Mountain West All-Conference Team Announced

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 9, 2010 9:09 AM PST in Basketball

The future of the Mountain West looks real strong with zero seniors on the first team and only four seniors when you included all teams and the honorable mention list. There are two gripes I have with this first Darrington Hobson as player of the year. He was the best player on the team that won the league, but BYU's Jimmer Fredette was a more dominant player. The Cougars did lose to New Mexico twice in close games and the latter Fredette barely played with his illness. Besides that the Lobos were the best team I think Jimmer was penalized for playing briefly or missing games with either mono or his more recent stomach virus.

Also, defensive player of the year went to the best shot blocker who was Utah's David Foster. My opinion is that it should have gone to BYU's Jackson Emery who was a lock down defender and averaged 2.7 steals per game which was good enough for fifth in the nation. Foster was fifth in the nation in block shots, but it does help when you are over seven feet tall.

Check below for the all-league selections.

2009-10 All-Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Team (Selected by media and head coaches)
First-Team All-Mountain West
Jimmer Fredette, BYU*	Jr.	G	6-2	195	Glen Falls, N.Y.
Dairese Gary, New Mexico	Jr.	G	6-1	205	Elkhart, Ind.
Darington Hobson, New Mexico	Jr.	G/F	6-7	205	Las Vegas, Nev.
Kawhi Leonard, San Diego State	Fr.	F	6-6	210	Riverside, Calif.
Tre'Von Willis, UNLV	Jr.	G	6-4	195	Fresno, Calif.
Second-Team All-Mountain West
Jackson Emery, BYU	Jr.	G	6-3	185	Alpine, Utah
Andy Ogide, Colorado State	Jr.	F	6-9	245	Marietta, Ga.
Roman Martinez, New Mexico	Sr.	F	6-6	185	El Paso, Texas
Malcolm Thomas, San Diego State	Jr.	F	6-9	220	San Diego, Calif.
Ronnie Moss, TCU	So.	G	6-2	195	Fort Worth, Texas
Third-Team All-Mountain West
Tyler Haws, BYU	Fr.	G	6-5	200	Alpine, Utah
Jonathan Tavernari, BYU**	Sr.	G/F	6-6	215	Sao Bernardo, Brazil
Chace Stanback, UNLV	So.	G/F	6-8	210	Los Angeles, Calif.
Carlon Brown, Utah	Jr.	G	6-5	205	Riverside, Calif.
Desmar Jackson, Wyoming	Fr.	G	6-5	190	Warren, Ohio
All-Defensive Team
Jackson Emery, BYU	Jr.	G	6-3	185	Alpine, Utah
Dairese Gary, New Mexico	Jr.	G	6-1	205	Elkhart, Ind.
Chace Stanback, UNLV	So.	G/F	6-8	210	Los Angeles, Calif.
Tre'Von Willis, UNLV	Jr.	G	6-4	195	Fresno, Calif.
David Foster, Utah	So.	C	7-3	255	Lake Forest, Calif.

Honorable Mention All-Mountain West
Evan Washington	Jr.	G	6-4	195	Air Force
Phillip McDonald	So.	G	6-5	200	New Mexico
D.J. Gay	Jr.	G	6-0	155	San Diego State
Billy White	Jr.	F	6-8	226	San Diego State
Zvonko Buljan	Sr.	F/C	6-9	220	TCU
Oscar Bellfield	So.	G	6-2	185	UNLV
Luka Drca	Sr.	G	6-5	205	Utah
Marshall Henderson	Fr.	G	6-2	175	Utah
Player of the Year: Darington Hobson, New Mexico
Defensive Player of the Year: David Foster, Utah
Newcomer of the Year: Darington Hobson, New Mexico
Freshman of the Year: Kawhi Leonard, San Diego State
Sixth Man of the Year: Jonathan Tavernari, BYU
Coach of the Year: Steve Alford, New Mexico
*Indicates number of previous all-Conference selections

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Kawhi Leonard

First freshman in the history of the Mountain West to make the all-conference team.

