2024 Way-Too-Early Mountain West Basketball Recruiting Rankings

It might be the second week of the 2023-24 men’s basketball season, but it is also recruiting season in college basketball. Last week, it was early signing day for the 2024 recruiting class, while national signing day won’t be until next spring.

Nevertheless, we had over two dozen commits officially signed with nine Mountain West programs—Fresno State is the only one without a signee, and Air Force can’t officially announce any signed recruits—last week.

For more on those recruits, click here. But today, I’ll be delving into my top players in the 2023-24 class, as well as which teams did the best and my way-way-way too early 2024 All-MWC Team based on the signed 2024 recruits alone.

Let’s dive into it!

Top-7 2024 MWC MBB Recruits:

1. Pharoah Compton, F, San Diego State

2. Pape N’Diaye, C, UNLV

3. Jaden Steppe, F, Colorado State

4. Taj DeGourville, G, San Diego State

5. James Evans, F, UNLV

6. Kase Wynott, F, Utah State

7. Kayde Dotson, G, New Mexico

I toggled between N’Diaye and Compton for the top spot; N’Diaye, listed at 7-foot, has the potential to be an incredibly potent shot-blocker, though will have to improve his core and lower body strength as time goes on once he gets to the collegiate level. He has plenty of functional size and will use his length to his advantage when he’s on the floor. Compton might be the most polished defensive player in this class and, physically, has a wide base with very broad shoulders. He has room to grow on both ends of the floor, but is an incredibly high-motor player who fits seamlessly into Brian Dutcher’s program.

Team Recruiting Rankings (2024):

1. UNLV

• Landed two top-5 recruits in the conferece, among those who have signed, including a dynamic 7-foot big in N’Diaye.

2. San Diego State

• Another squad that landed multiple high-quality recruits in Compton and DeGourville.

3. Wyoming

• Bolstered their backcourt with youth, including nabbing a top-15 player in the state of Illinois in Jehvion Starwood.

4. New Mexico

• Securing Dotson to pair with Tru Washington is a fun addition.

5. Colorado State

• The Rams added plenty of high-quality wing depth in Steppe and Mekonnen. I’m interested to see how they supplement with Stevens graduating.

6. Boise State

• This might seem too low for the Broncos, for now, but I trust Leon Rice’s development as much as most of the coaches in this conference.

7. Utah State

• Even though he wasn’t highly touted of high school, Wynott is sneaky very good. He’s one player that I’m intrigued to see how he develops at the collegiate level.

8. Nevada

• Caelum Harris doesn’t have any stars, but Alford’s had a good track record with under-the-radar freshmen at Nevada. He’s lengthy, he’s athletic and he has experience playing FIBA U16 ball overseas with the Philippines.

9. San Jose State

• Added two-high energy guards, including Cameron Patterson, a three-star recruit from Moreno Valley, Calif.

10. Air Force

• Perhaps the toughest team to gauge, but they added more length to their frontcourt with Catchings and Clark.

11. Fresno State

• No, seriously, do something Fresno!

Overall, it was almost a tie, in my mind, between UNLV and San Diego State, who both landed high-quality recruits. But I went with UNLV because they also landed a 6-foot-11 big Jeremiah Cherry, adding size to a roster that does not project to have much frontcourt size next season (as of right now, of course) outside of N’Diaye and Isaiah Cottrell.

2024 All-Recruiting Team:

G: Taj DeGrouville, San Diego State

G/F: James Evans, F, UNLV

F: Jaden Steppe, Colorado State

F: Pharoah Compton, San Diego State

C: Pape N’Diaye, UNLV

I almost included Wynott—who I’m very high on—on here. He’s likely going down as one of the best basketball players that the state of Idaho’s ever had and I trust Sprinkle’s development. He could be a diamond in the rough, as could any of the other recruits that I did not mention.