Tag: Neemias Queta

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 1.0: Who are the top players to know?

While the college basketball season has been strange, we have a more clear idea of which top prospects are expected in the 2021 NBA draft.

While the college basketball season has been strange, we have a more clear idea of which top prospects are expected in the 2021 NBA draft.

Unfortunately, putting together a big board at this point in the year is an incomplete task. The inaugural NBA G League Ignite team, a new developmental team that plays exhibitions and is meant to serve as an alternative to college for some players, has not yet begun their season.

That makes it impossible to track development for top prospects like Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Green as well as potential risers like Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix.

While there are some honorable mentions included for some fringe prospects, several names (e.g. Duke’s DJ Steward, UNC’s Caleb Love, Texas Tech’s Terrence Shannon, Miami’s Earl Timberlake) were omitted on account of projected returns to the NCAA. As of right now, however, it is still a great challenge to predict who will be in this class.

The key to this draft is fluidity and being willing to accept that things will change quickly. Players will have slumps and some may be slow to adapt to the new normal. Rankings now are hardly reflective of where they will be as we get closer to March Madness.

Note that any conversations with NBA scouts mentioned in the article were held under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of their teams.

All relevant statistics are from BartTorvik.com, KenPom.com, Sports-Reference, RealGM and Synergy Sports Tech. Data is accurate as of January 22, 2021.

2021 aggregate NBA mock draft 2.0: How has the NCAA season changed rankings?

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Former top recruits like Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs have made a great first impression and have confirmed why many already feel they are going to be solid future professionals in the NBA.

Of course, considering the unusual nature of the college basketball season, some players are struggling a bit more than others. The performance on the court will likely stray closer to the mean with a larger sample size as the year continues.

But to get a better sense of where everyone stands right now, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, The Athletic and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win to see where the prospects rank at the moment.

We highlighted the prospects who have been the biggest risers since we published our last edition of this exercise.

College basketball standouts who have most drastically improved their draft stock through the early parts of the season include Keon Johnson (Tennessee), James Bouknight (UCONN), Jared Butler (Baylor), Corey Kispert (Gonzaga), Day’Ron Sharpe (UNC), Aaron Henry (Michigan State), Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois), Marcus Bagley (Arizona State), Moussa Cisse (Memphis), Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky), Jason Preston (Ohio) and Luka Garza (Iowa).

Below are the rankings based on the latest mock drafts from top analysts and experts:

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

Five for ’21: Ranking the Mountain West’s Top Five Rebounders

Five for ’21: Ranking The Mountain West’s Top Five Rebounders Predicting the top five Mountain West rebounders for the ’20-21 season Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire Who are the top rebounders in the MW? In the final installment of …

[jwplayer 18QegcJn-sNi3MVSU]

Five for ’21: Ranking The Mountain West’s Top Five Rebounders

Predicting the top five Mountain West rebounders for the ’20-21 season

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

Who are the top rebounders in the MW?

In the final installment of Mountain West Wire’s offseason series, Five for ’21, we turn to the league’s best glass-cleaners.

As a reminder, the Five For ’21 series features our ranking of the top five Mountain West players in five different skill sets: passing, scoring, defending, rebounding, and shot blocking. The full Five For ’21 series schedule is below, including links to this week’s previous articles from Larry Muniz (@hardwoodtalk) and myself (@andrewdieckhoff).

Today’s list will borrow heavily from the Wednesday’s group of highlighted shot-blockers (for reasons that should be obvious), but a few fresh faces have been thrown in the mix as well. With those pleasantries out of the way, our final shortlist begins with its shortest player.

(NOTE: Statistics below taken from Sports-Reference.com. Percentages following per-game rebounding averages refer to rebounding rate in the respective category.)

5) David Roddy, Colorado State

  • Height/Weight: 6’5″, 250 lbs.
  • 2019-20 Stats: 5.6 RPG (12.8%), 3.9 DRPG (17.4%), 1.7 ORPG (8.0%)

OK, so while Roddy may not be as tall as any of his peers on this list, at 6’5″ and 250 pounds, he’s built like an NFL linebacker and has the toughness to match. Depending on the source, the Minneapolis native might be listed as a guard, a guard/forward, a wing, a wing forward, or a power forward. No matter what you call him, though, David Roddy brings a grittiness to the floor that few in the league can match.

His raw rebounding stats don’t exactly jump off the page, but consider this: Roddy ranked 12th in the Mountain West in rebound rate on both the offensive and defensive end of the court as freshman, and a handful of the players who finished ahead of him have either graduated or transferred out of the league. Among those departures is former teammate Nico Carvacho, the Mountain West’s career rebound leader. And while promising Rams sophomore Dischon Thomas is the likely beneficiary of most of those unclaimed boards now that Carvacho isn’t around, Roddy could also see a healthy uptick in his numbers.

It is entirely possible that Roddy finishes outside of the Top 10 in rebounding again this season, but his ability to bang around inside and get rebounds despite his height disadvantage was an important factor in Colorado State’s success last year. With the torch now officially passed to the Rams’ young roster, Roddy has a chance to make an even bigger impact this season. There may be some more traditional Goliaths in the league who will grab more rebounds, but I’m giving the nod to David here in the 5-spot.