Mountain West Connection ::Above the Rest::
Bolts From The Blue "There’s a gleam men. Let’s go get the gleam! Focus and Finish!!! One play at a time!!! Let's Go!!!"
it kind of reminds me of that movie "You've got mail"...I'm Tom Hanks he's Meg Ryan -- Padres prospect Matt Antonelli on sdsuaztec4

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Mar 9, 2010 11:05 AM PST reply actions

this is great news.

i have a problem with the sagarin rankings. they have the mwc at 8th and the pac-ten at 6th. i find this bizarre in the sense that new mexico(n.m. 8th) and byu are in the top 15 and unlv is 34th and sdsu is 40th. only cal is at 32th. i know sagarin is only one computer ranking but what factors are they considering? is airforce bringing the conference down that much. it’s only .79 percantage points but what gives?

I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood"

by wolfmanshowlforever on Mar 9, 2010 11:48 AM PST reply actions

That's why I'm not a fan of all the computer models.

They say they are the most accurate because they are all based on stats, but that’s nonsense. Many of the calculations rely on human opinion as far as weighting factors, etc. If you get one variable off just a bit, it can skew the entire results enourmously.

I do finance for a living, and I know that if you change one variable by a few tenths of a percent on an estimate or valuation it can drastically alter the final results.

That said, I think that these computer models are great tools to help someone understand roughly where a team’s overall value lies, but you can’t take basic human reason out of the equation completely.

by ChiLobo#23 on Mar 9, 2010 11:59 AM PST up reply actions

i agree with you.

sagarin was also the one computer ranking that had the mwc football teams lower than they should be. thank god the bcs throws out the lowest and highest and takes the middle computer rankings.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Mar 9, 2010 12:04 PM PST up reply actions

A lot of the time people give more credence to their freshest memories.

Do you guys think that Hobson’s last-second block during the BYU game was figuring prominently in the minds of the voters for POY?

by ChiLobo#23 on Mar 9, 2010 12:04 PM PST reply actions

not so sure

I think the award was given to the best player from the best team.

Mountain West Connection

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 9, 2010 12:19 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

I'm definitely not for that. While I am definitely a UNM homer and love Hobson,

I hate the mentality of giving a POY award to the best player from the best team. It should go to the best player period. If that means Fredette, fine. If that means Hobson, fine.

This extends to a lot of sports. How many times have you seen a guy have the best numbers and overall season lose to a lesser player with a better supporting cast?

Of course, I’ve gotta add a little disclaimer- a guy (Hobson) that averages 16/9/5 is nothing to sneeze at. But I think that Fredette might’ve been a little something extra this season. And he averaged 21/3/5.

Great players, both.

And they’re both JUNIORS! We’ll be having this same discussion this time next year, no doubt.

by ChiLobo#23 on Mar 9, 2010 3:26 PM PST up reply actions

Throw Tre'Von Willis in that discussion

He is a junior also and at what point was averaging over 30 ppg over a 4 game stretch. He was coming off ankle problems at the beginning of the season and that dropped his scoring numbers down lower.

Rebel Rock

by rebelfan1 on Mar 9, 2010 4:43 PM PST up reply actions

Good point.

by ChiLobo#23 on Mar 9, 2010 9:49 PM PST up reply actions

closer then i thought

Maybe I think jimmer because of his high scoring games and if you consider the games that jimmer was in to get his legs back where he barley played the avg would be different. Like you said they are both juniors so I hope they both Come back

Mountain West Connection

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 9, 2010 4:46 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

Yeah, I think that's the one nice thing about our conference's media-underexposure.

Guys tend to stay longer in school to ratchet up the attention level for another year.

by ChiLobo#23 on Mar 9, 2010 9:52 PM PST up reply actions

Travis Franklin anyone?

Not even an honorable mention? His stats compare to Ogides and he never disappered for a game. Ya his FT shooting is an adventure but he was dominate at times this season. He could get to the hoop at will and got to the line more often then anyone in the MWC I believe.

Bring back Fum's Song!

by bhsmarine on Mar 9, 2010 5:27 PM PST reply actions