College Basketball Betting: Mountain West Conference Preview

The 2021-2022 college basketball season could feature a new breakout team in the Mountain West Conference, but the old guard will still be expected to hold down the fort and defend its conference championship from 2021.

Team Likely To Surprise

The Colorado State Rams have not been a regular basketball power in the Mountain West. San Diego State has been the league’s stalwart team. Utah State has been consistently good in recent seasons. Nevada thrived under former coach Eric Musselman before Musselman went to Arkansas and turned the Razorbacks into an Elite Eight team. UNLV hasn’t been good in the past decade but was a Sweet 16 program a decade and a half ago under Lon Kruger. The Runnin’ Rebels have a history of quality, just not in the last several years. Colorado State has gotten lost in the shuffle, plugging away in anonymity in Fort Collins, where top recruits don’t choose to play college basketball.

This season, Colorado State could emerge from the shadows. Young coach Niko Medved is changing the culture of the Rams’ program. He has two of the Mountain West’s best players, David Roddy and Isaiah Stevens. Colorado State is in position to not only contend for an NCAA Tournament berth, but make a run at the outright conference championship. People who are used to seeing Utah State and San Diego State compete for the Mountain West title need to allow for the possibility that Colorado State could rise to the top of the league this coming season.

Team Likely To Disappoint

The Boise State Broncos had a lot of talent last year but simply couldn’t put the pieces together. They absorbed some very bad losses late in the season. Coach Leon Rice failed to get the most out of his lineup, and now the Broncos enter a season in which one of their crunch-time scorers, Derrick Alston, has moved on to the next stage of his basketball career. The Broncos have to find enough offense to compensate for Alston’s departure, and they have to become a much more dependable team in late-game situations, which crushed them last season. Rice has had his moments of success and achievement at Boise State, but the past few years have been conspicuously disappointing. It will be very hard for Boise State and Rice to get out of this rut in 2022. The details of their situation and the composition of the roster do not line up favorably for them.

Conference Champion

The San Diego State Aztecs had a very strong season last year, gaining a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They did flop in March Madness against Syracuse, but their regular-season body of work was solid. Now the Aztecs have added former California Golden Bear Matt Bradley, an agile scorer who should beef up their offense and give them another weapon which will enable them to handle late-game situations when the offense bogs down and the team desperately needs a bucket. San Diego State could be a Sweet 16 team this season. Colorado State will challenge the Aztecs, but it’s still SDSU’s conference to lose.