4) Neemias Queta, Utah State

  • Height/Weight: 7’0″, 245 lbs.
  • 2019-20 Stats: 7.8 RPG (16.3%), 5.8 DRPG (22.9%), 2.0 ORPG (8.9%)

While Queta finished at #2 in our Five for ’21 shot-blockers list, the junior slips a bit lower when it comes to rebounding. As discussed in Wednesday’s piece, Queta’s numbers took a hit following the knee injury he suffered during FIBA play prior to the 2019-20 season. He eventually regained his form, though, and he is surely deserving of being included in this list.

Queta finished fifth in the Mountain West in defensive rebound rate last season, nabbing nearly a quarter of the available boards on that end of the floor. But his sophomore rebounding rates on both ends of the court were two percentage points lower than in his freshman campaign. Of course, it should be noted that there are a multitude of possible reasons that his numbers may have declined that don’t have to do with his injury — one of those reasons appears later in this list — and the kind of drop we are talking about is akin to falling from an A to an A-minus.

With Sam Merrill, Diogo Brito, and Abel Porter gone, it remains to be seen just how large a role Queta will occupy in the Aggie offense next season. If he is being relied upon to take more and more shots, it could cut into his rebounding numbers to some degree. That said, the smart money is on Queta in most of the one-on-one rebounding battles that the Mountain West has to offer.

3) Cheikh Mbacke Diong, UNLV

  • Height/Weight: 6’11 lbs, 230 lbs.
  • 2019-20:  7.9 RPG (17.8%), 4.9 DRPG (22.6%), 3.0 ORPG (13.2%)

Another recycled entry from the shot-blockers list, Diong has turned himself into one of the league’s best defensive big men, even if his scoring hasn’t quite caught up yet. His prowess for bullying others around in the paint is exactly the type of player that coach TJ Otzelberger needs in support of a talented group of scorers including Bryce Hamilton and David Jenkins Jr. For his part, Diong does precisely what is required of him.

As far as the numbers go, Diong finished his junior year as one of only five qualifying players to finish with a defensive rebound rate over 20% and an offensive rebound rate over 10% (min. 40% minutes played). Three of those players have since graduated, and the other one shows up later in this list, so Diong should fall among the league’s Top 5 rebounders almost by default.

With the sharp-shooting Jenkins taking over for Amauri Hardy in the offense, there may be slightly fewer rebounds available for Diong on the offensive end this year, but you can be sure that he’ll be ready to catch anything that comes off the rim. While his game isn’t likely to generate much content for the SportsCenter Top 10, Diong’s dedication to rebounding and defense will be critical to the Rebels’ success in year two of Coach TJ.

2) Nathan Mensah, San Diego State

  • Height/Weight: 6’10”, 220 lbs.
  • 2019-20: 6.8 RPG (20.2%), 4.8 DRPG (27.2%), 2.1 ORPG (12.8%)

On Wednesday, I detailed the what-ifs surrounding Nathan Mensah, whose 2019-20 season was lost months before it was taken from the rest of us due to a pulmonary embolism. But in the 13 games he did play last year, Mensah showed off some pretty eye-catching rebounding numbers. He was not quite at the level of departed Mountain West compatriots Nico Carvacho and RJ Williams, but the Ghanaian showed that he belongs in any conversation about the league’s best big men.

Because Mensah’s season was cut short, he didn’t qualify for the year-end statistical races. Had he maintained his rates over the full season, though, he would’ve been among the Mountain West’s best half-dozen rebounders. He also would’ve ended up in that prestigious 20/10 club noted above. Keep in mind that Mensah was only playing 20 minutes per game before his injury, and doing so in a very slow-paced offense, so his per-game averages are really not indicative of his skill on the boards.

Assuming Mensah is willing and able to return to the Aztecs when the next season begins, he has a very good chance to finish atop the Mountain West in both offensive and defensive rebounding rates. The main reason he doesn’t finish #1 in this list is because the player ahead of him posted very similar numbers — despite being three inches shorter than Mensah. In reality, it’s probably more of a 1A/1B situation, but now we’re just splitting hairs.

1) Justin Bean, Utah State

  • Height/Weight: 6’7″, 210 lbs.
  • 2019-20: 10.5 RPG (19.8%), 6.9 DRPG (24.6%), 3.6 ORPG (14.3%) 

Despite being on a Utah State team with a program all-timer in Sam Merrill and an exciting NBA prospect in Neemias Queta, Bean managed to carve out some good publicity for himself with a breakout sophomore campaign. As a freshman walk-on, Bean averaged 12 minutes per game and did not register a single start. He was effective in those limited minutes, both in terms of scoring and rebounding, which not only earned him a scholarship, but also a starting role in Craig Smith’s rotation.

In case you hadn’t yet put it together, Bean is the mystery man I alluded to earlier when discussing the 20/10 club for defensive and offensive rebounding rates. To be clear, including the Oklahoman in this list is not just some act of charity for the “little” guy. Bean’s numbers put him squarely among the league’s best rebounders, regardless of height. But while we’re on that subject, don’t forget that at various times the 6’7″ forward was competing for rebounds against three seven-footers on his own team: Queta, Kuba Karwowski (7’2″), and Trevin Dorius (7’0″).

