Las Vegas – Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh was candid about the future of AFA men’s basketball coach Jeff Bzdelik on Wednesday night before the AFA women’s game against Brigham Young in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Mueh expects his telephone to start ringing off the hook with calls from schools interested in hiring Bzdelik, who is 47-14 in two seasons with the Falcons, and he expects one of the calls to be from the University of Colorado, which Ricardo Patton is leaving.
Mueh said he has not been officially contacted – yet.
“I expect it will happen as soon as these tournaments are over,” Mueh said. “These other schools would be fools not to go after somebody who has proven they can handle a program like ours, with the discipline and coaching ability. To be honest, I expect some conversation with the University of Colorado.”
Mueh said he has seen several names connected to CU’s search, including Nuggets assistant Mike Dunlap, Ritchie McKay (who was fired by New Mexico) and Colorado State’s Dale Layer.
“I expect Colorado will be as interested in Jeff as it is with a lot of coaches, and (CU athletic director) Mike Bohn will pick the guy who is the best fit for them,” Mueh said. “I think Mike has let the media do all the early connecting.”
Mueh has heard the speculation that Bzdelik, a former Nuggets coach, might want to return to the NBA someday.
“My hope is he coaches four or five more years here,” Mueh said. “I want him to stay, but Jeff has been noncommittal. We’re counting on what he has said about loving his players here and having the most fun he’s ever had in coaching. We want Jeff to stay at Air Force. But if Jeff decides it is in his best interests to leave, I don’t know if there’s much I can do to keep him from going.”
BYU routs AFA women
It was a brief stay in the sun for the Air Force women’s basketball team.
After gaining their first MWC Tournament victory ever Tuesday on a last-second basket by Alecia Steele against CSU, the Falcons were eliminated 72-40 by BYU. Mallary Gillespie scored 20 points for top-seeded BYU and Steele led the Falcons (6-23) with 12 points.
“It was like night and day between last night and tonight,” Air Force coach Ardie McInelly said. “I thought we played a 40-minute game against CSU. We didn’t do that tonight.”
Footnotes
If it’s basketball tournament time, MWC football schedules shouldn’t be far behind. But MWC deputy commissioner Bret Gilliland offered no target date for the announcement of the league’s master schedule. … When the MWC Tournament was in Denver, fans of Wyoming and New Mexico waited to see if their teams would advance to the weekend before heading to the Pepsi Center. But Wyoming and New Mexico fans have turned out in big numbers with the event back in Las Vegas after a three-year hiatus. The opening-round men’s game Tuesday that New Mexico lost drew a crowd of 4,088 fans – 200 more than than a year ago. Wednesday, the afternoon women’s doubleheader that produced quarterfinal victories for Wyoming and New Mexico drew nearly 4,000 fans.
Mountain West contenders at a glance
Handicapping the men’s Mountain West Tournament:
1. BYU (23-7 overall, 13-3 MWC) – Coach Dave Rose voted league coach of the year. Forward Keena Young voted player of the year. Cougars will need Austin Ainge to be productive from 3-point range to win the tournament.
2. Nevada-Las Vegas (25-6, 12-4) – Forward Wendell White first-team all-conference and ranked 10th in scoring at 14.7. Rebels are favored because they are playing on their home floor.
3. San Diego State (21-9, 10-6) – Brandon Heath is the conference’s all-time leading scorer. If Mohamed Abukar gets hot, Aztecs could leapfrog BYU and UNLV.
4. Air Force (23-7, 10-6) – Forward Dan Nwaelele first-team all-conference. The Falcons must regain shooting touch, especially from 3-point range. Would need early-season form to win it.
5. Wyoming (16-14, 7-9) – Brandon Ewing leads the conference in scoring. The Cowboys were the talk of last year’s tournament. Maybe too steep of a hill this year.
6. Colorado State (16-12, 6-10) – Center Jason Smith a first-team all-conference player. The Rams have been inconsistent, but with Smith they could make things happen.
7. Utah (11-18, 6-10) – Coach Ray Giacoletti is already gone, by mutual agreement. He’s coaching the tournament, but Utes are in for an early exit.
8. TCU (13-16, 4-12) – A winner over New Mexico in the first round. Coach Neil Dougherty had seven players new to the program to start the season. They caused some surprises in the late going.
Staff writer Natalie Meisler contributed to this report.
