Setting the table for the MW Schedule (MBB)

by Zach

With the Mountain West Tournament moving up a week this year, we had a weird glitch in the schedule, where teams played one or two games in December and will have a 16 or 17- game schedule from January 1- February 29. This year, there is a huge advantage for the teams that didn’t have a bye date in December and have their byes out in mid-January and mid-February. Keep in mind that the Mountain West plays an 18-game conference schedule, meaning that every team will have two teams that they only play once (one at home, and one on the road). This tends to come into play for seeding for the Mountain West Tournament, as it can give a team an advantage over similar quality teams. In this piece, we will list out the games each team has played, the games they have coming up, the teams they only play once, and when their byes are. But first, we will take a look at things to keep an eye out for as the conference season goes along.

Things To Watch:

  • There a few teams that will play both of their meetings within a couple of weeks. That means that depending on when they happen, there could be an injury or something else that can have an impact on both games. Also, one team could have a hot or cold stretch that would impact the standings with those meetings happening very close to each other. It is also important to look at the schedule the teams will be playing before they meet for a big conference game. Byes are a good thing if they come at the right time, but you don’t want to have a bye when you are playing great basketball and are healthy as a team.
  • To get a first-round bye in the Conference Tournament, teams are going to need to win most, if not all of their home games, plus taking care of business on the road against the lower tier teams. However, this feels like the sort of year where tiebreakers are probably going to play a role in the seedings, so beating the times that are in your tier goes a long way in getting a better seed.
  • There are a couple of huge matchups that only feature one game this year. Namely, UNM plays USU once in Albuquerque, and USU and Nevada only play once in Logan. On the flip side, SDSU has to play everyone but AFA and SJSU twice, which means there could be a couple more chances for SDSU losses.
  • What it will take to win the regular-season crown is always an interesting topic at the beginning of the Conference Season. It looks like this could be a year with five to seven teams with over nine wins in conference play which means that it will probably take 14-15 wins to claim a share of the title. Every loss could have a massive impact on a team’s chances of claiming the title.
  • When will SDSU lose their first game of the season? SDSU has started the season 13-0 and is one of the remaining two undefeated teams in America. I suspect that they will lose more than two conference games this year, but the question is where will the first loss come? For me, the perfect season ends on Saturday in Logan against USU, but if that doesn’t happen, it could be a little while.
  • With questions about the Lobos roster, they could be the team to watch as the conference season goes along. Depending on who they have or don’t have suiting up for them, they are a team that could challenge for the title or could be a team in the 4 to 6 range. This will be a very interesting conference season for the Lobos. Hopefully not one that takes a few years off of each of our lives.

Current Standings:

SDSU 2-0 (13-0)

USU 2-0 (13-2)

UNM 2-0 (13-2)

Nevada 1-0 (8-5)

UNLV 1-0 (6-8)

BSU 1-1 (9-5)

AFA 1-1 (6-7)

CSU 0-2 (9-6)

WYO 0-2 (5-9)

FSU 0-2 (4-9)

SJSU 0-2 (4-10)

Schedule Breakdown:

SDSU is 2-0 in Mountain West play with a 13-0 overall record.

  • Has Played: at CSU (1), SJSU (2)
  • Home: FSU (3), BSU, (6), Nev (8), WYO (9), USU (12), UNM (15), UNLV (17), CSU (19)
  • Road: USU (4), WYO (5), FSU (7), UNLV (10), UNM (11), AFA (14), BSU (16), Nev (20)
  • Plays Once: at AFA (14), SJSU (2)
  • Byes: 13, 17

USU is 2-0 in Mountain West play with a 13-2 overall record.

  • Has Played: at SJSU (1), FSU (2)
  • Home: SDSU (4), Nev (6), AFA (9), CSU (10), UNLV (13), BSU (14), WYO (17), SJSU (19)
  • Road: UNLV (3), AFA (5), BSU (8), WYO (11), SDSU (12), CSU (15), FSU (16), UNM (20)
  • Plays Once: Nevada (6), at UNM (20)
  • Byes: 7, 18

UNM is 2-0 in Mountain West play with a 13-2 overall record.