Bean will enter his junior year at Utah State with much more weight on his shoulders than either of the previous two seasons, as the program moves on from the Merrill/Porter/Brito trio that played such a huge part in the Aggies’ recent success. But fans in Logan shouldn’t fret too much, as the best pound-for-pound rebounder in the Mountain West will still be cleaning the glass in Smith Spectrum.

Also considered (in alphabetical order): Mladen Armus, Boise State; Aguek Arop, San Diego State; K.J. Hymes, Nevada; Orlando Robinson, Fresno State; Robby Robinson, Nevada; Dischon Thomas, Colorado State.

Andrew Dieckhoff is a current USBWA member covering college basketball for Mountain West Wire. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a website dedicated to his college basketball ratings system and bracketology projections.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1361]

[protected-iframe id=”09e6ca4e11e5838c3834d87c7b471ffb-137729785-123448869″ info=”https://anchor.fm/mwwire/embed” width=”400px” height=”102px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Five for ’21: Ranking the Mountain West’s Top Five Shot Blockers

Five for ’21: Ranking The Mountain West’s Top Five Shot Blockers Predicting the top five Mountain West shot blockers for the ’20-21 season Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire Who are the top shot blockers in the MW? In the third installment …

[jwplayer 18QegcJn-sNi3MVSU]

Five for ’21: Ranking The Mountain West’s Top Five Shot Blockers

Predicting the top five Mountain West shot blockers for the ’20-21 season

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

Who are the top shot blockers in the MW?

In the third installment of Mountain West Wire’s offseason series, Five for ’21, we shift our focus from the league’s offensive stars onto its defensive stalwarts.

As a reminder, the Five For ’21 series features our ranking of the top five Mountain West players in five different skill sets: passing, scoring, defending, rebounding, and shot blocking. The full Five For ’21 series schedule is below, including links to this week’s previous articles from Larry Muniz (Twitter: @hardwoodtalk).

  • Monday: Passers
  • Tuesday: Scorers
  • Wednesday: Shot Blockers
  • Thursday: Defenders
  • Friday: Rebounders

Today, we focus on the Mountain West’s top shot-blockers. This list has a distinctly international feel, so it is fitting that we start our countdown with one of the league’s most well-traveled players, whose long trip from Belgrade to Boise features a two-year stop in the Volunteer State.

5) Mladen Armus, Boise State

  • Height/Weight: 6’10”, 230 lbs.
  • 2018-19 (at ETSU): 33 GP (24 GS), 1.0 BPG, 5.5 BLK%, 4.6 FC/40

After spending two seasons in the SOCON at East Tennessee State, the 6-10 Armus decided to pack his bags and head west to ride with the Broncos, where he will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out last season. In his sophomore season for ETSU, Armus racked up nearly eight points and eight rebounds per game and became a fixture in the starting lineup — and not just for his serviceable offensive game.

The Serbian center showed steady improvement on defense in his second year in Johnson City, tallying just under two “stocks” (steals plus blocks) per game in 2018-19. As a freshman, Armus’ block percentage in SOCON games was just 1.4% — for reference, Justinian Jessup finished last season with a 1.6 BLK% — but he brought that number up to 5.9% in SOCON play last season and 5.5% overall, which would have been good for fifth-best in the Mountain West last year.

Armus could fill a huge role for Boise State on defense in 2020-21. While RJ Williams was able to make up for the team’s lack of size last season with a remarkable tenacity and instinct for rebounding, his 6’7″ stature didn’t translate to many blocks. With Derrick Alston Jr. back for one more year, and plenty of offensive support from Abu Kigab, Marcus Shaver, Devonaire Doutrive, and Emmanuel Akot, Armus will be relied upon to be the defensive anchor down low that Leon Rice needs to round out this talented roster.

4) K.J. Hymes, Nevada

  • Height/Weight: 6’10”, 210 lbs.
  • 2019-20 Stats: 31 GP (1 GS), 1.0 BPG, 8.7 BLK%, 9.5 FC/40

Hymes came into his first season in Reno with some considerable hype, after being pegged as the preseason Mountain West Freshman of the Year. Unfortunately for the Phoenix native, he never quite lived up to that billing. For Hymes, the issue was not so much about talent or athleticism, but discipline in defending. He averaged just under 14 minutes per game as a freshman behind BC grad transfer Johncarlos Reyes, and Hymes likely would have seen a larger share of playing time had he been able to stay out of foul trouble.

But when Hymes does stay on the floor, he can be a nightmare for would-be scorers entering into his airspace. All that time in the penalty box (so to speak) kept the big man from qualifying in the Mountain West’s statistical races, but if the threshold is lowered to include all players who appeared in more than a third of their team’s total minutes last year, Hymes had the best block percentage in the Mountain West by a decent margin, beating out Neemias Queta’s mark by almost a full percentage point.

