Danny

[MSU01]

If anyone's looking for some late night basketball to watch, USU plays at New Mexico on FS1 in half an hour. UNM always has a great home atmosphere at "The Pit" and just upset San Diego State last weekend.

Their defense is horrid so far.

Indeed, they barely avoided giving up 100. Hope Great's knee is OK. Fun game to watch.

[BelgradeBobcat]

If anyone's looking for some late night basketball to watch, USU plays at New Mexico on FS1 in half an hour. UNM always has a great home atmosphere at "The Pit" and just upset San Diego State last weekend.

Their defense is horrid so far.

Indeed, they barely avoided giving up 100. Hope Great's knee is OK. Fun game to watch.

Utah State looked pretty wore out-especially Great. He was a different player against UNLV.

[Joe Bobcat]

If anyone's looking for some late night basketball to watch, USU plays at New Mexico on FS1 in half an hour. UNM always has a great home atmosphere at "The Pit" and just upset San Diego State last weekend.

Their defense is horrid so far.

Indeed, they barely avoided giving up 100. Hope Great's knee is OK. Fun game to watch.

Utah State looked pretty wore out-especially Great. He was a different player against UNLV.

Yeah as others have said the Lobos out hustled the Aggies and ran them into the ground. Shooting 57% from the field left little to no room for the Aggies to keep up as well. Osobor was completely exhausted and that was a contributor to him getting hurt. For his sake alone I hope he's ok, but in addition that team would have a tough time adjusting to playing without him.

[Helcat72]

Utah State keeps up the winning. They beat Boise in overtime in Boise. Down 3 with like 18 seconds to go hit a 2, fouled and Boise missed one of the FT'S. Hit a layup at the buzzer to send it to OT. Hit all their FT's in OT, Boise didn't......

[Long Time Cat]

Utah State keeps up the winning. They beat Boise in overtime in Boise. Down 3 with like 18 seconds to go hit a 2, fouled and Boise missed one of the FT'S. Hit a layup at the buzzer to send it to OT. Hit all their FT's in OT, Boise didn't......

That’s awesome.
Who do we hate? Boise State!

[aucat]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

[Cataholic]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

That “cupcake conference” put a team in the final four and has two teams currently ranked in the Top 20.

[MSU01]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

That “cupcake conference” put a team in the final four and has two teams currently ranked in the Top 20.

The MWC (5) has more teams in Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology projection than either the Pac-12 (4) or ACC (3).

[luckyirishguy25]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

The Mountain West is a very strong basketball conference right now.

[aucat]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

The Mountain West is a very strong basketball conference right now.

Well we will find out come March Madness. It will be interesting.

[Desert_Bobcat]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

The Mountain West is a very strong basketball conference right now.

The Mountain West is arguably the strongest mid major conference and has been the last few years. I would even argue they are a top 5 basketball conference, period. They’re consistently putting 4 or 5 teams into the NCAA tournament (more than or as many as the PAC12, ACC, Big East) and are slated to put 5 or 6 in as of right now. The reason they might not look impressive is because the conference is 6-7 deep and anyone could beat anyone on a given night. Fans of teams who are in the bottom of their conference say that to give them hope of knocking off a Kansas or a UCONN. In the MW that’s actually true..

[kennethnoisewater]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

The Mountain West is a very strong basketball conference right now.

The Mountain West is arguably the strongest mid major conference and has been the last few years. I would even argue they are a top 5 basketball conference, period. They’re consistently putting 4 or 5 teams into the NCAA tournament (more than or as many as the PAC12, ACC, Big East) and are slated to put 5 or 6 in as of right now. The reason they might not look impressive is because the conference is 6-7 deep and anyone could beat anyone on a given night. Fans of teams who are in the bottom of their conference say that to give them hope of knocking off a Kansas or a UCONN. In the MW that’s actually true..

I think it was Seth Greenberg last night on ESPN that said the MW could get more teams in the tournament than the ACC and Pac 12 combined.

[CatBot]

I think Utah State is way overrated. They are playing in a cupcake conference.

The Mountain West is a very strong basketball conference right now.

Well we will find out come March Madness. It will be interesting.

It takes a very short memory to come up with a take like this.

[aucat]

Maybe we will get to see Utah State play a Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Miss. State, Alabama, Georgia, you know....some of the run of the mill SEC teams come NCAA tournament time. There are many many good basketball teams out there. It's hard to know how good Utah State is right now, but the NCAAs will be fun to watch. I would think that USU will get a much better seed than Montana State got last year, being in MWC compared to the Big Sky.

[Bocephus]

Utah State might open with the Big Sky Champ, how crazy would that be?

[luckyirishguy25]

Maybe we will get to see Utah State play a Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Miss. State, Alabama, Georgia, you know....some of the run of the mill SEC teams come NCAA tournament time. There are many many good basketball teams out there. It's hard to know how good Utah State is right now, but the NCAAs will be fun to watch. I would think that USU will get a much better seed than Montana State got last year, being in MWC compared to the Big Sky.

Utah State is a Projected 6 seed right now, I guess if you've buried your head in the sand for the last 4 years you might think the MW is a weak conference. Also Raequan Battle is absolutely torching SEC teams so....

