Mountain West Connection - All you need to know about the Mountain West

Mountain West Conference Standings

(updated 2.6.2010 at 11:21 PM PST)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
BYU Cougars Vanquish The Foe	7	2	22	3
New Mexico Lobos	7	2	21	3
UNLV Runnin Rebels	7	2	19	4
San Diego St. Aztecs	5	4	16	7
Colorado St. Rams	5	4	14	9
Utah Utes Block U	3	5	10	12
TCU Horned Frogs	3	6	11	13
Wyoming Cowboys	2	7	9	14
Air Force Falcons	1	8	9	13

Rank	Team	Points
1	Kansas Jayhawks	1613
2	Syracuse Orange	1553
3	Kentucky Wildcats	1514
4	Villanova Wildcats	1366
5	West Virginia Mountaineers	1361
6	Purdue Boilermakers	1301
7	Georgetown Hoyas	1211
8	Duke Blue Devils	1142
9	Kansas St. Wildcats	1139
10	Michigan St. Spartans	968
11	Wisconsin Badgers	871
12	Tennessee Volunteers	850
13	Ohio St. Buckeyes	845
14	Texas Longhorns	789
15	New Mexico Lobos	725
16	Gonzaga Bulldogs	693
17	BYU Cougars	532
18	Butler Bulldogs	422
19	Northern Iowa Panthers	298
20	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	269
21	Temple Owls	223
22	Vanderbilt Commodores	222
23	UNLV Runnin Rebels	209
24	Baylor Bears	202
25	Pittsburgh Panthers	149

Rank	Team	Points
1	Kansas Jayhawks	769
2	Villanova Wildcats	735
3	Kentucky Wildcats	705
4	Syracuse Orange	703
5	Michigan St. Spartans	652
6	West Virginia Mountaineers	596
7	Purdue Boilermakers	552
8	Georgetown Hoyas	550
9	Duke Blue Devils	503
10	Texas Longhorns	495
11	Kansas St. Wildcats	433
12	BYU Cougars	432
13	Gonzaga Bulldogs	351
14	Tennessee Volunteers	330
15	Butler Bulldogs	297
16	Wisconsin Badgers	277
17	Temple Owls	253
18	Ohio St. Buckeyes	245
19	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	211
20	Vanderbilt Commodores	160
21	Pittsburgh Panthers	133
22	Northern Iowa Panthers	129
23	New Mexico Lobos	125
24	Baylor Bears	109
25	Cornell Big Red	53

Mountain West Basketball Power Poll: 2/8/2010

by Jeremy Mauss on Feb 8, 2010 5:32 PM PST in Basketball Power Rankings Comment 8 comments

There is a new team at the top of the weekly MWC power poll. BYU has now lost to New Mexico and UNLV in consecutive weeks, while the Rebels are 3-1 against San Diego State, New Mexico and BYU. Had the Rebels not choked against Utah at home they would be riding an eight game winning streak.

There is a tie between TCU and Wyoming this week in the voting, but the big shake up is up top.

Images_medium

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Checking in with the College Basketball RPI: 2/8/2010

by Jeremy Mauss on Feb 8, 2010 11:50 AM PST in Basketball Comment 1 comment

As a league the Mountain West is rated 7th in the RPI.

All the RPI info was found at Real Time RPI. Record indicates division one wins only.

Not much change this week in the RPI even with UNLV upsetting BYU over the weekend. Three teams look to be a look, and San Diego State had their chance to get in the group but they lost a close one to New Mexico. Their RPI at 41 could be good enough to make the tourney but they currently have 14 wins and to make the NCAAs they will need to get some big wins down the stretch and probably be in the conference tournament finals.

Air Force

Record = 7-13

RPI = 237

SOS = 130

Great Wins (RPI 1-50) =

Solid Wins (RPI 51-100) =

Bad Wins (RPI 100+) = Charleston Southern, North Carolina Central, Prairie View A&M, Texas Pan America, UC Davis, Wyoming

Bad Losses (RPI 100 or greater) = TCU (twice), Utah

Eh Losses (RPI 51-100) = Washington State, Northern Colorado, Missouri State, UTEP, Colorado State

Good Losses (RPI 1-50) = BYU, New Mexico, UNLV, San Diego State

BYU

Record = 21-3

RPI = 23

SOS = 106

Great Wins (RPI 1-50) = UNLV, San Diego State

Solid Wins (RPI 51-100) = Nevada, Arizona, Weber State, Arizona State, Colorado State, UTEP

Bad Wins (RPI 100+) = Idaho State, Hawaii, Southern University, San Francisco, Fresno State, Wagner, Air Force, Wyoming, TCU, Utah, Bradley

Bad Losses (RPI 100 or greater) =

Eh Losses (RPI 51-100) = Utah State

Good Losses (RPI 1-50) = New Mexico, UNLV

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SB Nation's Bracketology Is Out!!