The shot-blocking talent is certainly there for Hymes, but it is difficult to swat anything from the bench. If he can develop some more defensive discipline as a sophomore, he should find a welcome home into Steve Alford’s starting five. The question then becomes whether the impressive statistics will carry over to a larger sample size, of course, but there is good reason to believe that Hymes will be among the five best shot-blockers in the Mountain West in 2020-21.

3) Cheikh Mbacke Diong, UNLV

  • Height/Weight: 6’11”, 235 lbs.
  • 2019-20: 32 GP (27 GS), 1.2 BPG, 6.0 BLK%, 4.6 FC/40 

Over the course of three seasons in Las Vegas, Diong has become an absolute difference maker for the Runnin’ Rebels. While the Senegalese senior is no threat to win a scoring title anytime soon, his tough interior play has allowed him to become one of the league’s top defensive big men. Diong’s 7.5 BLK% during Mountain West play last year was second only to Utah State’s Neemias Queta (7.9) among qualified players, and his steal percentage was fourth-highest in the conference.

Diong’s imposing physical presence has always made him a bulwark in the post, but his improved timing and positioning helped the center finish just outside the Top 100 nationally in block percentage the past two seasons, as well as a Top 50 finish in offensive rebounding. He was also one of only four Mountain West players to record three or more games with 10+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 2+ blocks last year (Justin Bean, Nate Grimes, and Neemias Queta being the others).

A hard-nosed grinder, Diong has carved out a solid niche for himself on this UNLV roster, which does lose some size and physicality with the departures Donnie Tillman, Nick Blair, and Vitaly Shibel. While Diong’s offensive game has improved to some degree, players such as Bryce Hamilton, David Jenkins Jr., and Marvin Coleman should be carrying the scoring load, freeing the big man up to continue honing his blue-collar craft on defense.

2) Neemias Queta, Utah State

  • Height/Weight: 7’0″, 245 lbs.
  • 2019-20: 22 GP (20 GS) 2.6 BPG, 7.8 BLK%, 3.5 FC/40

While others may have had better numbers in smaller sample sizes, it was Queta who will go down as the Mountain West’s best shot-blocker of 2019-20. Despite missing multiple games himself due to an offseason injury, Queta was able to secure enough minutes on the season to let his 7.8 BLK% rule the day. Unfortunately for the Portuguese big man, he had to relinquish his MW Defensive Player of the Year crown to San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn. But he’ll have his eyes set on getting it back in 2020-21.

There is some cause for concern about Queta’s shot-blocking, however. In his freshman season at Utah State, he recorded a 10.5 BLK%, which was easily the best in the league and Top 20 in Division I. However, following the knee injury Queta suffered during FIBA play in the summer of 2019, some of the spring seemed to have gone out of his step. But Queta returned to form down the stretch, recording at least one block in 12 of his last 13 games, with multiple blocks coming in ten of those contests.

Even after accounting for the dip in Queta’s post-injury block percentage, the junior seven-footer is still undoubtedly one of the two best post defenders in the Mountain West. But with Sam Merrill gone, it will be more important than ever to keep Queta out of foul trouble, which could mean he has to trade some of the defensive risk-taking that has earned him so many blocks in his first two years in Logan.

1) Nathan Mensah, San Diego State

  • Height/Weight: 6’10”, 220 lbs.
  • 2019-20: 13 GP (13 GS); 1.7 BPG, 10.7 BLK%, 4.9 FC/40

In a cruel (and scary) twist of fate, the tremendous start to Mensah’s season was cut short by a pulmonary embolism that was thankfully caught before the situation turned any more tragic. The Aztecs were still perfect at that point, and we will simply never know what could have been had Mensah been able to play for the full season, both for the team and individually. (Go ahead and add all that to the list of things we’ll never know about the 2019-20 season.)

Here’s what we do know: Nathan Mensah was on a trajectory to be the league’s best shot-blocker before his season was ended early. His 10.7 BLK% would have led the league by a full two points had he kept that pace for the long haul, and it would have placed him somewhere in the back end of the Top 20 nationally. While Queta had the minutes to qualify for the season-long statistical races, it was Mensah who began to blossom into the Mountain West’s most elite shot-blocker on a per-minute basis.

Of course, Mensah’s health remains a question mark, as updates regarding his recovery have been scarce. Thankfully, the stories have been trending in a positive direction since January, and all indications point to him returning to the Aztecs’ lineup whenever the college basketball season resumes. If the Nathan Mensah Block Party does resume on time, San Diego State will be well-positioned to defend last year’s regular-season crown. With any luck, Mensah can finally put to rest some of those nagging what-ifs from 2020.

Also considered (in alphabetical order): Desmond Cambridge, Nevada; Assane Diouf, Fresno State; Trevin Dorius, Utah State; Kuba Karwowski, Utah State; Eduardo Lane, San Jose State; Bayron Matos, New Mexico; Braxton Meah, Fresno State; Orlando Robinson, Fresno State; David Roddy, Colorado State; Warren Washington, Nevada.

