The Mountain West Conference is moving forward quickly in the throes of college basketball. The conference could be setting up to get a record six NCAA bids in March. The RPI rating for the league was third in the nation behind the Big East and Big Ten on Monday. Moving forward at this point, UNLV, San Diego State, and New Mexico look like locks for NCAA play in March. It stands to reason that quite possibly Wyoming, Colorado State, and Boise State will also be NCAA teams. The following are six key quotes from those competing coaches which gives insight into their team and the league.
Leon Rice, Boise State, on the Broncos 2-2 start which sees them at 14-4 overall: “A lot of the league games are going to come to making plays down the stretch. We had that against Wyoming and we were fortunate that the ball went in. With New Mexico at home, it just ended up on the other side and then we had to regroup and play an Air Force team that was dialed in. They played a tremendous game and had us on our heels all night.”
Larry Eustachy, Colorado State, who is also 2-2, but has the Rams sitting at 15-4, on the lack of logic with rankings in the polls: “My theory is once you’re in, you’re in. Utah State lost badly last week and got more votes in the coaches poll. I’m just curious as I look at it. Once we get to this time of year, it normally stays the same once it monumentally happens.”
Steve Alford, New Mexico, on senior Demetrius Walker’s role with the Lobos, who currently stand at 17-2 and 4-0 atop the MWC: “He was very productive for us last year in helping us win a couple of championships. We tried to play him small early and then put him in the backcourt and let him come off the bench. He’s a strong guard that we can use offensively and defensively.”
Steve Fisher, San Diego State, who saw his Aztecs come off consecutive loses to Wyoming and UNLV: “We dropped two games including one at home. Our m.o. is that we have not had too many back-to-back losses and we had one. This is a very unforgiving league and playing well doesn’t even guarantee you are going to win, home or away.”
Dave Rice, UNLV, on the Runnin’ Rebels’ style of play: “It’s a challenge to us playing three out of four on the road to start conference play. We need to get our program to the point where that doesn’t matter. We’ve got good inside players and a good guard that can dribble penetrate the ball. We still are going to shoot jump shots, but we still need to play inside out.”
Larry Shyatt, Wyoming, on opponents’ adjustments to forwards Leonard Washington and Larry Nance, Jr.: “Everybody’s dynamics are different. We don’t know until game time. Larry and Leonard are not gonna be able to put ball on deck and make plays. They are really going to have to rely on one dribble at the most. People are either running somebody at them or deep digging. That has been the situation since we lost one of our better shooters (Luke Martinez).”