  • Has Played: BSU (1), at WYO (2)
  • Home: FSU (5), AFA (6), SJSU (9), SDSU (11), WYO (14), UNLV (16), NEV (17), USU (20)
  • Road: SJSU (3), CSU (7), UNLV (8), NEV (10), FSU (12), SDSU (15), BSU (18), AFA (19)
  • Plays Once: at CSU (7), USU (20)
  • Byes: 4, 13

Nevada is 1-0 in Mountain West play with an 8-5 overall record.

  • Has Played: at AFA (2)
  • Home: CSU (3), BSU (4), WYO (7), UNLV (9), UNM (10), AFA (13), SJSU (14), FSU (18), SDSU (20)
  • Road: SJSU (5), USU (6), SDSU (8), CSU (11), BSU (12), UNLV (15), UNM (17), WYO (19)
  • Plays Once:  at USU (6), FSU (18)
  • Byes: 1, 16

UNLV is 1-0 in Mountain West play with a 6-8 overall record.

  • Has Played: at FSU (1)
  • Home: USU (3), AFA (4), SJSU (7), UNM (8), SDSU (10), FSU (14), NEV (15), CSU (17), BSU (19)
  • Road: BSU (5), WYO (6), NEV (9), CSU (12), USU (13), UNM (16), SDSU (18), SJSU (20)
  • Plays Once: AFA (4), at Wyoming (6)
  • Byes: 2, 11

BSU is 1-1 in Mountain West play with a 9-5 overall record.

  • Has Played: at UNM (1), CSU (2)
  • Home: WYO (3), UNLV (5), USU (8), SJSU (11), NEV (12), AFA (15), SDSU (16), UNM (18)
  • Road: NEV (4), SDSU (6), AFA (7), FSU (10), WYO (13), USU (14), SJSU (17), UNLV (19)
  • Plays Once: CSU (2), at FSU (10)
  • Byes: 9, 20

AFA is 1-1 in Mountain West play with a 7-7 overall record.

  • Has Played: at WYO (1), Nev (2)
  • Home: USU (5), BSU (7), CSU (8), FSU (11), SDSU (14), SJSU (16), WYO (18), UNM (19)
  • Road: UNLV (4), UNM (6), USU (9), SJSU (10), NEV (13), BSU (15), FSU (17), CSU (20)
  • Plays Once: at UNLV (4), SDSU (14)
  • Byes: 3, 12

CSU is 0-2 in Mountain West play with a 9-6 overall record.

  • Has Played: SDSU (1), at BSU (2)
  • Home: WYO (4), UNM (7), FSU (9), NEV (11), UNLV (12), USU (15), SJSU (18), AFA (20)
  • Road: at Nev (3), SJSU (6), AFA(8), USU (10), FSU (13), WYO (16), UNLV (17), SDSU (19)
  • Plays Once: at BSU (2), UNM (7)
  • Byes: 5, 14

Wyoming is 0-2 in Mountain West play with a 5-9 overall record.

  • Has Played: AFA (1), UNM (2)
  • Home: SDSU (5), UNLV (6), FSU (8), USU (11), BSU (13), CSU (16), NEV (19)
  • Road: BSU (3), CSU (4), NEV (7), SDSU (9), SJSU (12), UNM (14), USU (17), AFA (18), FSU (20)
  • Plays Once: UNLV (6), at SJSU (12)
  • Byes: 10, 15

FSU is 0-2 in Mountain West play with a 4-9 overall record.

