San Diego State coach Steve Fisher has a method to what might be seen as madness when he readily accepts the challenge of being the team to beat in what is shaping up to be a knock-down, drag-out Mountain West Conference race.
The attention comes from the Aztecs’ success last season when they became the first team to win the league title and the conference tournament in the MWC’s seven-year history.
“I don’t mind being considered the team to beat,” Fisher said Tuesday. “All that means is that everyone remembers that we won last year. We have both titles to show for it.”
But there’s more than memories serving notice on the rest of the conference. After testing the prospects of the NBA draft, Aztecs guard Brandon Heath decided to return for his senior season.
“He took a look and then made what was the right decision for him,” Fisher said. “As it turned out, that was a good decision for the team as well.”
Heath is the conference’s all-time scoring leader with 1,830 points going into tonight’s conference opener against Wyoming. The other MWC openers tonight are Air Force at Colorado State, Utah at UNLV and New Mexico at TCU. BYU opens conference play Saturday at home against TCU.
Fisher knows the opposition is formidable. And he’s not alone. CSU coach Dale Layer draws on his seven years in the league to explain the upcoming season stacks up to be the most competitive he has seen.
Wyoming coach Steve McClain sees the conference being better top to bottom, and Lobos coach Ritchie McKay predicts it will be “a war every night.”
The conference begins league play coming off its best nonconference record ever at 90-33. And Air Force provides an attention-grabbing national ranking, No. 16 in the coaches’ poll and No. 20 in The Associated Press poll.
The Falcons (13-1) lead the nonconference standings, including victories of 79-45 over Stanford, 67-53 over Texas Tech, 94-58 over Wake Forest and 84-46 over Colorado.
“You can make a case for six or seven teams in this league of being right up there at the end,” AFA coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “If you’re not ready to play your best game every night, you’re going to get beat. There aren’t any automatic victories just because you’re playing at home.”
BYU and Air Force have won 23 straight games on their home floors.
McKay said the history of the league is that it’s tough to win on the road. However, San Diego State showed the way last season by going 6-2 on the road in the conference.
“Most everybody in our league has a good RPI,” McKay said. “We’ve had some great wins in nonconference play. I think UNLV is playing right now as anyone in the West.”
Heath isn’t the only individual player of note. CSU forward Jason Smith has drawn national attention. Air Force and BYU each return four starters – Jacob Burtschi, Dan Nwaelele, Matt McCraw and Tim Anderson for the Falcons and Trent Plaisted, Keena Young, Lee Cummard and Rashaun Broadus for the Cougars.
BYU coach Dave Rose looks at the experience level in the league as one of the reasons for the expected high level of play.
UNLV’s Kevin Kruger may be the newcomer to the league who could make the biggest impact. His father, Lon Kruger, coaches the Rebels.
“He has leadership qualities and he does his job in a way that allows our other players to do what they’re comfortable doing,” Lon Kruger said. “He knows how to run our offense.”
On the other end, TCU coach Neil Dougherty is working with seven new players.
“We needed some new blood here,” Dougherty said. “We’ve improved, but I’m not sure we’ve kept pace with the improvement in the league.”
Although there’s great anticipation for the beginning of league play, there’s also great anticipation for what it could lead to in March.
“Having a team in the top 25 draws more attention to our league,” McClain said. “UNLV is getting votes. People know that BYU is very good. Our league has to get back to the point where we have six teams in contention for postseason play in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
MOUNTAIN WEST MEN
Air Force (13-1)
Returning starters: F Jacob Burtschi, F Dan Nwaelele, G Matt McCraw, G Tim Anderson
Top newcomer: F Anwar Johnson
Intangible: C Nick Welch, conference co-player of the year in 2003-04, completes his collegiate career after missing last season with an injury.
Home play: The Falcons have won 23 in a row at Clune Arena.
BYU (10-4)
Returning starters: Trent Plaisted, F Keena Young, G Lee Cummard, G Rashaun Broadus
Top newcomer: G Sam Burgess
Intangible: Austin Ainge, team’s assist leader, is one of six seniors on the roster.
Home play: The Cougars have won 23 in a row at home.
Colorado State (10-2)
Returning starters: F Jason Smith, G Cory Lewis, G Stephan Gilling, F Freddy Robinson
Top newcomer: G Tyler Smith
Intangible: Gilling and Robinson aren’t starting this season. C Stuart Creason has had starting assignments.
Home play: CSU is 65-28 at home in Dale Layer’s seven-year tenure.
New Mexico (11-4)
Returning starter: G-F Tony Danridge
Top newcomer: G J.R. Giddens
Intangible: Giddens and F Aaron Johnson are new to the Lobos, but started before at Kansas and Penn State, respectively.
Home play: The Lobos are 43-3 at home since the 2004-05 season.
San Diego State (11-3)
Returning starters: G Brandon Heath, F Mohamed Abukar, F Kyle Spain, G Richie Williams
Top newcomer: F Lorrenzo Wade
Intangible: Heath is the conference’s all-time scoring leader with 1,830 points.
Home play: The Aztecs are 20-3 at home in the past two seasons.
Texas Christian (8-4)
Returning starters: G Brent Hackett, G Neiman Owens
Top newcomer: F Kevin Langford
Intangible: Seven of 12 players on the roster are newcomers to the program.
Home play: The Horned Frogs have won 70 percent of their home games over the past 10 seasons.
UNLV (13-2)
Returning starters: G Wink Adams, G-F Curtis Terry, G Mike Umeh
Top newcomer: G Kevin Kruger
Intangible: Kruger is playing under a new NCAA rule that allows transfers with a degree and a year’s eligibility to play a final year.
Home play: The Rebels are 104-29 at home in past 133 games.
Utah (5-8)
Returning starters: C Luke Nevill, G Johnny Bryant, F Shaun Green
Top newcomer: G-F Stephen Weight
Intangible: Utah leads the conference in titles with four and winning percentage at .690.
Home play: The Utes are 82-8 at home in league play in the past 12 years.
Wyoming (9-5)
Returning starters: G Brandon Ewing, G Brad Jones
Top newcomer: G-F James Spencer
Intangible: Starters Spencer and F Joseph Taylor are new to the program.
Home play: The Cowboys are 15-8 at home in two seasons.
