2009 Mountain West Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/10/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After being the bridesmaid the last two years in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the BYU Cougars aim to walk down the aisle all alone this time around as they apply their top seeding to the 10th annual event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas this week.

The Cougars, who lost to UNLV in the championship game in both 2007 and 2008 and have won just one of their four opportunities when playing in the final game, have their sights set considerably higher this time around as they await the winner of the opening-round game on Wednesday night between the Air Force Falcons and the Colorado State Rams.

In the case of the ninth-seeded Falcons (9-20, 0-16), nothing has gone right for the academy in several months or, more specifically, they've failed to win a single conference game this season and don't appear ready to make it happen this week either. There have been some close calls certainly, but the team has come up short in each and every game since defeating Dartmouth back on December 28th, a span of 17 games. What's worse is that, in the nine previous years of this tournament, Air Force has failed to come out a winner in any one game (0-9). Because of the academy's lackluster performance in 2008-09, at least from an offensive standpoint (58.0 ppg), it failed to have even one player make it onto one of the All-MWC's first three teams, with Andrew Henke earning a spot as an honorable mention selection after scoring a team-best 12.8 ppg.

As for the eighth-seeded Rams (9-21, 4-12), they wound up with the worst scoring margin in the league (-5.1) as they allowed opponents to shoot a whopping 48.4 percent from the field in 2008-09. Playing synchronized team basketball was not a strength of the program either as it finished last in the conference with an average of only 10.8 assists per game. Marcus Walker, a transfer from Indian Hills Community College, earned All-MWC Third Team honors as he placed third in the league with his 17.0 ppg, although he did miss a handful of games for various reasons. Just a sophomore, Andy Ogide is another player who could have an impact on this first game of the tourney.

But honestly, the winner of the opening bout will have their collective hands full with BYU (24-6, 12-4), which finally earned some long overdue recognition by finding a place in the AP Top-25 which came out on Monday. The Cougars actually had the same league record as both Utah and New Mexico, but because of the tiebreakers they were the ones to earn the top seed in this tournament. BYU finished the season scoring a hefty 77.9 ppg, resulting in a massive 13.3 ppg in terms of scoring advantage. Both Lee Cummard and Jimmer Fredette were named to the All-MWC First Team, and Jonathan Tavernari found a spot on the Third Team. Cummard was first on the unit and second in the conference in scoring with 17.1 ppg, followed by Tavernari and Fredette, also in the top-10, with 16.1 and 16.0 ppg, respectively.

Playing in the second quarterfinal match of the day will be fifth-seeded UNLV and fourth-seeded San Diego State, two teams that were expected to vie for the regular season title before all this began, but suffered from inconsistent play and untimely injuries.

The Runnin' Rebels (21-9, 9-7) lost both regular season matchups with the Aztecs (21-8, 11-5), which is just one of the reasons that the host team for this tourney didn't live up to expectations. Poor free-throw shooting (.682) and field goal accuracy (.425), stats that had the Rebels ranked eighth and ninth in the league, respectively, always seemed to haunt the squad. It also didn't help that UNLV ranked last in the conference in rebounding defense with 36.1 boards allowed per game. Senior guard Wink Adams found a place on the All-MWC Second Team with his 13.9 ppg, but his shooting in particular was a constant reason for concern.

SDSU started out the season strong, winning seven of the first eight games, but a closer look at the schedule shows that many of those wins came against inferior competition (Fresno State, Western Carolina, Seattle, Hampton and Northern Colorado) so the team may have been riding on some false hope at that point in the campaign. With all due respect to San Diego State, the team was forced to juggle more with the lineup than a clown school, with as many as nine different players taking the floor to start a game this season. That lack of consistency left the Aztecs coming up with only 67.7 ppg (seventh in the conference), although the scoring defense (59.8 ppg) was second-to-none. Both Kyle Spain (14.4 ppg) and Lorrenzo Wade made the cut for the All-MWC Second Team, while Richie Williams was not only a member of the Third Team, but also placed on the league's All-Defensive Team as well.

Back-to-back losses against both BYU and New Mexico in the final days of the regular season meant the Utah Runnin' Utes fell to the second seed in the tournament and will now clash with seventh-seed TCU, the same team that the squad defeated in the last game on Saturday by a score of 68-49. The Utes (21-9, 12-4) were one of the most accurate shooting programs from every spot on the floor in 2008-09, ranking first at the charity stripe (.784) and second both in field goals (.482) and three-point shooting (.386). Luke Nevill turned in an unusual double play as far as individual awards go, becoming the first player in league history to earn both MWC Player of the Year honors and Defensive Player of the Year in the same campaign. Nevill was fourth in the league in scoring (16.9 ppg), first in rebounding (8.9 rpg) and tops in blocked shots (2.73 bpg).

The Horned Frogs (14-16, 5-11) found themselves at the bottom of the list in the MWC in terms of three-point shooting this season at just 33 percent and they were second-to-last in rebounding offense, collecting only 31.2 rpg. Because of that lack of strength in the paint, the Frogs were also last in the conference with a mere 32 blocks, less than half the number put up by Air Force (65) which was eighth in the league. Kevin Langford, a member of the All-MWC Second Team, did as much as he could to keep the team competitive with his 14.2 ppg, while Zvonko Buljan (12.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg) was named the Mountain West Conference Newcomer of the Year for his efforts.

Squaring off in the final game of the quarterfinals on Thursday night will be sixth-seeded Wyoming and third-seeded New Mexico, two teams with losing records in this tournament over the years. However, the Lobos (21-10, 12-4) do at least have a title to their credit, thanks to a 60-56 victory versus Utah in 2005. UNM had some trouble in the early going this season, losing to non- conference foes like Creighton, VCU and Drake, but when it came to the league calendar the group appeared to get things ironed out under the direction of Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year Steve Alford as he led the team to their second straight season with at least 20 victories. Tony Danridge made a triumphant return to the program after missing all of 2007-08 with a broken left leg and, for his efforts, was named to the All-MWC First Team by coming up with 15.2 ppg.

Placing second in the league in scoring this season with 76.0 ppg makes Wyoming (18-12, 7-9) appear a bit stronger than it actually was, at least when it came to challenging the more talented teams on the schedule. Consider that the Pokes scored no less than 80 points against teams such as Cal State Bakersfield, Prairie View, Sacramento State, Texas State, Houston Baptist, Western State and Johnson & Wales (Denver), hitting for triple digits against those last two opponents, and it was easy to see how the group padded the stats a bit. But make no mistake, All-MWC First Team honoree Brandon Ewing is still one of the best in the league in quite a number of areas. The only player in the history of the league to earn all-conference honors in all four years, Ewing led the league with 18.6 ppg and in assists (5.3 apg). Giving the star some support was Sean Ogirri who finished the campaign with more three- point baskets (103) than anyone else, en route to 14.9 ppg.