Andrew Dieckhoff is a current USBWA member covering college basketball for Mountain West Wire. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a website dedicated to his college basketball ratings system and bracketology projections.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1361]

[protected-iframe id=”09e6ca4e11e5838c3834d87c7b471ffb-137729785-123448869″ info=”https://anchor.fm/mwwire/embed” width=”400px” height=”102px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Sam Merrill, Justin Bean Lead Utah State Past Wyoming At Home, 78-58

Game Recap: Utah State 78, Wyoming 58 Merrill and company take care of business at home in search of a second-place finish. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire Duo of Bean and Merrill lead Utah State past Wyoming at home. LOGAN, UT-The Aggies …

[jwplayer 18QegcJn-sNi3MVSU]

Game Recap: Utah State 78, Wyoming 58

Merrill and company take care of business at home in search of a second-place finish. 

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

Duo of Bean and Merrill lead Utah State past Wyoming at home.

LOGAN, UT—The Aggies played host to the Cowboys on Wednesday night inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and closed the night with a 20-point win and sole possession of second place in the Mountain West.

Utah State was led by Sam Merrill who poured in 26 points on 69.2% shooting from the field and helped out on the defensive end chipping in three of the Aggies seven steals on the night. Merrill has hit peak form just in time to help push his team to a second-place finish behind San Diego State and almost in time for preseason play.

Sophomore big man Neemias Queta has been a bit hot and cold this season with only 8 points last night on 4-9 shooting. But the 7-footer was still able to use his height advantage on Wednesday night over a small ball Cowboys lineup, who were outrebounded 42-25 in starting big man Hunter Thompson’s continued absence.

Most of those rebounds came from Queta (15) and fellow sophomore Justin Bean (14) who garnered his 14th double-double of the season with his 20 points and 14 rebound performance last night.

The Cowboys limped to the finish line, with only two players reaching double figures at the end of the night. One of those players being sophomore guard Trevon Taylor who finished the night with a team-high 16 points and 4 rebounds, followed by fellow sophomore Greg Milton III with 10 points.

Leading scorer Hunter Maldonado was held to just 8 points on 2-12 shooting from the field in almost 38 minutes of play. Maldonado was the tallest man in a Cowboy uniform most of Wednesday night as an already struggling Wyoming had to play small without 6-10 sophomore post-Hunter Thompson who is still out indefinitely. Second leading scorer Jake Hendricks (9.7 PPG) struggled as well, finishing with 8 points on 2-8 shooting (all from deep).

Up Next:

Utah State Aggies:

Craig Smith and company take the weekend off before hosting San Jose State on Tuesday the 25th, which should shape up to be a pretty big senior night.

Wyoming Cowboys:

The Cowboys head south on Saturday to visit the Air Force Falcons in Colorado Springs for an afternoon match up in Clune Arena. The game will tip-off at 2:00 PM MST and can be seen on the AT&T Sports network. The Cowboys have three games left and have a chance at a couple of wins to tie with San Jose State to end the season. Wyoming would hold the tiebreaker to avoid a last play finish in the regular season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1361]

[protected-iframe id=”09e6ca4e11e5838c3834d87c7b471ffb-137729785-123448869″ info=”https://anchor.fm/mwwire/embed” width=”400px” height=”102px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Utah State vs. Fresno State: Game Preview, TV & Radio Schedule, Livestream, Odds, More

Utah State vs. Fresno State: Game Preview The Aggies travel to Fresno to take on the Bulldogs with a four game winning streak in mind. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire Utah State needs four wins to secure second place in the Mountain West, …

[jwplayer TtpJIvlc-sNi3MVSU]

Utah State vs. Fresno State: Game Preview

The Aggies travel to Fresno to take on the Bulldogs with a four game winning streak in mind. 

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

Utah State needs four wins to secure second place in the Mountain West, and that campaign starts Saturday night.

WHO: Utah State Aggies (20-7, 9-5 Mountain West) At Fresno State Bulldogs (9-16, 5-9 Mountain West)

WHEN: Saturday, February 15th—7:00 PM PST/8:00 PM MST/9:00 PM EST

WHERE: Save Mart Center, Fresno, CA

TV: ESPNU

STREAM: Get a free trial through FuboTV

RADIO: Tunein

SERIES RECORD: Utah State leads all-time series 38-24

PREVIEW: 

This mid-afternoon match up in the Central Valley comes with big implications for the Aggies and a chance for the Bulldogs to avenge their seven-point OT loss to then No. 25 Utah State back in Logan on December 7th.

That December 7th match up was also Neemias Queta’s first return back to the hardwood after rehabbing a knee injury suffered over the summer playing for the Portuguese men’s national team. For Queta shaking off a bit of rust was very apparent, scoring only 6 points on 6/7 made free throws but missing all three of his field goal attempts. Now Queta and the Aggies travel west to Fresno for a match up with tournament positioning on the line. And even though both are fighting for very different positions on the bracket, both know what’s at stake.

The stakes, 

Utah State is playing to help secure a second place finish in the Mountain West after San Diego State clinched the regular season title with their Tuesday night win over New Mexico. They are currently in a three-way tie for second with the Boise State Broncos and the Nevada Wolf Pack, but have the easiest final four games of those three teams to finish out the regular season. But four straight wins should secure at least a share of second place and position them nicely for a deep conference tournament run where they can hope for a second consecutive tournament championship and NCAA tournament berth.

