Net Rankings Debut: Colorado State Out In Front At No. 7, Four Others Make Top-40

Net Ranking Debut: The Rams make the top10 after an impressive first month of action. Colorado State leads the conference in first Net Rankings of the season. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire The first NET Rankings of the season are out, with …

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Net Ranking Debut: The Rams make the top10 after an impressive first month of action.

Colorado State leads the conference in first Net Rankings of the season.

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

The first NET Rankings of the season are out, with five Mountain West schools in the top-50, headlined by Colorado State.

The first NET Rankings of the year were released on Monday. Which, are the NCAA’s primary decision making tool come selection Sunday in March. So naturally we took a look at how Mountain West schools have faired after a tough first month of non-conference action.

How It Works

The NET is the NCAA metric and it gives the selection committee a better idea of team’s performances. The new NET ranking’s metrics, shrank from five to just two in 2020, two years after it’s debut in 2018.

Team Value Index-Algorithm set up to reward teams who beat other good teams. Results-oriented component of the N.E.T. *Game results versus Division-I opponents only.

Adjusted Net Efficiency-The adjusted efficiency is a team’s net efficiency (offensive efficacy minus defensive efficiency, adjusted for strength of opponent and location (home/away/neutral) across all games played.

Analyzing the Rankings

Noticeably at the top is Colorado State at No. 7. The Rams have been one of the more delightful surprises of the non-conference slate thus far. To say Niko Medved’s group is exceeding preseason expectations is fair, as the Rams were predicted to finish 5th in the Mountain West Preseason Poll in October.

Though after an impressive 8-0 start to the season, which includes four straight wins over high major schools on the road and or neutral site games, they find themselves leading the pack.

The last true rankings booster on the Ram’s non-conference schedule is this Saturday when the Gaels of St. Mary’s come to Fort Collins. Colorado State beat Saint Mary’s in Moraga last season and a win for the second year in a row would help solidify their place in the top-10 in likely both the NET and AP-top 25 before the holiday break.

Other teams to make the top-50 include Nevada (No. 21), San Diego State (No. 24), Utah State (No. 34) & New Mexico (No. 36). All four teams have enjoyed non-conference success so far, with Nevada the only other unbeaten team in the conference. As Steve Alford’s squad boasts a quad 1 win over the Washington Huskies and maybe more importantly five quad 4 wins at home beating teams they should by an average margin of 19.0 PPG.

The other three teams all have one blotch in the loss column to weaken their rankings just a tad. For the Aztecs that was a quad 1 loss to former Mountain West rival BYU on the road in early November.

For Utah State it was an early season loss to Bradley on the road in Peoria, to give the Aggies a quad 2 loss. A small damper on what has been an impressive start to year one of the Danny Sprinkle era in Logan.

Lastly the Lobos, who fell to Saint Mary’s early in the season in the Gaels revenge win over Richard Pitino’s group, who beat them last season in non-conference play. Randy Bennet’s group is struggling a tad this year, losing five of their last six game’s, making New Mexico’s defeat in November a quad 3 loss.

No other team made the top-100 in the ranking’s first iteration. Some surprising pieces being Air Force having a higher ranking than Boise State & UNLV the first time around. There is nothing flashy about the Falcons’ 7-2 record thus far. With no quad 1 or 2 wins, but no non-DI games to weaken their results and more maybe importantly a 3-1 record on the road.

While Boise State & UNLV may simply be victims of their strong schedules. As the Broncos dropped all of their high major contests in the first month of play. The Runnin’ Rebels on the other hand have only one excusable loss. That coming at the hands of Florida State to go along with a less than stellar opening night loss to Southern.

Mountain West NET Rankings:

7. Colorado State 8-0 (0-0)

21. Nevada 6-0 (0-0)

24. San Diego State 6-1 (0-0)

34. Utah State 6-1 (0-0)

36. New Mexico 7-1 (0-0)

118. Air Force 7-2 (0-0)

126. Boise State 3-3 (0-0)

130. San Jose State 4-4 (0-0)

187. Wyoming 3-3 (0-0)

197. UNLV 3-3 (0-0)

299. Fresno State 2-4 (0-0)

Preseason predictions can always be taken with a grain of salt. As teams will always over or under produce with injuries and chemistry issues usually to blame. This season is no different as not many would have predicted their team’s place in the first NET rankings of the year.

Luckily there are plenty of basketball games to be played and anyone can rise through the rankings, but they can also fall at any moment. We’ll do our best here at Mountain West Wire to keep you updated throughout the season.

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