New Mexico Is Clear Favorite To Win Mountain West Basketball Title According To Media

by Jeremy Mauss on Oct 12, 2011 10:50 AM PDT in Mountain West Basketball Previews

The New Mexico Lobos are the favorite to win the Mountain West this season and gained 22-of-26 first place votes with the UNLV Rebels getting the other four first place votes and is expected to finish second this year.

Newcomer Boise State is projected to finish last, but it will be a tight battle between them and TCU who is projected to finish eighth. The difference between the two schools is only one point.

The difference between fourth and fifth is a large gap between Colorado State and Air Force, and I am somewhat surprised that Air Force is fifth.

Here is the complete preseason predictions and all-conference side:

2011-12 PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
Rk.	School (First-Place Votes	Pts.
1.	New Mexico (22)	203
2.	UNLV (4)	183
3.	San Diego State	158
4.	Colorado State	119
5.	Air Force	78
6.	Wyoming	68
7.	TCU	64
8.	Boise State	63

2011-12 MOUNTAIN WEST PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Name	Class	Position	Institution
Oscar Bellfield	Sr.	G	UNLV
Drew Gordon	Sr.	F	New Mexico
Chace Stanback	Sr.	G/F	UNLV
Hank Thorns	Sr.	G	TCU
Kendall Williams	So.	G	New Mexico
Preseason Player of the Year
Drew Gordon, Sr., F, New Mexico
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Xavier Thames, So., G, San Diego State
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Hugh Greenwood, G, New Mexico