The Bulldogs are a talented team, but don’t have the regular season resume to expect any sort of post season automatic bids. Their only way to the big dance will be a conference tournament championship, and to make that road smoother requires a strong performance in their final four games to afford them a higher tournament seed.

Matchup(s) of the night: Battle of the bigs

F Nate Grimes Fresno State vs.  F Neemias Queta Utah State

The Stats: Grimes (12.0 PPG 9.8 RPG & 1.5 BPG) and Queta (12.4 PPG 6.8 RPG & 1.5 BPG)

As well as,

F Orlando Robinson Fresno State vs. F Justin Bean Utah State

The Stats: Robinson (13.1 PPG 7.2 RPG & 1.7 APG) and Bean (12.2 PPG 10.2 RPG & 1.5 SPG)

There are several exciting position battles in this match up as Fresno State’s frosh have been an exciting bunch all season long. But where this game may be won tonight is in the post, as each team has two big men that can have a major impact to help win the game.

We can start with the visiting Aggies who will start Neemias Queta and Justin Bean, or at least should. Bean is in a close second behind Nico Carvacho (10.8) to lead the conference in rebounds at 10.2 RPG. And makes a lot of his money off of second chance boards, which shouldn’t be a problem with as many times this group gets shots up.

Queta who has been playing at the level maybe most expected him to be at after a sophomore jump, has been a force in the month of February. His overall season totals aren’t much of an improvement on his numbers last year as a freshman but his performance over the last three games (all wins), 18.6 PPG 8.3 RPG and 3.0 BPG is a trend in the right direction.

Now the hosting Bulldogs have one of the more underrated frontcourt tandems on the west coast, in senior Nate Grimes and freshman Orlando Robinson. Grimes is a double-double machine, with nine so far this season and three in his last four games.

While Robinson may very much be the future for Fresno State in the Mountain West, his play tonight is still vital to an upset of the Aggies at home. These guys aren’t just rebounders and can score when fed the ball down low. If the shots aren’t falling on the perimeter expect a lot of touches in the post from these two tonight.

Prediction: Utah State 88, Fresno State 70

The Aggies are deeper and boast more experience than this Bulldog team, but the last time these teams faced off produced a closer result than you’d of thought and even went to overtime. Fresno State is 3-2 over their last five games and do lead the all-time series between these two when played in Fresno, at 16-10.

If Utah State wins the battle of the bigs and Sam Merrill who just hit 2,000 career points mark in his career has a productive night on top of that, than the score predicted above isn’t too far fetched.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1361]

Utah State Basketball: Was It Too Soon To Write Off The Aggies?

Utah State Basketball: Was It Too Soon To Write Off The Aggies? Aggies have climbed the conference standings with recent play. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire The Aggies are currently sitting in a three-way tie for second place after a rough …

[jwplayer 18QegcJn-sNi3MVSU]

Utah State Basketball: Was It Too Soon To Write Off The Aggies?

Aggies have climbed the conference standings with recent play. 

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

The Aggies are currently sitting in a three-way tie for second place after a rough conference start. 

Utah State was placed on a pretty high pedestal in preseason media coverage, and that may have been unfair. Sam Merrill was pegged as the preseason player of the year and a preseason all-MWC first team member along with sophomore forward Neemias Queta. Not to mention the Aggies were picked to win the Mountain West receiving all seventeen first-place votes in the process.

San Diego State has already clinched the Mountain West regular season title with their 23-point win over New Mexico on Tuesday night at home, but there is still plenty up for grabs. But before we can move forward to this weekends batch of games which still have heavy conference standing implications at stake. Let’s take a look at the Aggie’s season as a whole and try to understand why their recent success feels a bit surprising, but shouldn’t at all.

No Neemias Queta, 

The first half of the season was spent without their star Portuguese big man, who sustained a knee injury playing for the Portuguese national team over the summer. At the time his injury seemed like a big blow to Utah State’s hopes at dominance in the coming season, and no one really assumed otherwise. As the seven-foot big man was one of the bigger surprises in all of college basketball in 2018-2019 with ten double-doubles (nine in conference play) while displaying an elite bounce, body control, defensive instincts and a back to the basket game that is hard to find in one package, especially among freshman.

Those performances also got his name on some NBA draft big boards last season, but ultimately deciding to come back to school placed him as a second round pick in the 2020 NBA draft on a couple of draft sites. He’s recently dropped from that position to being outside of the top-60 players draft eligible, but he is still one of the most pro-ready players on any Mountain West roster.

But most feared his absence early on would cause the Aggies to struggle, that wasn’t exactly the case. Queta made his return on Dec. 7th, against Fresno State. The sophomore big man posted six points, 1 rebounds and 1 block. He took some time to adjust back to the game since his injury, but he’s found a rhythm of late. Averaging 18.6 PPG and 8.3 RPG over his last three games (all wins). His presence was missed but the team played some of their best basketball without him in the line up and with him as he adjusted back to game level speeds. The team was 8-1 in his absence playing a smaller line up that at times included junior college transfer Alphonso Anderson in the post who averaged 13.1 PPG & 5.4 RPG without Queta in the lineup versus 6.1 PPG & 3.0 RPG with him in the lineup. He shouldn’t be all to blame for their bad run in January but his absence wasn’t their downfall either.

