A SPRING TOUR OF MW HOOPS
SDSU is set other than Mensah, many others in conference less fortunate
The 2022-23 college basketball season is still nearly six months away, and most teams have finished spring semester classes and are on summer break. But games could be won or lost over the next week.
Looming June 1 is the deadline for players who provisionally entered the NBA Draft to withdraw and reclaim any remaining collegiate eligibility. And four of the Mountain West’s best are still deciding, still weighing options, still in limbo while their schools sweat, including the player of the year, the defensive player of the year, the sixth man of the year and two other all-conference selections.
Their return or departure becomes even more impactful (or painful) when you consider the timing, with dwindling plug-andplay replacements available from the transfer portal or high school ranks.
In other words: San Diego
State will either have Nathan Mensah, a four-year starter and one of the nation’s best defensive posts and the final piece of what many project as a preseason Top 25 team, or it will have … well, who knows what coach Brian Dutcher and his staff could dig up on short notice.
“Nate understands the magnitude of this decision, how it affects his teammates, the program, the university as a whole,” Kwaku Amoaku, Mensah’s guardian, said last month. “He’s also got a family back home (in Ghana) he hasn’t seen in years. It’s a huge decision for him. I know a lot of people want him to decide right now, but because it impacts so many people he doesn’t want to rush it. He wants to get it right, so he doesn’t feel differently a week later.”
There’s also David Roddy at Colorado State, the Mountain West player of the year; Hunter Maldonado at Wyoming, a first team all-conference pick who finished in the top 11 in the Mountain West in points, rebounds, assists and steals; and Donovan Williams at UNLV, the sixth man of the year according to the media postseason awards.
All four are all considered 50-50 or better to spend another year in college, significantly upping the level of the Mountain West after a landmark season with four teams in the NCAA Tournament. They have until next Wednesday to file NCAA paperwork or they’re effectively pros.
Either way, you’ll need a roster to know who’s who next season. Some teams have made significant renovations compliments of the transfer portal. Others have lost a sizable chunk of their rotations. Only two — perennial bottom-feeders Air Force and San Jose State — have no incoming transfers so far, although that could change in the ever-volatile world of college basketball.
Here’s a quick tour around the conference, who’s in, who’s out and who’s undecided:
SDSU: 23-9 overall, third place last season
The Aztecs are just waiting on the 6-foot-10 Mensah. The rest of the team is set, with transfers Darrion Trammell (Seattle), Micah Parrish (Oakland) and Jaedon LeDee (TCU) plus incoming freshmen Elijah Saunders and Miles Byrd joining all-conference guard Matt Bradley and the bulk
of a roster that lost to Boise State in the conference tournament final. The only departed starter is point guard Trey Pulliam, but Trammell, who averaged 18.7 points and 5.1 assists in two seasons at Seattle, figures to energize a lackluster offense with his prowess off ball screens. Without Mensah, the Aztecs are still good enough to contend for the conference title. With him, they could be the unanimous preseason pick and potentially give the Aztecs one of the best teams in school history.
Boise State: 27-8, first
The Mountain West regular-season and conference tournament champs lose three starters: Abu Kigab as a senior, Emmanuel Akot to the transfer portal and center Mladen Armus to pro ball in Europe. Guard Marcus Shaver nearly left as well before withdrawing from the draft, giving them another returning starter with Mountain West freshman of the year Tyson Degenhart. The two big additions are four-star freshman Sadraque Nganga, the highest-rated recruit in program history, and Texas Tech transfer (and Saint Augustine High alum) Chibuzo Agbo. With Armus leaving, the Broncos are scouring the picked-over transfer portal for a big.
