The college basketball season kicks off Monday with the Mountain West looking to match its four NCAA Tournament teams from each of the last two seasons. The conference lost six of its top-10 scorers from last year and 10 of its top 20, so some fresh blood will be among the top players in the league in 2023-24. To get you ready for the start of the season, here is our annual list of the MW’s top-25 players entering the season.
Mountain West’s best players
25. Reese Dixon-Waters, San Diego State: SDSU typically loads up with a couple quality transfers each season. This year, the top import is the USC wing who averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game off the bench with the Trojans. He’s a good scorer who needs to round out his game with more all-around contributions. Also considered for this spot was New Mexico’s Jemarl Baker (its his fourth college).
24. Alvaro Cardenas, San Jose State: The biggest void in the MW this season is felt at SJSU with the departure of conference player of the year Omari Moore. Who’s going to replace his scoring? It will be a team effort, but Cardenas could take a step forward after averaging 10 points, 3.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. Improved scoring efficiency is key.
23. Tré Coleman, Nevada: Coleman is underrated around the league because he’s a defense-first player (he made the all-MW defensive team last year). But his scoring could tick up with Nevada in search of a third scorer after the transfers of Will Baker and Darrion Williams. Coleman tallied 6.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.6 apg and had 31 blocks and 27 steals last year. He’ll have to score more to justify this ranking.
22. Sam Griffin, Wyoming: The Cowboys rebuilt its roster this offseason with Griffin the biggest transfer name. The 6-foot-3 guard is on his third school after two years each at UT Arlington and Tulsa. Griffin has scored 1,497 points in his career, including 15.2 per game last year. He’s a solid 3-point shooter, hitting 244 of those at a 34.6 percent clip. And Wyoming will need his scoring.
21. Roddie Anderson III, Boise State: The Broncos lost stud guard Marcus Shaver Jr. to graduation, with the team’s biggest question being, “Who’s going to replace him?” Anderson is that guy. As a freshman at UC San Diego last year, he averaged 13.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 3.6 apg. He did that shooting just 39.4 percent from the field and will experience a bump in competition level, but big things are expected.
20. Robert Vaihola, San Jose State: Vaihola has spent one season each at Fresno State and SJSU and has yet to secure a starting role. But his per-minute numbers have been excellent. Last year for the Spartans, he averaged 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in 20.1 minutes. He’s made 71.7 percent of his shots in his career. With an expanded role ahead, Vaihola could be a breakout player in the MW.
19. Eduardo Andre, Fresno State: I’m big on Andre, who is literally big (6-11 and 228 pounds). The London-born center began his career at Nebraska before transferring to Fresno State last year where he eventually earned a starting role. Andre averaged 9.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in MW play, shooting 58.2 percent from the field, and could blossom into the conference’s top big man.
18. Patrick Cartier, Colorado State: Cartier is another high-level MW big man. He was a Division II All-American at Hillsdale (Mich.) College before transferring to CSU last season. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward tallied 12.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He made 64.7 percent of his shots and 44.1 percent from three. He’ll be asked to take a larger role this year.
17. Dedan Thomas Jr., UNLV: Thomas is the only freshman of the list, which doesn’t mean there aren’t any good freshmen in the MW. It’s just hard to tell the kind of impact a freshman will have in their first college season. The 6-foot-1 Thomas was the No. 34 prospect in his class who could have played for Arizona, Florida, Gonzaga, Houston and UCLA among other elite programs. Instead, he stayed home and should thrive in the MW.
16. Nigel Burris, Utah State: The Aggies return zero points from last year’s roster, so somebody will have to score for Utah State. Burris, a Bay Area product, had mostly low-major offers and was the Big Sky freshman of the year last season after averaging 8.8 ppg and 5.0 rpg while shooting 52.7 percent, including 44.8 percent from three. Josh Uduje and Great Osobor also should make an impact as transfers for Utah State.
15. Jalen Hill, UNLV: The Rebels struck gold last season with Oklahoma transfer EJ Harkless. It hopes to repeat with this year’s Sooners import, Hill. The 6-foot-7 forward hails from Las Vegas where he played for Clark High. A grad senior, Hill tallied 9.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 1.3 apg in the Big 12 last season. He’s a career 50.9 percent shooter and could lead the Rebels in scoring.
14. Chibuzo Agbo, Boise State: One of four Broncos on this list, Agbo should have an enhanced scoring role this season. He played sparingly for two years at Texas Tech before the move to Boise State sparked his output last year when he averaged 11.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg. He’s a long wing who hit 40.2 percent of his threes. He needs to improve his efficiency inside the arc, but this is a talented guy.
13. Kalib Boone, UNLV: Boone and his twin brother, Keylan, played together at Oklahoma State for three seasons before Keylan transferred to Pacific last year. They’ve reunited for one last college season at UNLV. The Tulsa natives are key offseason additions for the Rebels with Kalib averaging 10.6 ppg and 4.9 rpg while shooting 58.4 percent in the Big 12 last season.