This weeks bracket has three teams in with BYU (4), New Mexico (4), UNLV (6). BYU took a slip with their loss at UNLV over the weekend. However, the Cougs are still in the West bracket which just happens to be played in Salt Lake.

So, if BYU wins two games they would be basically playing a home game against top seed Villanova.

Here are links to the bracket, seed list, and tracking spread sheet.

about 21 hours ago Jeremy Mauss 1 comment 0 recs

San Diego State's Addison Reed Named 2010 Baseball America Preseason All-American

Baseball America annually polls major league scouting directors to vote on the team and make their selections based on performance talent, and professional potential. Reed was selected as a third-team honoree.

about 23 hours ago Sam (sdsuaztec4) 0 comments 0 recs

Jerry Hughes Scouting Report

SB Nation's Mocking the Draft broke down TCU's draft status.

Pass rush: Plays two yards deep outside. Very good footwork. Properly adjusts his feet to get around the corner quickly. Pass rush moves are ordinary. Mostly a speed rusher. Never really showed consistently that he was comfortable with his spin move.

Size: Has ideal size for a 3-4 outside linebacker but would be considered slightly undersized as an end. Looks to have long arms and is high cut. Not especially tight skinned.

Final word: As a pass rusher, Hughes is very good. But he'll need to do a better job against the run and learn how to drop into coverage. He shows a solid first step, which helped him lead the nation in sacks in 2008. He shows above average lateral quickness, but needs to learn how to shed blocks better.

1 day ago Jeremy Mauss 1 comment 0 recs

ESPN.com's Weekly Watch gives UNLV some love

by Fooch on Feb 7, 2010 10:57 PM PST in Basketball Comment 3 comments

Originally I was going to do this as a FanShot, but there's plenty to pull from this as UNLV continues its hot streak of late. Andy Katz of ESPN.com runs a weekly watch on Monday looking back at the week that was, including a team and player of the week, as well as additional contenders.

Although Katz named Texas A&M the team of the week, UNLV was one of his contenders:

UNLV: BYU has been the team to beat for weeks in the MWC, but the Runnin' Rebels were the only team to manhandle the Cougars this season. The win places UNLV squarely in the title race. Earlier in the week, a victory at Wyoming was a necessity to continue to stay with BYU and New Mexico.

I think his mention of the Wyoming win is especially important. Wyoming was no gimme, and even with the win over BYU, it's the lesser wins that are going to prove especially important. After going 2-1 against the top of the conference, UNLV was tripped up by Utah, wiping away much of the momentum. Since that Utah loss, the Rebels have won five straight against the best and worst the conference has to offer.

Tre'Von Willis also got some love, as Katz named him his "Player of the Week":

Tre'Von Willis, the Runnin' Rebels' leading scorer (18 ppg), served notice that the race for the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year is not over yet.

While Jimmer Fredette is the overwhelming favorite to earn the honor, Willis was the star of Saturday's game against the Cougars. Fredette scored 21 points but was 2-of-7 on 3s, and the Cougars lost by 14. Willis scored 33 points, making 11 of 20 shots and 4 of 7 3s. It was his second 30-plus-point game of the season. Earlier in the week, he scored 15 in a win at Wyoming.

The Runnin' Rebels have won five straight and seven of eight with the only loss an odd home defeat to erratic Utah. Willis' play pushed the Rebels to 19-4 overall, 7-2 in the MWC, tied with BYU and UNM as the three teams start to separate from the rest of the league, making it clearer that all three should be in the field of 65.

If Jimmer Fredette ends up winning MWC Player of the Year honors, I certainly won't scream bloody murder. After all, he's been a big part of BYU's success and is clearly an excellent player. At the same time, I strongly believe Tre'Von Willis is equally important to UNLV's success, if not more so than Fredette. UNLV has some depth, but it often seems like they go as far as Willis goes.

Whatever the case may be, it should make for an extremely compelling close to the conference season. UNLV, BYU and New Mexico will be battling it out for the regular season title, and the conference tournament should only be more entertaining.

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