Early look at next year conference

[scott715]

A question that I have is which teams are losing key players and who has good recruits coming in. I don't know much about who is leaving. This is what Scout has for incomers:

NM losing Ramon Martinez but is getting a 4 star center, 3 star shooting guard and a 2 star SF.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p= ... 24&yr=2010

SDSU getting a 2 star PG.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p= ... 25&yr=2010
Kelvin Davis was a senior, not certain that he is done though.

UNLV no committs. "The future is bright for the program, as roughly the entire core of this year's team will be back next season, along with the additions of 6-foot-8 Kansas transfer Quintrell Thomas and 6-foot-11 redshirting freshman forward Carlos Lopez." according to LV Sun newspaper.

Utah a 2 star PF and a 1 star SF
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p= ... 27&yr=2010
Deseret News reports "Besides Drca, Tillie and freshman Jeremy Olsen, who is leaving on an LDS mission this spring, a couple of underclassmen, which will be announced later, will be leaving the program.

Scholarship players coming in include J.J. O'Brien and Dominque Lee, a pair of swingmen from California, and Preston Guiot, a point guard from Missouri.

Antonio DiMaria, a 6-6 forward from Casper College in Wyoming, who averaged 16 points and five rebounds this year, committed to the U. in February. Plus the Utes are expected to sign at least one more JC transfer."

CSU losing 6 seniors. No commits listed.

TCU two 1 star PFs
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p= ... 48&yr=2010

Wy a 1 star SG
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p= ... 28&yr=2010
They get back their injured star and Wyoming reportedly has received a verbal commitment from 6-9 forward Brian Gibson from Delgado Community College in New Orleans.

Gibson leads the junior-college ranks in rebounding with 14.6 in 21 games.

Gibson would be the third verbal commitment UW has received, joining Western Nebraska Community College shooting guard Francisco Cruz (6-4) and Escondido, Calif., high school guard Joe Hudson (6-1). Per Wyoming Tribune Eagle newspaper.

AF no comitts

The scout site seems to be incomplete and has not put much effort to evaluate the commits. I think next year we are shooting for 4 bids and maybe Utah can get into the mix for a 5th. If CSU and Wy improve they could get post season bids and raise the overall conference ranking.

[scott715]

CSU assessmenthttp://www.collegian.com/index.php/arti ... _direction

the players did see significant improvement over the past five months. Not only did the Rams pick up seven more wins than the 2008-2009 season, they also improved to a fifth place finish in the Mountain West Conference behind four NCAA Tournament teams. CSU finished second-to-last place in the conference last season.

Rams forward Travis Franklin said a change in the attitude of the team spawned CSU’s positive turnaround this season.

“We have a better attitude, and we are playing more as a team,” the junior said after finishing the regular season. “We turned it around and have a winning record this year. We just have to compete and get better. We have to take it one step at a time.”

Along with earning a winning record, the Rams saw a resurgence of a home court advantage this year. CSU went 10-4 at Moby Arena this season, including a seven-game home winning streak to start their campaign.

Although Rams guard Adam Nigon said he was proud of the team’s record this year, the junior admitted they could have been better. CSU finished the season in a slump, losing seven of their final eight games.

“It’s nice to start winning some games and come out having a chance every night,” Nigon said. “It’s a little disappointing having some games we thought we could have won here and there. When I look back, we possibly could have had a 20-win season if we would have taken care of business in a few road games.”

Even though the Rams just ended the season, expectations are already mounting for the next year’s campaign. CSU is expected to return four starters next year, including second team all-conference selection Andy Ogide.

In addition, the Rams will receive needed aid from red shirt freshman Trevor William, a 7-foot center, and guard Wes Eikmeier, a transfer from Iowa State. Point guard Jesse Carr, who fought a groin injury the majority of this season, is also expected to return to the court next fall.

Miles said the Rams taste of success this season has grown the team’s appetite.

“It needs to make us more hungry, there is no question about it,” Miles said. “Anything less than that, and we’re in trouble. We need to go out and put this to work for us. Because if we get satisfied with this (a 16-16 record), we are just going to disappoint ourselves in the future, and I’m not interested in that.”

[scott715]

Per Rivals "One day after securing an NCAA bid for this season, the UNLV Runnin' Rebels secured a solid piece for their upcoming attempts at the tournament with their first commitment of the 2011 season. Four-star power forward Grandy Glaze gave a verbal commmit to the coaching staff ..."

4 star recruits are what the conference needs. I am aware of 2 for 2010 and this is the first for 2011.

[Qman]

Sounds like UNLV will continue to be the 2nd best team in the conference. I could see New Mexico go downhill quickly if Hobson jumps to NBA.

[scott715]

I don't think Hobson will jump after a poor showing in the tournament. They lose their glue, Martinez but are getting the center they were missing. I wonder how many we will get in the top 25 to start the season. I can see a couple with a couple more getting votes. The conference was pretty young this year. Next year we need to make some noise.

[scott715]

http://www.gazette.com/sports/heard-956 ... looks.html

The Falcons picked up a feel-good victory in the Mountain West Conference Tournament play-in game over Wyoming on Wednesday, then pushed New Mexico, the league’s top seed, in the quarterfinals Thursday before falling. Two freshmen started the quarterfinal game, and another made a significant contribution.

But while all that might seem encouraging, it also, unfortunately, is all too familiar.

Air Force seemed to have momentum and hope for the future after a brutal 2008-09 in which it went 10-21 and 1-17 against MWC foes. But 2009-10 was not much better. The Falcons went 10-21, including 2-16 against league opponents.

And while the Falcons do have some promising young players, so do the rest of the teams in the league.

Only two of 15 players on the all-MWC first, second and third teams are seniors — New Mexico’s Roman Martinez and BYU’s Jonathan Tavernari.

Regular-season champion New Mexico will lose just one starter to graduation. San Diego State returns its entire starting five. UNLV returns all but two players on its roster (both of whom were reserves) and Utah will have four of five starters back. Colorado State and Wyoming also were young.

“This league is unforgiving,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “And when I say that, it’s not just New Mexico. It’s San Diego State, it’s BYU. It’s an extremely young league.”

Yet there are some reasons to think the momentum and hope generated by the Falcons’ play in the conference tournament might not unravel in 2010-11 like it did this season.

First is faith that Air Force won’t have the defections and injuries it dealt with this year. Two freshmen from the 2008-09 team transferred, including talented 6-foot-9 forward Trevor Noonan. But this season’s freshmen seem likely to stay. They have said they want to be a cornerstone class, like the Class of 2007 that was the backbone of the Falcons’ glory years from 2003-07.

And it’s hard to believe the Falcons will deal with as many injuries as they did this season. Center Sammy Schafer missed all but the first three games with post-concussion symptoms, and six other players combined to miss 33 games, including guard/forward Taylor Stewart and forward Grant Parker, who missed 13 and 10, respectively.

“I certainly hope (the 2010-11 season) can be different,” Reynolds said, “You don’t ever want to go through that as a coach anywhere.”

Then there are the players expected to return. Last season the Falcons graduated three seniors who accounted for 60.5 percent of the team’s scoring. This year they’ll lose four seniors, but only Parker was among the top five scorers.

In the quarterfinal loss to BYU a year ago, three seniors scored 52 of Air Force’s 69 points. On Thursday, seniors scored just eight of the 69 points, while juniors Tom Fow and Evan Washington had 17 and 11, respectively, and freshmen Michael Lyons and Todd Fletcher had 15 and 12, respectively.

“The majority of my teammates that were playing were freshmen and sophomores,” Washington said after the loss to New Mexico. “So the future’s looking bright for us.”