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Mountain West basketball standings: Parity runs wild

New Mexico is the only undefeated team left in league play after just two weeks, and Colorado State is the only other team with just one loss.

Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

There was multiple talks about how the Mountain West could land six teams in the NCAA Tournament come March -- a tough feat for a nine-team league. However, that could change with how games went on Saturday night.

First up, Air Force was able to defend their home court and upset Boise State, 91-80. This is possibly the most damning loss of the day as Air Force was 10-5 coming in on the day -- not bad -- but had a RPI of 129.

The other loss that to outsiders may appear to be bad was Wyoming easily defeating San Diego State, 58-45, in a very low scoring matchup. Wyoming's RPI is solid at 56 so the loss does not look that bad for NCAA Tournament seeding, plus again this was a road game.

The final game where an upset occurred when Colorado State upended UNLV 66-61 at home on Saturday, again not a bad loss since the Rams RPI is at No. 25.

Six teams has always been a stretch in my opinion for this league, and the biggest threat to getting that many teams came when Boise State earned a bad loss against Air Force. They can still rebound and get some good wins, and keep boosting their resume.

It appears that the Mountain West will be a league that their champion could have has many as five loses, due to the parity this league has. Winning on the road is extremely difficult, so if a team like New Mexico is perfect at home, but if they split their road games then they would have an 12-4 final league record. Last year the league champ was New Mexico and San Diego State both went 10-4, so adding two more games it is possible that the champion could be 11-5.

New Mexico and Colorado State play next week, at the Pit, so there is a chance that after two-plus weeks there will be no undefeated Mountain West teams.


Mountain West Conference Standings

Conf Overall
W L W L
New Mexico Lobos 3 0 16 2
Colorado St. Rams 2 1 15 3
Wyoming Cowboys 2 2 15 2
UNLV Runnin' Rebels 2 2 15 4
San Diego St. Aztecs 2 2 14 4
Air Force Falcons 2 2 10 6
Boise St. Broncos 1 2 13 4
Nevada Wolf Pack 1 2 10 7
Fresno St. Bulldogs 1 3 7 10