Who will the MWWire basketball conference player of the year be?
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Here’s the staff picks for conference awards:
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The official Mountain West preseason poll and awards list came out last week, which means it’s time for the Mountain West Wire staff basketball awards for the 2022-23 season — and there’s some major differences in the real awards and our awards.
Player of the year: Matt Bradley – San Diego State
Bradley had some wiggle room with winning our player of the year, although Wyoming’s Graham Ike won the official award. Bradley posted 16.8 points on solid efficiency for a San Diego State team that had zero reliable scoring options besides him. As the Aztecs take the number one preseason spot, Bradley takes the player of the year honors.
Coach of the Year: Brian Dutcher – San Diego State
Dutcher won mountain west coach of the year in 2020 and 2021 before Niko Medved took the honors in 2022. We have Dutcher taking home the award for the third time in four seasons. San Diego State has been the mark of consistency for mountain west team in the past six seasons but Dutcher’s only knock is having zero NCAA Tournament wins despite frequent appearances. While that doesn’t play an impact in this award, it’s the only thing holding the terrific coach away from getting the well-deserved national recognition with some of games elite coaches.
ALL CONFERENCE TEAMS:
*Three teams, five players per team*
FIRST-TEAM:
Matt Bradley Guard, San Diego State
Graham Ike Forward, Wyoming
Hunter Maldonado Guard, Wyoming
Marcus Shaver Jr Guard, Boise State
Jamal Mashburn Jr Guard, New Mexico
SECOND-TEAM:
Jaelen House Guard, New Mexico
Darrion Trammell Guard, San Diego State
Jarod Lucas Guard, Nevada
John Tonje Guard, Colorado State
Taylor Funk Forward, Utah State
THIRD TEAM:
Omari Moore Guard, San Jose State
Tavi Jackson Guard, Colorado State
Jermarl Baker Jr Guard, Fresno State
Jackie Johnson Guard, UNLV
Will Baker Forward, Nevada
Various other Mountain West predictions:
Teams who make the NCAA Tournament:
San Diego State (five votes)
Wyoming (three votes)
Colorado State (one vote)
Boise State (one vote)
Who will make the NIT?
Boise State (three votes)
Colorado State (two votes)
Wyoming (two votes)
Utah State (two votes)
New Mexico (two votes)
UNLV (one vote)
Fresno State (one vote)
UNLV (one vote)
Team(s) to end the season nationally ranked?
San Diego State (five votes)
Which team will overachieve the most?
New Mexico (two votes)
Fresno State (one vote)
Utah State (one vote)
Colorado State (one vote)
Which team will underachieve the most?
Nevada (one vote)
New Mexico (one vote)
UNLV (one vote)
Colorado State (one vote)
Utah State (one vote)
BOLDEST PREDICTIONS:
“Wyoming wins regular season title.”
“Nevada finishes as a top half conference team.”
“Boise State will repeat as conference champions.”
“Colorado State overcomes the loss of Isaiah Stevens to finish tied with San Diego State for regular season title.”
“MW gets two teams to the Sweet 16 this year.”
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