*With the Mountain West as we know it ending due to conference realignment, I thought it would be fun to go back and highlight the best players, games, and teams over the past 13 years. The prior entry was for the top 10 football players
The Mountain West had a good run with basketball. 30 teams over the past 13 years made it to the NCAA tournament, with another four making it to the play-in game, and 21 players were drafted to the NBA. Even with the transfer portal and NIL dominating the landscape, the conference still had some great players.
Like with football, I really overthought how to rank the players. Luckily it’s a little easier with basketball since more data is easily available and it’s slightly easier to compare positions. I threw together the following info to help make this list:
Post Season Awards (Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Tournament Player of the Year)
I awarded a point total for each accomplishment, along with a slight boost based on career stat totals (points, assists, steals, blocks, rebounds). I used this in an attempt to make an unbiased ranking. I was a little surprised with what it produced, though it mostly lines up with general consensus. You’re welcome to give your thoughts in the comments. I will mention that my rankings are skewed towards accomplishments rather than raw talent or potential, so being drafted to the NBA (or other accolades outside of college) was not a factor.
I’ll do my best to include some background info on these guys, but you are welcome to add anything you might know about them.
*Note: All rankings, statistical leaders, and honors refer to the Mountain West Conference unless noted otherwise. Years listed reflect the end of the season (i.e. 2018 refers to 2017-18 season)
Two-time All-Defensive Team, Two-Time First-Team All-Conference, 2016 Tournament MVP
Sixth in Career Steals, Ninth in Career Points, 2016 Total Assists Leader
2021 All-Defensive Team, Two-Time First-Team All-Conference, 2021 Tournament MVP
2019 All-Defensive Team, Two-Time First-Team All-Conference, 2018 Player of the Year
Eighth All-Time in Career Box Plus/Minus Rating, Total Points Leader in 2018 (Third in Per-Game Average)
Two-Time All-Defensive Team, Second-Team All-Conference 2014, Two-Time Defensive Player of the Year, Eighth in Career Blocks, Fourth All-Time in Career Box Plus/Minus
You might know his dad, who had a 14-year career between Phoenix and Cleveland. He was a solid defender, and his kids definitely kept the tradition going. His daughter Casey played at Dayton, while his son Pete was at Northwestern and North Carolina. Larry Nance Jr. started out basically as Wyoming’s sixth man in the 2011-2012 year, then was a starter for the next three. One of the better, if not the best, big man in conference history, Nance finished top 10 in rebounds per game in each of his final three seasons, while finishing eighth all-time in career rebounds. His final two seasons he finished top 10 in blocks per game, while also earning a share of Defensive Player of the Year in 2015.
That 2015 year also saw Nance finish fourth in points per game (16.1), and was named to the First-Team All-Conference for the second year in a row. Wyoming managed to work their way into the AP top 25 for the first time since 1988. They capped the year with an upset win over San Diego State to claim the Mountain West Tournament, first in school history.
Nance was drafted 27th overall in 2015 by the Lakers, and has had a very long career in the NBA, currently in his 11th season.
San Diego State was easily the best team during the divisional era. Flynn only played one season in the Mountain West, which is largely why I didn’t have him higher, Still, it was one of the better seasons. Flynn was the Washington player of the year as a high school senior, and committed to Washington State. He was there for two years and was a solid player, averaging 15.8 points a game in 2017-2018, but after two years Flynn decided to transfer. He waited a year (back when that was a requirement), and had a lot of hype when he committed to San Diego State — he was named Preseason Player of the Year.
He backed it up by leading the conference in assists (5.1) and steals (1.8) per game, while also finishing third in points (17.6). Flynn was an easy choice for First-Team All-Conference, as well as Defensive Player of the Year and Conference Player of the Year. Nationally, Flynn earned All-American Honors and was a semi-finalist for the Naismith award for best College Player of the Year. His win shares per 40 minutes that year were second in conference history, which is notable considering Jimmer Fredette is number one. The only negative here is that the 2020 post season was canceled due to the COVID pandemic, so we never got to see what Flynn could have done in the NCAA tournament. San Diego State finished the year sixth in the AP poll, highest since Kawhi Leonard was playing for them.
Flynn declared for the 2020 NBA draft, where the Raptors selected him 29th overall. He had a good five year career there, and is currently playing in the Turkish Basketball League
In his first year as a main part of the rotation (2012-2013), Marks led the conference in steals per game with 1.8, while also sixth in points per game at 16.3 and third in assists (3.9), finishing the year with him Second-Team All-Conference. He wasn’t highly recruited coming out of high school, I couldn’t find another school that seriously pursued him, but Boise obviously saw something others didn’t.