The Month of January, 

Utah State’s reception into the new decade and new year were not kind, as Craig Smith’s team went 4-4 during the month of January. They started off with a 17-point loss to UNLV and caught the Runnin’ Rebels right in the middle of their best run of the season (7-1, from Dec. 21st-Jan. 18th). This was the beginning of a three game losing streak that solidified the Aggies drop from the juggernaut status they were maybe prematurely given in preseason polls and coverage to just another team battling it out behind San Diego State.

I mean it wasn’t the worst month a Mountain West conference team had this season but Utah State was perceived to have the kind of season….well maybe the kind the Aztecs are enjoying. And that no knock on them, because the Aztecs took the expectations that were given to the Aggies back in September to the next level.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Mountain West Wire’s Player of The Year Watch List: Week Fourteen

Who is in the running for Player of the Year? Take A Look At the Best Performances Around the Mountain West In Week Fourteen Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire Jalen Harris averages 35.0 PPG and Neemias Queta makes his list debut. The staff at …

[jwplayer 18QegcJn-sNi3MVSU]

Who is in the running for Player of the Year?

Take A Look At the Best Performances Around the Mountain West In Week Fourteen

Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire

Jalen Harris averages 35.0 PPG and Neemias Queta makes his list debut.

The staff at the Mountain West Wire wanted to do something a little different this year. We are going to keep track of the top performers from teams around the Mountain West throughout the year and vote on who had the best performances that week. 

How it works description now at the bottom of the article

The order for the fourteenth week is as follows:

1. Jalen Harris, junior guard Nevada (5 Points)

38 points, 4 assists and 6 rebounds against Air Force

32 points, 3 assists and 5 rebounds against San Jose State

Four, that’s how many straight games the Wolf Pack’s Jalen Harris has scored thirty points or more, did I mention that was consecutively? Harris is on fire, and that feels like an understatement as the junior guard has the hot hand for a very neutral temperature Nevada team. Still with week fourteen’s first place finish he is only seven points away from current first place holder Malachi Flynn to make his case of Player of the Year.

Yes Harris is averaging 30.0 PPG over his last five games, but the Wolf Pack are 3-2 in the same span, and like most teams fighting it out in the middle of the Mountain West. Still when he takes the floor he is the most dominant player on the court, no matter the opponent. And he gets his points from everywhere from distance, inside the lane and without the ball as he’s constantly moving looking for a possible alley oop.

Nevada played well last week, earning two wins against Air Force and San Jose State by an average of 26.0 PPG. This may seem like easy pickings but any momentum that can be gained in this middle of the pack heavy Mountain West is useful. Especially seeing that the Wolf Pack drive south to the Thomas and Mack Center on Wednesday and then take a six day break before heading further south to The Pit (i.e. Dreamstyle Arena) next week. Either way I haven’t decided which streak I’m going to be rooting for this weekend, whether it be the Aztecs undefeated streak or hoping for another 30 point performance from Mr. Harris on Wednesday night.

2. Neemias Queta, sophomore forward Utah State (4 Points):

21 Points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks against UNLV

21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks against Boise State

3. Malachi Flynn, junior guard San Diego State (3 Points):

17 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds against Air Force

4. Nico Carvacho, senior center Colorado State (2 Points):

17 points, 16 rebounds and 1 assist against Fresno State

5. Seneca Knight, sophomore guard San Jose State (1 Point):

34 points, 3 assists and 8 rebounds against Nevada

Past Weeks:

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3| Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9| Week 10|Week 11| Week 12| Week 13|

Current Overall Point Totals:

Malachi Flynn, junior guard San Diego State (30 Points)

Jalen Harris, junior guard Nevada (23 Points)

Derrick Alston Jr, junior guard BSU (19 Points)

JaQuan Lyle, senior guard UNM (15 Points)

Sam Merrill, senior guard USU (15 Points)

Nico Carvacho, senior center CSU (12 Points)

Bryce Hamilton, sophomore guard UNLV (9 Points)

Jazz Johnson, senior guard Nevada (9 Points)

Hunter Maldonado, sophomore guard Wyoming (7 Points)

Seneca Knight, sophomore guard San Jose State (6 Points)

Isaiah Stevens, freshman guard Colorado State (6 Points)

Alphonso Anderson, junior guard USU (5 Points)

Carlton Bragg Jr., senior forward New Mexico (5 Points)

Lindsey Drew, senior guard Nevada (5 Points)

Justinian Jessup, senior guard Boise State (5 Points)

Justin Bean, sophomore forward USU (4 Points)

Marvin Coleman, sophomore guard UNLV (4 Points)

Amauri Hardy, junior guard UNLV (4 Points)

Neemias Queta, sophomore forward Utah State (4 Points)

