2023-24 Mountain West Basketball Power Rankings: March 11

It has arrived! The Mountain West Tournament is finally here! But before that occurs, we must dig into our final power rankings of the 2023-24 regular season! Let’s get into it!

1. Utah State

Yet another Darius Brown II buzzer-beater allowed Utah State to outlast New Mexico for their first outright Mountain West title in program history! Brown is averaging 16.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.3 steals over his last eight games, shooting 60.3 percent from the floor, 58.5 percent shooting from 3-point range and 84.6 percent from the free-throw line—equating to a 78.5 true-shooting percentage (!!!!). That includes a two-point outing on 1-of-9 shooting. Danny Sprinkle has done as good of a job this season as any single-season coaching job in MW history and should be getting coach of the year honors, even if he’s not recognized.

2. Nevada

While it did not get a share of the conference title, there have not been 15 teams better than Nevada since the start of February. It has won 10 of its last 11 games and took down UNLV, who had won 10 of its previous 11, by double figures on Saturday. Nevada ends the season with the third-most regular season wins in program history.

3. Boise State

Despite dropping a home game by 10 against Nevada, Max Rice’s ridiculous near half-court shot ultimately led to a crucial road win over San Diego State. It also got help with its 1-3-1 zone, which helped erase a double-digit deficit to hand SDSU its first home loss of the season—where they’ve typically been dominant. Boise State concluded by winning six of their final seven games and clinched the No. 3 seed ahead of the conference tournament.

4. UNLV

UNLV entered Saturday as the conference’s hottest team with the league’s best defense over the last six weeks. It fell behind early on the road to intrastate rival Nevada, but climbed back to take a one-point second-half lead only for it to balloon back to double digits that it could not climb out of. UNLV will now have to win three games in three days—beginning with vaunted SDSU—to make the NCAA Tournament, with their at-large chances slim-to-none, barring something unforeseen. But this has been a remarkable mid-season turnaround for Kevin Kruger’s squad, led by freshman Dedan Thomas Jr.

5. San Diego State

The Aztecs did not end the regular season on a positive note, losing their final two games against UNLV and Boise State ahead of the MW Tournament, dropping to the No. 5 seed. It blew a 10-point second-half lead to the Broncos en route to its overtime loss. It has six days to get the ugly taste out of its mouth with a chance to invoke some revenge Thursday against UNLV.

6. New Mexico

The Lobos, without star guard Jamal Mashburn Jr., were close to knocking off Utah State in hopes of potentially earning a first-round bye ahead of the MW Tournament. The Lobos end the regular season losing three of their last four and four of their last six; they are just 2-7 in Quad 1 games and 6-8 in Quad 1 or 2 games combined. Their bubble hasn’t popped, but to avoid sweating out Selection Sunday, it will likely need to win at least two games in the tournament—perhaps even three—to get serious at-large consideration with how chaotic conference tournaments around America tend to be.

7. Colorado State

Colorado State avoided an early scare in Colorado Springs, Colo., against Air Force, securing a nine-point win. It marked their most efficient offensive performance in Mountain West play, tallying 134.8 points per 100 possessions with a 73.2 effective field goal percentage despite shooting just 6-of-17 from deep. CSU’s 3-point shooting has been the biggest struggle in MW play offensively, which is why it’s 3-4 over its last seven. Its defense has held up, but it will need to consistently put together good efforts on both sides of the ball this week if it wants to make a deep run.

8. Wyoming

Wyoming had two wins against Air Force followed by a dominant 39-point performance over Fresno State—its best game of the season. Wyoming’s 11 3-point makes were the third-most it’s made in a game this season, including its most since January. The Pokes also put together their best defensive game of the season, limiting Wyoming to 28.6 percent from the floor and 27.5 percent inside the arc.

9. Fresno State

Ideally, you wouldn’t want to face the team that just beat you by nearly 40 points twice. For Fresno State, that will be the case this week against Wyoming to begin the MW Tournament. The Bulldogs, who have dealt with myriad injuries recently, ended the regular season losing its final seven games—four of them by 20-plus points. Since the start of February, Fresno’s tallying less than 100 points per 100 possessions, a dire mark for a team that plays at a slow pace without many creators.

10. Air Force

Air Force was tied with Colorado State at halftime before suffering its nine-point loss. This regular season marks their worst finish since 2009-10, when it went 1-15 a year after going 0-16. They were, by far, the worst defense in MW play too, finishing dead last in defensive rating—by over four points per 100 possessions—defensive rebounding rate and effective field goal percentage allowed, among other statistics.

11. San Jose State

After being the biggest surprise in the MW last year, the Spartans sunk back to 2-16 in conference play this time around. They lost their final six games and 13 of their final 14, including a 20-point loss to Utah State in their only game last week. San Jose State held its ground for the first part of the first half before Darius Brown, Mason Falsev and Great Osobor took the game over. It will face Colorado State, who it lost to by 19 (66-47) on Feb. 9, on Wednesday.