So grab your favorite flavor – for me it’s an Eight O’ Clock K-Cup this morning – and we’ll delve into the Mountain West Conference races as 
they stand today and where they might be headed.
First let’s start with the Women.
Colorado State has moved to the top of the standings at 8-2 after their latest pair of victories at Boise State. The closest contenders are Fresno State at 7-3, UNLV at 6-3, and New Mexico at 4-2.
The Women’s race has been complicated by the opting out from the season by San Jose State who played three games that count in the standings. It has also been complicated by pauses, especially at New Mexico, which has led to scheduling complications.
The MW brass recently published a revised schedule for the rest of the regular season with the hopes of creating as level a regular season competition as possible. It involves New Mexico, who cannot play games in Albuquerque due to local COVID restrictions, playing the rest of their scheduled home games on the road rather than at Amarillo, TX. That means that Colorado State gets two games in Fort Collins vs New Mexico, rather than having to travel. And because of schedule compression, several games have not been rescheduled including a pair between New Mexico and Boise State.
If you want to see all the revisions, you can visit themw.com.
The implications are massive as they relate to the regular season title and post-season tournament seeding.
CSU has already split on the road with Fresno State and UNLV. By getting to play at home against New Mexico, they save on some travel wear and tear and gain home court advantage over New Mexico, maybe not as large due to lack of crowds but certainly a factor.
Having already had two home games cancelled due to San Jose State opting out, that is potentially huge in the Rams’ quest for a regular season championship. Still 8 games remaining, including a pair vs rival Wyoming this week, but they are clearly in the driver’s seat as it stands.
And now the Men’s Race…
The regular season is still up for grabs with Boise at 10-1, Utah State at 10-2, CSU at 9-3, and San Diego State at 7-3.
The CSU-BSU split this past week was massive for both teams. A sweep by either side would have put a lot of pressure on the loser and positioned the winner well.
Boise still has the meat of their schedule ahead of them, with a home pair vs Utah State and a season ending pair away at San Diego State. Technically Boise controls their own destiny but I’m not sure I’d want my destiny to conclude on the floor of Viejas. Boise also still has a pair of games with Nevada and UNLV, games that they will be favored to win but could prove dangerous.
Utah State dropped a tough road game at UNLV that muddied things a bit for them. They have the aforementioned pair at Boise that will be massive. They do get Nevada at home. The scheduling gods really worked in favor of the Aggies as they drew three off the top 4 in the league at home. An advantage not just because of homecourt familiarity but because they are allowing limited attendance in Logan.
San Diego State played the difficult part of their schedule already and now face the bottom feeders. They will be favored by large margins in every game until the final two-gamer at home to Boise State. I think its safe to assume they will be still at only 3 losses when they play the Broncos.
Now on to the Rams.
A win in the second game over Boise State would have left the Rams in the driver’s seat. But that’s water under the bridge as they still are well-positioned to finish at the top of the table. It wont be easy as they have a pair of road series in Laramie and Reno. Both Wyoming and Nevada are young, improving, and solid on their homecourts. Wyoming will be allowing limited attendance starting this week; some of them will be Ram fans hungry to see their team. Sweep those two series and the Rams are well positioned to close out the season as the other 4 games are at home against bottom feeders New Mexico and Air Force.
A couple of things to keep an eye on. Scheduling quirks caused by COVID.
San Diego State had their games at UNLV “postponed” because of COVID. They have not been re-scheduled yet. There technically is time to play those games after the currently planned end to the regular season but you never know.
And Boise State had the second game of their pair with Fresno State postponed due to a false positive test. Unless that game is re-scheduled, Boise is on track to finish with only 19 conference games under their belt, not 20 (or even potentially 18 by San Diego State). Unequal number of games will affect win percentages and could cost a team a regular season crown.
So there you have it as we enter the final month of the Mountain West regular season.
What say you Ram fans?
Can the Rams close the season on big winning streaks?
Can both the Women and the Men emerge as MWC Champs?
I assume the MWC will name co-champions at the season’s end, since no one is in position to run away with it. But with potentially different numbers of games, tiebreakers could get pretty strange. If the Rams can sweep from here, they will likely have a share of the title. One loss will probably doom any championship dreams.
My predictions: Women will win the regular season championship and men will win out but finish behind BSU and possibly (likely?) USU but will get into the Big Dance for great seasons by both young and quickly developing and well coached teams. Basketball at CSU is in good hands and poised for good runs the next couple of seasons at the least.
Swoll, your blogs are great – keep ’em coming!
Nevada walloped UNLV 89 to 60 last night. They are an enigma with loses to WYO and AFA. So who knows what CSU will face in Reno.
PS Enjoy your blog!
Almost forgot…Kirkland Breakfast Blend in the green bag for me.
Based on who I’ve watched so far, the two teams that scare me the most are SDSU and Utah State. For some reason, Boise less so. Don’t know why, just think they’re not quite as tough as the others. As you said, we’re about to find out. Best team out there besides the Rams that no one wants to face, UNLV. Beware, they continue to get better. Looking forward to the rest of our schedule. Covid aside, this has been a really fun year. So cool how Joel got you set up this season. Keep it coming Steve!
Can? Yes. Will? Women I think so. Ryun and his staff seem to once again have some good chemistry back that seemed to be missing? I felt the talent has been there all the long but team play seemed off? Glad it appears to be back. Really love their offensive rebounding I’ve seen especially with Clark,Brocke and Murphy. Their guard play on both ends of the court has been exceptional and though the fellas get accolades for their speed the women have it and so far minimal turnovers.
The fellas? The Chemistry is there, the talent is there, but needs a bit more development. We really have stars in David, Kendle, Isaiah and Adam is no longer a D liability in fact he is working so hard on the floor it may be wearing out his shooting legs at the end of games? But I love the more complete Thistle wood. I wish Moors and Thomas were a tad further in their development especially rebounding because Roddy is great but at 6’5” he has to be. Last year with Carvacho the offense could afford to have him knife in at the top of the key now he is always low already doubled teamed if there’s a miss. I believe both guys will get there under Thorson just not certain soon enough this year for a league title?
Again I wrestled so what do I know?