2023-24 Mountain West Basketball Power Rankings: February 26

We are nearing the end of the 2023-24 Mountain West regular season, with Selection Sunday now less than three weeks away! It was an upset-filled weekend in the conference, though there still appears to be six teams vying for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Let’s hop into this week’s power rankings!

1. Utah State

Utah State re-takes the crown by virtue of besting San Diego State—who was atop these rankings on Feb. 19—in their only game this week and reclaiming the top of the Mountain West. Darius Brown II and Great Osobor combined to score 42 of the team’s 68 points while limiting SDSU to 15.8 percent (3-19) shooting from deep. The Aggies have a fairly favorable schedule the rest of the way outside of its regular season finale against New Mexico, beginning with Fresno State and Air Force this week.

2. Boise State

Even though USU swept the season series, Boise is still a half-game back in the MW standings. After losing back-to-back games to Colorado State and USU, it’s won its last three games by a combined 76 points (25.3 ppg!). It walloped San Jose State by 32 points after a dominant first half, then subsequently followed up with a convincing 20-point road win against Wyoming. It concludes this soft stretch against Air Force Tuesday before beginning a stretch of three straight Q 1-2 opponents.

3. Nevada

The Wolf Pack are winners of six of their last seven games and received yet another 20-point, 10-rebound double-double from Nick Davidson (23 points, 15 rebounds) on Friday. Hunter McIntosh also had arguably his best game in a Wolf Pack uniform, scoring 18 points and canning six 3-pointers en route to their 21-point win. Nevada has a tough Quad 1 test in Fort Collins against Colorado State this week before returning home to face Fresno State Friday.

4. San Diego State

The Aztecs got knocked off atop the MWC totem pole this week in their five-point loss to SDSU. Though they responded in emphatic fashion, holding Fresno State to 41 points on 24.6 percent (!!!!!!!) shooting from the floor in Saturday’s 32-point blowout. SDSU, who remains a No. 4 or 5 seed in most NCAA projections, has just one game this week: San Jose State.

5. UNLV

UNLV certainly got its revenge this week against Air Force; after getting embarrassed by the Falcons by 32 in Las Vegas on Jan. 23, UNLV dished out a 29-point win over them Wednesday. It also knocked off No. 20 Colorado State Saturday behind yet another strong showing from MW Freshman of the Year candidate Dedan Thomas Jr. They have now won seven of their last eight contests and are tied with intrastate Nevada for No. 3 in the MW.

6. Colorado State

Colorado State lost two straight hard-fought games to New Mexico and UNLV this week, which both came on the road. They have still yet to shake the road demons, falling to 1-7 in true road games in MW play. In those games, they’ve only been able to muster up an adjusted offensive rating of 106.2 relative to a 116.2 offensive rating at Fort Collins. They’ll have a chance to get back on track Tuesday against the surging Wolf Pack inside Moby Arena.

7. New Mexico

Saturday was a historically bad loss at home for New Mexico, who dropped six spots in the NET to No. 26 after a one-point loss to Air Force. The NCAA at-large projections pushed them to a No. 9-10 seed after they were higher in most projections. It could be worse, but its sizable win against Quad 1-2 foes earlier in the MW season could reap benefits once March arrives.

8. Wyoming

Wyoming has now lost five of their last six after winning four of five—losing by 18 on the road at Nevada followed by a 20-point home loss to Boise State. It was a disappointing week for lead guard Akuel Kot, who combined for just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting in those two games. The Pokes will look to get back on track this week against UNLV, whom it struggled mightily against on Feb. 3, followed by Colorado State on March 2.

9. Fresno State

Fresno State got completely blitzed this week with a loss to San Diego State in their lone game of the week. They scored just 69 points per 100 possessions with an effective field goal percentage of 28.9 percent; in their Jan. 3 loss to the Aztecs (74-47), it conjured together just 71.3 points per 100 possessions with a 38.2 effective field goal percentage. It's safe to say the Bulldogs will be happy not to see San Diego State again for the rest of the (regular) season.

10. Air Force

Saturday’s win over UNM marked Air Force’s second upset road win of the season—the other being against UNLV. The game was tight the entire way; Rytis Petraitis sunk the game-winning triple with seven seconds left that Tru Washington and Co. couldn’t return the favor for. The win snapped their seven-game skid, but it does not get any easier with three of their final four regular-season games featuring Boise State, Utah State and Colorado State.

11. San Jose State

Like the others at the bottom, San Jose State got absolutely crushed this week. They lost both games by a combined 53 points … and they are now tied with Fresno for the conference’s longest-losing skid (three games). There’s been better times in San Jose.