Mountain West Wire

Jeremy, Andy and Larry are back to take a look at the Mountain West coaching searches that came to an end and others that are heating up. New Mexico landed on Richard Pitino who was recently let go at Minnesota after another subpar year. He is becoming a Lobo partly due to his connection with New Mexico AD Eddie Nunez and also Bill Donovan who was Nunez's coach when Donovan was winning national titles at Florida. The move makes sense in that regards and Pitino is a fine hire as there were worse options out there but not many that were really better. It came down to Tim Miles who most recently was at Nebraska and helped build up Colorado State before. Overall, it was a nice hire. The move that almost came out of nowhere was T.J. Otzelberger leaving UNLV for the Iowa State job. This was a move up despite Otzelberger having a 29-30 record in his two years in Las Vegas. As for who will replace him, all three of us are throwing darts because UNLV fancies itself as a big time job but it hasn't been nationally relev

Andy and Jeremy are back to give their final thoughts on how many Mountain West teams will make the field of 68. San Diego State earned the auto bid and Utah State seems likely but beyond that Boise State and Colorado State are poised for the NIT. With how the pandemic has been going, who knows if any of the Mountain West teams will get the call up as replacements. The two also go over the conference tournament as it went mostly as chalk. We gave some props to Wyoming and looked at how San Diego State was in full control of the title game vs. Utah State. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Andy are back to preview the Mountain West tournament that starts this week. The big question they go over is what is the best way for the conference to get more than two teams in the NCAA Tournament? Four is off the table and it might take some bracket ninja work to even get to three teams in the Big Dance. There are plenty of options they go over, including an interesting one about Nevada making it to the title game, or San Diego State falling asleep at the wheel and not advancing past the quarterfinal round. The teams that feel the most safe are San Diego State as a lock and then Colorado State, Boise State, and Utah State in that order to get into the field. Making the title game is a big deal for the non-Aztecs teams. The duo also go over the all-conference awards from our website, beat writers and the coaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Matt are back to take a look at the Mountain West football schedule that was recently released. The two go over the full schedule and look at what teams have it easy and what teams have it hard, spoiler: it is more hard than easy with the depth of the Mountain West this year. We pick our favorite weekends of the seasons and have a few issues with how the league set up its final few weeks of the schedule. They also get into some Colorado State spring football and tell coaches to quit comparing starting quarterbacks to NFL greats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This is our annual one-off and non-sports podcast. Jeremy is joined by Matt and Brandon to discuss the 2021 edition of MarchXness and this year's version is the best 64 grunge bands stemming from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The trio go through the bracket, which you all can fill out here. They discuss what songs and bands should not belong and what is missing from the grunge, and why the heck is Weird Al in this group. We sample some songs we may have never knew the names of but certainly knew the song itself. They go through upsets, 12 vs. 5, underdogs and name recognition. They end the show going with their picks and voting for who should be crowned No. 1 of March Pladiness. Voting begins March 1, so get your brackets ready and go vote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy and Jeremy are back to go over the latest news in the Mountain West hoops landscape. The first big piece of news is that the conference has decided to take the off week leading up to the Mountain West tournament to make up a few missed games. The games are not a series like they have been all year but some are playing one game, some are playing two different teams, and Air Force is the only team sitting this out. The rest of the show the two get into the huge series between San Diego State and Boise State, plus Nevada going to Utah State. Those games have a big impact on who can win the conference but also can help or in some cases hurt NCAA at-large chances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Matt are back to talk about Bill C's initial SP+ rankings and our staff's power poll for the first crack at how the 2021 season could look like. The early perception is that the Mountain West is going to be very deep and competitive in 2021. They discuss what teams could surprise and who is overvalued and undervalued among our staff composite poll. