15 Most Important Mountain West Basketball Games
Circle these games on your calendar.
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These are the much watch games
With fans filling up stadiums around the Mountain West and college football at the midway point of the season, schedules are being filled up by coaching staffs in anticipation for the start of the basketball season in early November.
With new coaching staffs at both Nevada and UNLV and head coaches heading into their sophomore years at Utah State, Colorado State, and Fresno State, schedules are being built to challenge teams and get others recognized on the national radar.
With some schedules complete and others filling a few holes here and there let’s take a look at the top fifteen games for Mountain West teams heading into the 2019-2020 season.
1. Colorado State @ Duke November 8th
With a pretty hefty non-conference schedule, the highlight of the Rams slate would be the Duke Blue Devils in Durham around the tip off of college basketball. This could be a real resume booster if the Rams were to pull off an upset, but ultimately it is going to give them some National exposure against a traditional blue blood program in Niko Medved’s second season in Fort Collins.
2. San Diego State vs. Texas Tech (possibility) Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Las Vegas, NV November 29th
Now this is more of a “hopefully this happens” kind of scenario more so than a TBD. The National Championship runner ups will be an early test for a transfer heavy Aztec rotation. The Red Raiders have a top recruiting class, impact transfers, and returning impact players to give any team this season a challenge and any fanbase a show with Chris Beard at the helm for his fourth season.
3. Utah State vs. Florida Orange Bowl Basketball Classic Sunrise, FL December 21st
The Aggies enter their second season under Craig Smith and the second-year head coach has scheduled some heavy hitters for his team as he hopes to build off of last years success. Florida is hoping for a reemergence this year with a slew of impact guys back, a top ten recruiting class, and the most sought-after grad-transfer this past off season in Kerry Blackshear Jr. This is a great chance to see sophomore post Neemias Queta go up against an elite front court player in Blackshear Jr..
4. Nevada @ BYU December 10th Provo, UT
This game comes in fourth for a couple of reasons. Though the new Alford led Wolf Pack will have several tests before this game, by the looks of the schedule this might only be their second true road game test in non-conference play. Plus having Alford step back into the Marriott Center for the first time since he took over at UCLA is also something to keep an eye out for, especially after the success he had in that building wearing a certain cherry blazer.
5. New Mexico vs. NMSU home-and-home
In Paul Weir’s third year as head coach at New Mexico he has failed to beat his old employer in four consecutive meetings. This is a make or break year for Weir, who has only added talent to his roster via transfers. Though the Lobos schedule is currently incomplete, winning this game ranks high on the programs to-do list.
6. Utah State – Beehive Classic BYU December 14th (Salt Lake City)
Utah State’s second loss of the season came at the hands of BYU last year. With a majority of that team back, this is a pretty big game for the state of Utah in the post-Dave Rose Era. With Mark Pope taking over a pretty familiar program and bringing in a couple of familiar transfers from Orem with him, this is the Mountain West matchup that BYU has on its schedule I am looking forward to the most.
7. Boise State @ Oregon Eugene, OR November 9th
With a bit of a lackluster non-conference schedule for the Broncos this upcoming season. A Boise St. squad that returns four of it’s top five scorers and brings in a couple of high major transfers this season including former Duck Abu Kigab will take on an always fun to watch Dana Altman led team featuring a familiar face in former Lobo Anthony Mathis.
The Ducks have an impressive recruiting class that was put together over the summer led by five-star big man N’Faly Dante, look for an early test for the Broncos in Eugene.
8. Utah State vs. LSU Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic November 22nd
After a regular-season first-place finish in the SEC and a suspension from the conference after some involvement in the ongoing FBI investigation in college basketball, Will Wade and his staff begin a new season with newly hyped recruits and a trio of returning impact players. The Tigers of Baton Rouge may not be as well-positioned as last years bunch, but this will be a formidable neutral site test for the Aggies in Montego Bay.
9. Nevada vs. Saint Mary’s Basketball Hall of Fame 2019 Air Force Reserve San Francisco Calif December 21st
Nevada has put together an impressive non-conference schedule under new head coach Steve Alford. Alford hopes to build on the momentum Musselman brought to the program and a game with perpetual bubble team and West Coast Conference powerhouse St. Mary’s just added to the Wolf Pack’s strength of schedule. The Gaels return their top three scorers, led by the 20 PPG+ senior guard Jordan Ford.
10. Colorado @ Colorado State December 13th
Rounding out the top ten is a visit from in-state rival Colorado in mid-December. A close loss last year to the Buffalos is still on this program’s mind and a consistently good Tad Boyle brings back his top seven scorers from last year’s fourth-place finish team in the Pac-12.
11. Colorado State vs. NMSU Cayman Island Classic November 25th
The Rams are 0-2 in the Chris Jan’s era against the Aggies, and New Mexico St. brings back a majority of their scoring threats from last years NCAA Tournament team that nearly upset Final Four participants Auburn.
12. UNLV @ UCLA November 15th
One of two true road tests in non-conference play for the Otzelberger led Rebels, the Bruins are led by a new face as well in head coach Mick Cronin. There is not outright star power on this Bruins team as in years past but with a solid returning group including So. G Jules Bernard, Sr. G Prince Ali, So. F Chris Smith, and Fr. F Shareef O’Neal returning from a medical redshirt year after heart surgery. The Rebels led by Jr. G Amauri Hardy have a solid foundation for their new head coach to build on with a win in Brentwood.
13. Nevada @ Davidson November 19th
Nevada’s first true road game early on in mid-November. The Davidson program led by head coach Bob McKillop for the last thirty years brings back their top six scorers including one of the best backcourts in the entire nation with senior Jon Axel Gudmundsson and junior Kellan Grady. Keep this matchup on your watchlist.
14. UNLV @ Cincinnati November 30th
The second true road test for the Rebels early on takes place on the other side of the country in Cincinnati. The Bearcats led by first-year head coach John Brannen have a solid returning group including Sr. G Jarron Cumberland. The Bearcats have a coach from the region that knows the program. This could be a solid win for the Rebels or an understandable road loss with veteran leadership returning for Cincinnati.
15. San Jose State @ Arizona November 14th
After going through another exodus of top players, the Spartans and third-year head coach Jean Prioleau take on a rebuilding Arizona Wildcats squad that brings in top ten recruits Nico Mannion and Josh Green. Sean Miller and his squad look to get back to the top of the PAC-12 with five-star recruits and transfers. This should be a pretty clear-cut game but a chance for Mountain West fans to see the new Wildcats early on.
Just missed the cut:
San Diego State vs. Creighton (Nov. 28th), Nevada vs. USC (Nov. 16th), New Mexico vs. Auburn(Nov. 25)