Orlando Robinson, freshman forward Fresno State (4 Points)

David Roddy, freshman guard Colorado State (4 Points)

Roderick “RJ” Williams, senior forward Boise State (3 Points)

Corey Manigault, senior forward New Mexico (2 Points)

Jordan Schakel, junior guard SDSU (2 Points)

Donnie Tillman, junior forward UNLV (2 Points)

Abu Kigab, junior forward Boise State (1 Point)

Zane Martin, junior guard UNM (1 Point)

Matt Mitchell, junior forward San Diego State (1 Point)

Ryan Swan, senior center Air Force (1 Point)

Yanni Wetzell, senior forward San Diego State (1 Point)

How It Works: 

Each person will award 15 points in total to five players and should award it as so:

1st place (Player of the week): 5 pts

2nd place: 4 pts

3rd place: 3 pts

4th place: 2 pts

5th place: 1 pt

The player with the most points total will be our player of the week and we will keep track of the point totals every week so that the player who has the most at the end of the year will receive the Mountain West Wire Player of the Year award. Just copy the players below and type your names above it like we do for the pick them docs we get and award your points. 

Now some guys made the list and others didn’t. A big thing to think about was consistency throughout the week. Something that hurt some guys was having a decent game one day and a bad one the other day. Guys who made the list had a great game one day and a good one on other days, or good games both days.

This column will come out on Sunday nights or Monday mornings depending on how late some games finish on Sundays. 

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1361]

Aggies fight off another Boise St. comeback to win 70-61 at home

Utah State won 70-61 at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday night, beating Boise State to pull even in the Mountain West standings.

[jwplayer 9FEfL71c]

Game Recap: Utah State 70, Boise State 61

Aggies pull into three-way tie for 3rd place with BSU, Nevada

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

Utah State bent but never broke as they evened the season series with Boise State on Saturday.

Utah State got revenge against their neighbors to the north, beating Boise State 70-61 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday. While the Aggies led for nearly the entire game, the Broncos didn’t allow themselves to be put away for good until the final minute. The win pulls Utah State up into a three-way tie for third place with Boise State and Nevada.

The Aggies (19-7, 8-5 MWC) led by as many as 12 points during the second half, but they also let the Broncos stay within reach for the duration of the game. The deficit shrunk to as small as a single point after Riley Abercrombie’s field goal with just over a minute remaining.

But on the ensuing possession, the Aussie freshman was charged with a flagrant foul after pulling down Utah State’s Neemias Queta on a shot attempt.

The decision from the referees meant that the Aggies retained the ball after Queta made both free throws, and fellow USU star Sam Merrill added two more on the bonus possession. The Broncos were unable to score another point, as Utah State ended the game on an 8-0 run.

Queta led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, adding five rebounds and five blocks. Merrill contributed 17 points and four assists. Diogo Brito had 11 ponts and seven rebounds for the Aggies, while Justin Bean had 16 rebounds to go along with seven points.

Despite getting the win, Utah State will not be happy with their three-point shooting performance. They finished the game just 2-for-19 from beyond the arc, barely eclipsing the 10% mark. For a team with multiple sharpshooters, this kind of inefficiency simply does not compute.

They were bailed out in this instance, by a Boise State team that didn’t fare much better from three-point land. The Broncos went 6-for-29 from deep, good for just 20.7% on the night.

Senior guard Justinian Jessup was the only Boise State player to hit multiple threes, knocking down a trio of triples to extend his newly-earned Mountain West record for career threes made to 301. He is the first player in league history to surpass the threshold.

Jessup led Boise State (16-9, 8-5 MWC) with 20 points. Alex Hobbs had a second-straight impressive offensive showing, putting up 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. After scoring a career-high 24 points off the bench against Wyoming earlier this week, Hobbs got the start in place of Abu Kigab, who sat out of Saturday’s game with a hip injury.

Derrick Alston Jr.’s struggles this week continued through the weekend. The junior went 0-for-7 and scored just two points against the Cowboys on Tuesday. His box score improved on Saturday, but he still managed only seven points on 2-of-8 from the floor.

Abercrombie was forced into extra action against the Aggies after RJ Williams and Robin Jorch both fouled out. Though he did have some success on the interior, Abercrombie was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc—and also committed the ill-timed flagrant foul near the end of the game.

UP NEXT

Utah State’s next matchup is a Tuesday showdown on the road against Colorado State (17-8, 8-4 MWC). Now that the Aggies have climbed back into third place in the Mountain West, only the Rams stand between them and San Diego State. A win in Fort Collins would give Utah State at least a share of second place in the league. It would also position the Aggies to hold firm in that position, with their final four games all coming against teams in the bottom half of the conference.

Boise State heads home to host Air Force (9-15, 3-9 MWC). The Falcons were the latest team to put a scare into San Diego State but were unable to seal the deal at Clune Arena. Dave Pilipovich’s team has been disappointing compared to preseason projections, but they are always capable of surprising an unsuspecting team. If the Broncos want to keep pace in the MW for second or third place, they cannot afford to overlook this midweek tussle, especially with a Sunday tilt with SDSU looming.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1361]