Colorado State: 25-6, second
Their 2022-23 season probably rides on Roddy’s decision. It was looking like he’d be gone, with many mock drafts projecting him as a late first- or early second-round pick. The 260-pound forward was invited to the draft combine last week in Chicago, but he measured just 6-4½ without shoes and didn’t play particularly well in the scrimmages (5 of 17 overall shooting, 0 of 6 on 3s). If Roddy stays in the draft, the Rams will be without four of their top six players from last season. Guard Kendle Moore (Missouri State) and forward Dischon Thomas (Montana)
both transferred, and athletic sixth man Chandler Jacobs ran out of eligibility. They still have all-conference guard Isaiah Stevens, part-time starter John Tonje and backup big James Moors. They added Illinois State transfer Josiah Strong (11.5 points) and 6-8 Division II All-American Patrick Cartier (22.0 points at Hillsdale). They also nearly got USD transfer Marcellus Earlington (13.2 points, 6.7 rebounds) before he opted to stay and play for new Toreros coach Steve Lavin. Wyoming: 25-9, fourth
If Maldonado returns, as many expect, look out. The Cowboys will be an NCAA Tournament-caliber team again. The only notable departure is sharpshooter Drake Jeffries. All-conference beast Graham Ike (19.5 points, 9.6 rebounds) and the rest of the rotation, and now add to that a trio of Pac-12 transfers in Ethan Anderson (USC), Max Agponkpolo (USC) and Jake Kyman (UCLA). Anderson gives them the traditional lead guard presence they were missing last season, and the 6-9 Agbonkpolo started 18 games for the Trojans. Kyman got bench minutes for UCLA.
UNLV: 18-14, fifth
The revolving door continues to spin. Coach Kevin Kruger
had to build a roster almost from scratch when he took over last year, and he’s had to do it again this spring. Only five players return, not counting the 6-6 Williams. Kruger used a similar blueprint, finding veteran, defensive-minded transfers from respected power conference programs. This year’s haul includes Colorado’s Elijah Parquet, Oklahoma’s Elijah Harkless, Mississippi’s Luis Rodriguez and West Virginia’s Isaiah Cottrell — all of whom were full- or part-time starters at their previous stops. The biggest question is whether any of them can score and help offset the departure of Bryce Hamilton, the Mountain West’s leading scorer (21.7 points) who turned pro. Fresno State: 23-13, sixth The Bulldogs are one of a handful of Div. I teams that finished their season with a victory, winning The Basketball Classic (formerly CIT) tournament with a 85-74 win at Coastal Carolina on April 1. Four players transferred, including 7-0 backup big Braxton Meah to Washington. But the biggest loss, literally and figuratively, is 7-footer Orlando Robinson to the NBA Draft. The rest of last season’s key rotation pieces are back, plus four-star prep prospect Joseph Hunter, junior college All-American Junior Brinson and 6-10 Nebraska center Eduardo Andre. Replacing Robinson’s 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds won’t be easy, though. Also gone is assistant Tim Shelton, a former SDSU player and coach who took an assistant job at Oregon State.
Nevada: 13-18, eighth
The honeymoon is over for Steve Alford, after his three best players bolted from a team that got first-place votes in the preseason poll and finished five games under .500. And transferred to power conference programs. Desmond Cambridge Jr. and 7-foot Mission Hills High alum Warren Washington are both headed to Arizona State, and there were reports Tuesday night that guard Grant Sherfield (19.1 points, 6.4 assists) committed to Oklahoma. Three others jumped in the portal as well, leaving center Will Baker, Kenan Blackshear and K.J. Hymes as the most notable returnees. Alford landed three transfers — Oregon State’s Jarod Lucas, Seton Hall’s Tyler Powell and Elon’s Hunter MacIntosh — and a couple freshmen, but none has the pedigree of what walked out the door.
New Mexico: 13-19, ninth Richard Pitino had two available scholarships and used them to address his biggest need: bigs. Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr., who formed the conference’s most prolific backcourt (combined 35.1 points), now have interior help with 6-8, 245-pound Wichita State transfer Morris Udeze and 6-8 Missouri-Kansas City transfer Josiah Allen. The Lobos beat UNLV and several power conference programs for Udeze, who played four years for the Shockers and averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds last season. That might be enough to push them into the upper half of the standings.
The rest
Utah State (18-16, seventh) lost its starting frontcourt of Brandon Horvath and Justin Bean (who turned pro despite having another year of eligibility). The replacements are 6-8 Saint Joseph’s transfer Taylor Funk and 7-0 Oregon transfer Isaac Johnson, a top 100 recruit out of high school who went on a two-year Mormon mission before sitting on the bench for the Ducks last season. … Air Force (11-18, 10th) is rarely active in the portal because of the difficulty of fitting transfers into its academic regimen. The Falcons lost starting guard Joseph Octave to Holy Cross and have added no one. … San Jose State (8-23, 11th) might be playing four-onfive next season if it doesn’t get some players quickly, with seemingly half the roster in the portal and no one signed from it.