr, UNLV – The final result certainly wasn’t what Runnin’ Rebel fans wanted, as a one-point loss at Colorado State in one of the more entertaining games of the season left UNLV out in the cold. But Vaughn was spectacular early and often throughout this game, scoring 30 points on 21 field goal attempts, including six three-pointers. For the year, Vaughn sits behind only Marks among conference players in scoring average.

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As conference play begins around the nation, the Mountain West appears as wide open at the top of the standings as it has been in some time. Let’s dig into this week’s awards and power rankings.

Team of the Week

New Mexico – It wasn’t a very fun non-conference slate around Albuquerque, with injuries and inexperience compounding en route to a loss at Grand Canyon as the topper for a rough early season. But things started to look up in the Lobos’ first week of conference play, with not just two wins, but a win over Top 25 Colorado State on Saturday evening. After taking their lumps early in the season, newcomers Sam Logwood, Jordan Goodman and Tim Jacobs, in particular, had their share of impressive performances this week, while just about everybody on the team had something to feel good about. Well, everybody, that is, except sophomore guard Cullen Neal, who will miss the rest of the season due to his ankle injury that has kept him sidelined since the third game of the season.

Sam Logwood Had A Break-Out Game In The Lobos Win Over Colorado State (Roberto Rosales, Albuquerque Journal)

Player of the Week

Larry Nance, Sr, Wyoming – Nance all but willed his team to a 2-0 start in conference play, averaging 23.5 points, 9.0 boards, 2.0 blocks, 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists per game while playing all but two of the Cowboys’ 80 minutes of action this week. Oh, and throw in a 64.8% eFG while less than year removed from a torn ACL. Stud.

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1. Missouri’s long overly complicated coaching search came to an end yesterday as they announced that Kim Anderson, who played there and served as an assistant there, would be their next coach. Anderson has been the head coach at Central Missouri where he was 274-94 and won the Division II title this season. He may turn out to be an excellent hire, but the way the school handled the entire process hiring a search firm, spending more than $40,000, and being rebuffed by many more prominent names only to select a former player who was coaching only 1.5 hours away makes them seem less than competent. Anderson will have his work cut out for him as he will be inheriting a depleted team and will need to work hard to keep the recruits that Missouri had commitments from before Frank Haith “left” for Tulsa.
2. The strange saga for Chane Behanan has come to an end. Well at least the college portion of it. Behanan, who left Louisville after multiple suspensions for marijuana use, had transferred to Colorado State and was expected to play for them next season. However, Behanan recently had a change of heart (perhaps related to Mitch McGary’s decision) and declared for the NBA Draft yesterday. When the rumors first surfaced that Behanan might leave, we mentioned that he was at best a late second round pick and nothing that we have heard since then would change our mind on that. If Behanan wants to go, that is his choice. We just hope that he is aware that he will likely be headed overseas if he wants a pro basketball career.
3. Tennessee fans might want to temper their expectations for the first few seasons of the Donnie Tyndall era. Yesterday, the school announced that they had granted a release to CJ Turman meaning that all four of the players who committed to the school back in November have backed out after Cuonzo Martin left the program to take over at California. We wouldn’t feel too bad for Tennessee fans because their lack of support (combined with that of the administration) was probably the driving force behind Martin’s decision to move. Unfortunately for Tyndall he has to deal with the fallout.
4. With the early entries declared and almost all of the major recruits committed people can start putting together legitimate preseason predictions. One such entity is the Las Vegas sports book, who put out their odds to win the 2015 NCAA title, which we stress are only for educational purposes. There are not any particularly glaring odds there although somebody might find one of the teams with greater than 25/1 odds interesting particularly ones with Hall of Fame level coaches.
5. With all of the departures from the Mountain West yesterday’s news that junior college star Jordan Goodman had committed to play at New Mexico could be big. The Lobos will be without Kendall Williams, Alex Kirk, and Cameron Bairstow next season so the addition of Goodman, who averaged 18.1 points and 6.6 rebounds last season in junior college, could provide some much needed production. If Goodman’s name seems familiar it is because had been committed to Georgetown, Rutgers, and Texas Tech (yes, three different schools) in high school before going the junior college route. If Goodman sticks with his choice this time, he could pay dividends for the Lobos.