Mountain West basketball media days: Marvelle Harris is preseason player of the year

The Mountain West has taken a dip over the past few years in terms of sending five teams to the NCAA Tournament back in 2013, but that does not mean the league has a lack of talented players. The talent is spread across this league fairly evenly.

On Tuesday, the media announced who their preseason all-conference team was, freshman of the year and newcomer of the year. Boise State led the way with a pair of players, including Anthony Drmic who is back after receiving a medical redshirt, the other is forward James Webb who earned MW Newcomer of the Year honors last year and was named to the All-MW Defensive Team in 2014-15.

The preseason champs, San Diego Sate, has just one player on the list in Winston Shepard and there could be an argument for Malik Pope who is considered a fairly solid NBA prospect.

The one player that people outside of the Mountain West need to focus on is guard Marvelle Harris out of Fresno State. He was tabbed as the preseason player of the year. While Fresno State is predicted to finish fifth -- with a first-place vote -- the Bulldogs will be a thorn in teams side all year, because of Harris.

Last year, Harris was named to the conferences All-Defensive Team and was a member of the first team will averaging 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

UNLV is taking home preseason freshman of the year in the highly touted Stephen Zimmerman who was a top 10 prospect, according to ESPN. He also follows up UNLV sophomore Rashad Vaughn who was the preseason freshman of the year last season.

Preseason All-Mountain West team

G Marvelle Harris* Sr. Fresno State

F Winston Shepard** Sr. San Diego State

G/F Anthony Drmic Sr. Boise State

F James Webb III** Jr. Boise State

G Josh Adams*** Sr. Wyoming

Preseason Player of the Year

Marvelle Harris, Sr., G, Fresno State

Preseason Newcomer of the Year

Tim Williams, Jr., F, New Mexico

Preseason Freshman of the Year

Stephen Zimmerman, Fr., F, UNLV

* member of the 2014-15 All-Mountain West first team

** member of the 2014-15 All-Mountain West second team

*** member of the 2014-15 All-Mountain West third team