  • Has Played: UNLV (1), at USU (2)
  • Home: SJSU (4), SDSU (7), BSU (10), UNM (12), CSU (13), USU (16), AFA (17), WYO (20)
  • Road: SDSU (3), UNM (5), WYO (8), CSU (9), AFA (11), UNLV (14), SJSU (15), NEV (18)
  • Plays Once: BSU (10), at Nevada (18)
  • Byes: 6, 19

SJSU is 0-2 in Mountain West play with a 4-10 overall record.

  • Has Played: USU (1), at SDSU (2)
  • Home: UNM (3), NEV (5), CSU (6), AFA (10), WYO (12), FSU (15), BSU (17), UNLV (20)
  • Road: FSU (4), UNLV (7), UNM (9), BSU (11), NEV (14), AFA (16), CSU (18), USU (19)
  • Plays Once: at SDSU (2), Wyoming (12)
  • Byes: 8, 13

Matchup Dates:

  1. UNM vs. BSU, CSU vs. SDSU, WYO vs. AFA, FSU vs. UNLV, SJSU vs. USU (NEV Bye)
  2. WYO vs. UNM, AFA vs. NEV, USU vs. FSU, BSU vs. CSU, SDSU vs. SJSU (UNLV Bye)
  3. SJSU vs. UNM, SDSU vs. FSU, BSU vs. WYO, NEV vs. CSU, UNLV vs. USU (AFA Bye)
  4. CSU vs. WYO, NEV vs. BSU, FSU vs. SJSU, USU vs. SDSU, UNLV vs. AFA (UNM Bye)
  5. UNM vs. FSU, AFA vs. USU, WYO vs. SDSU, BSU vs. UNLV, SJSU vs. NEV (CSU Bye)
  6. UNM vs. AFA, SJSU vs. CSU, WYO vs. UNLV, USU vs. NEV, SDSU vs. BSU (FSU Bye)
  7. NEV vs. WYO, FSU vs. SDSU, CSU vs. UNM, AFA vs. BSU, UNLV vs. SJSU (USU Bye)
  8. UNLV vs. UNM, AFA vs. CSU, WYO vs. FSU, SDSU vs. NEV, BSU vs. USU (SJSU Bye)
  9. UNM vs. SJSU, SDSU vs. WYO, USU vs. AFA, CSU vs. FSU, NEV vs. UNLV ( BSU Bye)
  10. NEV vs. UNM, SJSU vs. AFA, FSU vs. BSU, USU vs. CSU, UNLV vs. SDSU (WYO Bye)
  11. AFA vs. FSU, WYO vs. USU, UNM vs. SDSU, CSU vs. NEV, BSU vs. SJSU (UNLV Bye)
  12. FSU vs. UNM, CSU vs. UNLV, SJSU vs. WYO, SDSU vs. USU, BSU vs. NEV (AFA Bye)
  13. FSU vs. CSU, WYO vs. BSU, NEV vs. AFA, USU vs. UNLV (UNM, SDSU, SJSU Byes)
  14. UNM vs. WYO, NEV vs. SJSU, AFA vs. SDSU, UNLV vs. FSU, USU vs. BSU (CSU Bye)
  15. SDSU vs. UNM, BSU vs. AFA, CSU vs. USU, UNLV vs. NEV, SJSU vs. FSU (WYO Bye)
  16. UNM vs. UNLV, AFA vs. SJSU, WYO vs. CSU, FSU vs. USU, BSU vs. SDSU (NEV Bye)
  17. UNM vs. NEV, UNLV vs. CSU, USU vs. WYO, SJSU vs. BSU, FSU vs. AFA (SDSU Bye)
  18. CSU vs. SJSU, AFA vs. WYO, SDSU vs. UNLV, NEV vs. FSU, BSU vs. UNM (USU Bye)
  19. WYO vs. NEV, SDSU vs. CSU, USU vs. SJSU, AFA vs. UNM, UNLV vs. BSU (FSU Bye)
  20. UNM vs USU, CSU vs. AFA, SJSU vs. UNLV, FSU vs. WYO, NEV vs. SDSU (BSU Bye)