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy and Jeremy are back to talk some Mountain West hoops, or really just college basketball with Gonzaga and BYU in the WCC possibly not playing in the conference tournament which could cause some interesting scenarios like would that league still award its automatic bid to the conference tournament champion without its two best teams? That is when things get weird if that happens and bids are stolen. How would the Mountain West handle this if say San Diego State or the highest rated NET team did this? They do discuss the Jalen Johnson news about if he really quit or opted out of a season during a pandemic, it can be both. There is one big series this week with Boise State taking on Utah State and we are bummed that Colorado State and Nevada series is not going to be played this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Matt are back after a little break to talk about some college football and specifically the return of EA Sports bringing back the video game and we discuss what we want to see in the game. We also bring on Michael Katz who covers Wyoming for WyoSports.net to discuss the new hire of Tim Polasek who comes in from Iowa to be the offensive coordinator to replace Brent Vigen who left to become the head coach at Montana State. The main question is how different the offense will be and if it will be better and take this team to a different level of offense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy and Jeremy are back to discuss the latest in Mountain West hoops. It starts with actual breaking news about New Mexico vs. Colorado State game getting postponed for Tuesday night and also. the Thursday game as well. This is another series that the Lobos are not playing and it is impacting the rest of their season, and others. They get into Nevada becoming a darkhorse contender and how Boise State is good but not great. Why is San Diego State getting praise from the advanced numbers? Finally, they discuss a few too many ways to make the Mountain West tournament different and unique. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Andy are back talking about Mountain West hoops and the big story is that New Mexico decided to not play their games this week vs. San Diego State and it is possible they shut it down for the rest of the season and no one would blame them. Also, will there be alternate conference tournaments and if so what will they be? Finally, they run through the power rankings and give thoughts on each of the 11 Mountain West teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Andy are back to talk about the latest Mountain West power rankings by the MWWire.com staff, NCAA tournament travel guidelines and some of the big results of the past week. The biggest one came Monday night when UNLV upset Utah State, 59-56, and in a performance that saw both teams shoot 32% from the field. They also discuss if New Mexico's Paul Weir should be let go at the end of the year after its loss to San Jose State and its tough year to date. The two try to predict next week's top four and it could be interesting as Boise State and Colorado State are facing off against each other this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Matt are back and they go over the first-year coaches and the grades our staff handed out for the six first-timers in the league. The two differ quite a bit about the grades due to the uniqueness of the COVID-19 season. They also discuss some early NFL Draft talk and how the All-Star games will be this year with some having games and others only practices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week it is Jeremy, Andy and Larry Muniz (@HardwoodTalk) on the podcast to discuss the past week in Mountain West play. We get up close with New Mexico as that is one of Larry's team to figure out what is going on with the Lobos this year. What teams are really forgettable Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt and Jeremy discuss the rumors/reports of San Diego State and Boise State having conversations with the American. The two discuss if that is really a viable option for both schools; San Diego State's AD calls it a "non-story" and it seems that the AAC would only be interested in football. They also get into New Mexico's Danny Gonzales getting offers to be a Power 5 defensive coordinator job and players return for another year from New Mexico and Nevada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy and Jeremy go through the weekly power poll to discuss each Mountain West team from 11 to No. 1 and give thoughts on those teams. There is an argument or at least a discussion about who should be No. 1 between San Diego State and Boise State. Also, where does Colorado State and Nevada fit in within the rankings? Plus, is the Mountain West a three-bid league? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Matt are back to talk some big picture Mountain West football. They first dive into the hire of Andy Avalos to be the next Boise State head coach and also some of the key returners back this season. They then discuss what they really liked, didn't like, surprises, and any changes the two would have made regarding the 2020 Mountain West football season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Andy are back to take a look at some of the more notable Mountain West basketball items over the past week. They start with the NET rating that is good to the Mountain West with three teams in the top 50, but it is puzzling for how Boise State is a top 15. The whole NET rating system has very little transparency so the two just guess for how teams are really ranked. They run through the Mountain West Wire power rankings and try to figure out how good Colorado State is going to be once the season is over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and Matt are back to recap the Arizona Bowl which saw San Jose State dropping its only game of the year to Ball State. The Spartans were without five starters and both of their coordinators for undisclosed reasons. The first quarter was bad and it was too much to overcome a 27-point deficit. They also get into key players back and transferring through the league. Then they get into the four candidates that Boise State is reportedly interviewing for the head coaching job. Jeff Choate and Andy Avalos have been talked about a lot, but the two new names are USC's offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and Florida's offensive coordinator Brian Johnson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices