MWCConnection Roundtable: What grade would you give the 2024 men’s basketball season?

The roundtable is back for another off-season! From April through August, we will bring you a new question with thoughts from our team every Friday. This week’s question will focus on the Mountain West basketball season: Considering the strong showing in the out-of-conference schedule, the gauntlet that was the conference portion of the schedule, having six teams reach the NCAA Tournament, and seeing San Diego State make it to the second weekend, what grade would you give the Mountain West men’s basketball season this year?

Mike: Last year, I gave the 2022-2023 basketball season an A. This year, I’m going to be a bit of a stricter grader. Once again, much of the season was a success. Overall the Mountain West notched some strong OOC wins, and the stretch of conference games was highly entertaining with some classic games. Sending a record six teams to the tournament is a huge accomplishment. However, having only two of those teams make it to the second round is a disappointment. The last factor shouldn’t cancel the rest of it out, but it doesn’t count for something. I’m knocking what should be an A grade into a B+.

Jack: While it’s understandable for MW fans to be pessimistic about the conference’s overall Big Dance performance (minus San Diego State), this was a historic year for them. The #6BidMW dream came true, which is the most in conference history (add in UNLV’s late surge and run in the NIT, and it’s almost like 6.5 bids). It’s also the first time three different teams have won a game. Outside of that, the regular season was incredible. It felt like each of the top six teams had some time as the presumptive favorite to win the league. There are about 10 different games that have an argument to be game of the year, from Jarod Lucas’s half-court buzzer-beater in Fort Collins to Darius Brown II’s heroics sealing Utah State’s first regular season title ever, and finishing with an insane tournament that had New Mexico winning four games in four days. Yes, it could’ve been better. Someone other than the Aztecs making a run in March Madness would’ve sweetened the pot. But take a step back. Remember the light night madness we experienced again and again. That’s worth at least an A.

Zach: I’m going to be the negative one here. This season I watched more Mountain West basketball than I ever have this season. It was exciting, the majority of the teams were on an even playing field. But the majority of the teams never really passed the eye test for me. I don’t think the conference had great teams. The out-of-conference results were mediocre at best. Teams like Boise State, Nevada, Colorado State, and New Mexico were not happy with their seeding. But their performance in the tournament kind of justifies where the committee put them. Until teams outside of San Diego State win games in March, the conference will continue to get disrespected by the committee. Don’t get me wrong, placing six teams in the NCAA tournament was a huge accomplishment for the Mountain West, but the performance of those teams in the big tournament was underwhelming, to say the least. I’m going to give the season a B.

Matt: If I were only talking about my own team, it would have to be a solid D rating, with the only plus being getting rid of Hutson. But, we’re looking at the whole conference here, and things look much better. The dream of the 6 bid Mountain West Conference was realized, which is huge for the national profile of the conference. Now, we need more than just SDSU to win games in the tournament (First Four results aside) for the next step to be taken. There’s an argument to be made that multiple MW teams were underseeded by the committee, but you’ve got the play the hand you’ve been dealt in the end. Until they start pulling a few upsets and winning some games at the NCAA Tournament, the underseeding will probably happen. All of that said though, the season has to be called a rousing success, and hopefully the new coaches coming into the league next year will help raise the profile even more. I’ll give the season a solid 87, a good B+. Still room to improve, but a victory nonetheless.

Jeff: This year’s in-season run by the MWC teams showed the conference has incredible balance and parity. No one team dominated consistently. Home courts were highly coveted as visiting teams struggled to win on the road. Six teams making it to the NCAA tournament was fantastic news and, I believe justified and warranted. While an argument was made by several teams that their seeding should have been better, this claim needs more historical justification. The opportunity to prove that was on the court, and that basically fell flat. The best tournament wins were Colorado State versus Virginia and San Diego State versus Yale. Both teams were clicking on all cylinders, yet their subsequent games exposed their flaws and weaknesses. As a whole, the conferences performed better than last year, but they need to have one or two teams rise above the pack and escape conference play with 16-17 wins. Teams other than SDSU will need to advance out of the first rounds. Talented players and coaches emerged in the national spotlight, but many will be lost in the offseason. The season games were exciting while being cannibalistic. My grade for the conference is a solid B. A good job, but as they say, a bit was still left on the table.

Dom: Depending what part of the season you look at for the MW, the grades could go from A-D. There’s no doubt that the conference took a huge jump from last season, and there wasn’t one team that just completely dominated. There was a fight for first place until the very last game, and it leading to a six-bid tournament season is what gives the MW a higher grade. The fact that there was a potential for seven teams at one point is incredible. The OOC games gave the conference some strong wins to add to their resume, and we got a LOT of tight, fun matchups in conference play. It was a gritty dog fight for the MW, and seeing the conference come together after Selection Sunday was great to see. However, it was a case of bark and no bite. Getting better seeding next year is going to be extremely difficult after the way the MW went out this year. Even with San Diego State making the Sweet 16, that was on par for them, so even the Aztecs wins didn’t help the MW case for future bids. I’ll give the MW a B. Didn’t meet the expecations we would’ve liked to have seen, but this was one of the best years we’ve seen from the conference in a while and should be used as a stepping stone.

Aiden: Despite results from the NCAA tournament coming up short collectively, this was an outstanding season for the Mountain West. We need to keep in mind that the MWC is a mid-major and the fact that we got six teams into March Madness is historic for a quarter-century old conference. To me, the journey means more than the destination. We had half-court buzzer beaters, high-profile contests between conference foes, and dominated Twitter (or X) dialogues in the college basketball space. The potential momentum that commissioner Gloria Nevarez could have had heading into the 24-25 season would have been tremendous, but having only one MWC team, San Diego State, reach the second weekend was suboptimal. The question that comes to mind for me is…what is the ceiling for the MWC? I would argue that if one or two more teams found their way to the Sweet Sixteen, that would have been the ceiling. The Aztecs’ run last year was awesome and well-deserved, but do we expect a team in the MWC to make a similar run in the future? I don’t see it. Realistically, this was a season to be celebrated and memorialized despite its lackluster ending. Over half of the Mountain West found its way into the Big Dance for Pete’s sake! I’m giving the 2023-2024 season an A-.