12. Rytis Petraitis, Air Force: The Falcons lost their top scorer, Jake Heidbreder, to transfer (he went to Clemson) but return Petraitis, the second-best freshman in the MW last year (behind Nevada’s Darrion Williams). Petraitis started half of Air Force’s games and notched 10.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 2.7 apg while hitting 48.3 percent of his shots. He’ll be the Falcons’ top player in 2023-24.
11. Nelly Junior Joseph, New Mexico: Joseph is my preseason newcomer of the year as he goes from playing for one Pitinio (Rick) to another (Richard). The 6-9, 230-pounder nearly averaged a double-double (14.9 ppg, 9.3 rpg) for an NCAA Tournament team at Iona. He also made 55 percent of his shots. He’ll replace Morris Udeze as New Mexico’s top frontcourt player. Dayton transfer Mustapha Amzil (9.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) also will have a big role up front for the Lobos.
10. Jaedon Ledee, San Diego State: Ledee enters his sixth college season and should finally have a starting role after backup stints at Ohio State, TCU and last year SDSU where he helped the Aztecs to the national title game. Ledee averaged 7.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg in 18.1 minutes, a number that’s sure to go way up. Replacing two-time MW defensive player of the year Nathan Mensah won’t be easy, but Ledee should be up to the task.
9. Darrion Trammel, San Diego State: Our second of three SDSU players in the top 10, Trammel’s numbers went down in his first season with the Aztecs after two years at Seattle. But he’s a fearless shot-maker who helped power SDSU’s title game run. The 5-10 guard tallied 9.8 ppg (he was at 18.7 ppg at Seattle) and should return to double digits with more scoring load on his shoulders. But he must shoot better than last year’s 36.2 percent from the field.
8. Max Rice, Boise State: Rice went from, “Oh, it’s cool he gets to play for his dad’s team” to “Damn! That boy can play” last season, his fourth with the Broncos. He tallied 14 ppg after averaging just 4.1 ppg in his first three seasons. The largest improvement came at the 3-point line as he hit 40.9 percent of his treys, up from 26.7 percent the year prior. Rice is a good all-around player coming off last season’s second-team All-MW honors.
7. Kenan Blackshear, Nevada: Blackshear moved from wing to point guard last year and unlocked even more production. He was one of a handful of Division I players to average at least 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals per game. There’s more growth to come in truly running the point, but at 6-6, he’s a freight train to the lane who earned all-conference defensive honors in addition to being named to the second team.
6. Lamont Butler, San Diego State: Butler hit the national scene when sinking the game-winning buzzer-beater to beat FAU in the Final Four, but he earned his bona fides throughout the season. I voted for him last year as MW defensive player of the year, and he also averaged a career-high 8.8 ppg. With top scorer Matt Bradley graduated, Butler will get more shots this season, and his confidence should be at an all-time high after last year’s Big Dance run.
5. Jaelen House, New Mexico: House enters his final college season and has averaged 16.9 ppg in each of the last two seasons with the Lobos. He added 4.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 steals and was named to the All-MW second team and to the conference’s all-defensive team. He lifted his true shooting percentage from 54.7 percent to 57.3 percent and further improvement there could make him the MW player of the year.
4. Jarod Lucas, Nevada: The MW’s top shooter, Lucas has improved his scoring average in all four of his college seasons. This year is his last in college and he should improve his 17 ppg last season. Lucas said he’s in the best shape of his career and has hit at least 70 3-pointers in each of the last three seasons. He could hit triple-digits there, and further growth in his playmaking ability and defense would be big for Nevada.
3. Jamal Mashburn Jr., New Mexico: Mashburn is the MW’s best pure scorer, a mid-range sniper as that part of the game is being phased out due to its inefficiencies. He averaged a MW-best 19.1 ppg last season while hitting 38.2 percent of his threes. He could boost his 3-point attempts this year (only 123 of his 545 attempts were from beyond the arc), but there’s nothing wrong with his offensive game.
2. Isaiah Stevens, Colorado State: One of the nation’s top point guards, Stevens set career highs in points (17.9) and assists (6.7) per game last season while shooting 46.5/37.8/86.2, all in line with his career percentages. Stevens broke his foot in training camp last year, which delayed his first senior season debut. Not having to deal with that, he’ll make a run at MW player of the year in 2023-24.
1. Tyson Degenhart, Boise State: Degenhart was my preseason MW player of the year, so we’ll put him at No. 1 on this list. He enters his junior season coming off a solid foreign tour trip to Canada when he led Boise State in scoring at 16.3 ppg. He should be among the top five in the conference in scoring and top 10 in rebounds and can hurt you offensively in the paint and from the 3-point line. I’ve got Boise State winning the MW this season, and if that’s going to happen, Degenhart must be special.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @ByChrisMurray.