[Desert_Bobcat]

Maybe we will get to see Utah State play a Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Miss. State, Alabama, Georgia, you know....some of the run of the mill SEC teams come NCAA tournament time. There are many many good basketball teams out there. It's hard to know how good Utah State is right now, but the NCAAs will be fun to watch. I would think that USU will get a much better seed than Montana State got last year, being in MWC compared to the Big Sky.

If you’re actually calling Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, and Kentucky “run of the mill” I really don’t know what to tell you. Other than Kentucky, the three other teams I listed are in the top 8 of the KenPom rankings (UK is #23). For those that don’t know, KenPom is a statistical ranking system that essentially measures the efficiency of your team as a whole (think BCS ranking for college football, but for basketball). For what it’s worth, Utah St is #30. The top ranked BigSky team is E Wash @ 124. MSU is 247 out of 362 MBB teams

There are 6 MW teams and 9 SEC teams in the top 60. Mountain West is tied for 5th best representation by conference in KenPom’s top 60 (tied with Pac12)

While it’s totally fine to doubt USU and what Sprink is doing there. The honest truth is that if he makes it past the 1st round or into the sweet 16 he’s a shoe in for National Coach of the year.
What’s not ok is calling the Mountain West a “cupcake” conference. Fact of the matter is they put 4 teams in the tournament AND had one of them go all the way to the natty last year (in a year that many would say was a down year for that league). Statistically, they are a top 5 conference in basketball.

[Helcat72]

Maybe we will get to see Utah State play a Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Miss. State, Alabama, Georgia, you know....some of the run of the mill SEC teams come NCAA tournament time. There are many many good basketball teams out there. It's hard to know how good Utah State is right now, but the NCAAs will be fun to watch. I would think that USU will get a much better seed than Montana State got last year, being in MWC compared to the Big Sky.

Utah State is a Projected 6 seed right now, I guess if you've buried your head in the sand for the last 4 years you might think the MW is a weak conference. Also Raequan Battle is absolutely torching SEC teams so....

Raequan 's been having trouble scoring on the road. Watched the game against OK St. and he had like 2 points. He hit his first jumper (banked it in from the free throw circle)....and proceeded to go "0 fer" the rest of the game. The coach let him try to get untracked but he couldn't "throw it in the ocean"! He got worse as the game went on and he looked lost just waiting in the corner for someone to pass him the ball. As the game went on, they passed it less and less. They never got him the ball as he ran the baseline. I heard it was sort of the same thing against Oklahoma. It isn't like him to fade on the road, but something has eroded his confidence.

[aucat]

My point about the SEC is, that conference is incredibly loaded top to bottom. When a South Carolina can go into Knoxville and win; when Florida can go into Lexington and win, you get my point. No my head is not buried in the sand. It is my feeling that IF Utah State played in the SEC, where every team is loaded with talented, physical players, you would NOT see an 18-2 record. But you just never know come tournament time. Like I said. It will be fun and interesting to watch. I have to add, I simply don't remember Dalton Knecht GOING OFF in the Big Sky like he is playing this year with UT. I watched South Carolina upset UT in Knoxville the other night and while UT lost, Knecht was incredible, hitting just about every shot he threw up. By the way, yeah, I should not call the MW a "cupcake" conference. THat might apply to our bunch in the Big Sky, but not the MW. Regarding coach of the year? Right now I would say the South Carolina coach might have a good shot at that. If I'm not mistaken SC was picked to finish last in the SEC. They are certainly a big surprise. If Danny gets a #6 seed I think he will have a decent chance to make it to the round of 32. Anything beyond that would be a big surprise I think. But anytime you are in the NCAAs you've done a mighty fine job.

[MSU01]

My point about the SEC is, that conference is incredible loaded top to bottom. When a South Carolina can go into Knoxville and win; when Florida can go into Lexington and win, you get my point. No my head is not buried in the sand. It is my feeling that IF Utah State played in the SEC, where every team is loaded with talented, physical players, you would NOT see an 18-2 record. But you just never know come tournament time. Like I said. It will be fun and interesting to watch. I have to add, I simply don't remember Dalton Knecht GOING OFF in the Big Sky like he is playing this year with UT. I watched South Carolina upset UT in Knoxville the other night and while UT lost, Knecht was incredible, hitting just about every shot he threw up. By the way, yeah, I should not call the MW a "cupcake" conference. THat might apply to our bunch in the Big Sky, but not the MW. Regarding coach of the year? Right now I would say the South Carolina coach might have a good shot at that. If I'm not mistaken SC was picked to finish last in the SEC. They are certainly a big surprise. If Danny gets a #6 seed I think he will have a decent chance to make it to the round of 32. Anything beyond that would be a big surprise I think. But anytime you are in the NCAAs you've done a mighty fine job.

I don't think anyone was ever trying to argue that the Mountain West is as good as the top basketball conferences in the country such as the SEC. But it is very far from being a "cupcake conference" as you originally said, so I can see why the responses to that comment were what they were. I think it's reasonable to think that USU will end up somewhere in that #5 - #8 seed range for the NCAA Tournament, so your prediction of them likely reaching the Round of 32 and bowing out shortly thereafter are entirely in line with what you'd expect for a team seeded in that range. They've got a tough stretch of games coming up including going on the road to San Diego State this weekend, but overall so far they're doing what Danny's MSU teams so often did in terms of finding a way to gut out the win at the end of close games most of the time even when they aren't playing their best.