Coaching, player changes have MWC in flux

LITTLETON, Colo. — Once friendly rivals in the Big Ten, New Mexico coach Steve Alford and UNLV coach Lon Kruger are crossing paths again in the Mountain West Conference.

"I’ve always respected this league a great deal," Alford said.

He is familiar with Kruger, but the Lobos’ new coach showed up Wednesday at the conference’s basketball media day unprepared to offer a scouting report on the Mountain West.

"I don’t know any of these players. I don’t know who’s got who back and who’s good," Alford said. "Half the league is uncertain, so it’s got to be pretty difficult to figure out where to place teams at this point."

With five new coaches and all five first-team all-conference players gone from a year ago, the Mountain West is a mystery to most.

Brigham Young was picked in a media poll to repeat as the regular-season champion. The Cougars, who return two starters, received 15 of 22 first-place votes.

The Rebels, who lost five seniors from a 30-7 team that won the conference tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, are predicted to finish second in the nine-team league.

"I think in a transition year like this is — we’ve had so many new coaches and some of the top teams from a year ago lost so many good players — that it is wide open," BYU coach Dave Rose said.

Kruger called it "unusual" that more than half of the league’s coaches were replaced in one year. That fact also makes the conference unpredictable.

"This year is a little bit different because of all the unknowns," Kruger said.

Alford, who left a contentious situation at Iowa after eight years, is the most well-known new coach. He inherits perhaps the league’s most talented and troubled player, senior guard J.R. Giddens.

There also were coaching changes at Air Force (Jeff Reynolds), Colorado State (Tim Miles), Utah (Jim Boylen) and Wyoming (Heath Schroyer).

"It’s an exciting time because the five new guys, it’s good beginnings for all of us," Alford said. "The other four guys kind of get a fresh start, too, because they’re competing against five new faces. I think it’s healthy for the entire league, but you don’t want this kind of turnover every year, obviously."

Giddens was voted to the Mountain West’s first team, along with BYU junior forward Trent Plaisted, Utah junior center Luke Nevill, Wyoming junior guard Brandon Ewing and UNLV junior guard Wink Adams.

The Rebels, predicted to finish sixth last season, return only one starter in Adams.

"Everybody lost some key players and coaches, and that’s going to affect the outcome of the league," UNLV senior Curtis Terry said. "It’s going to be a toss-up.

"We’ve got a lot of talent coming back, and with the new guys, we can not only back up that second-place pick but hopefully go out and win the league."

San Diego State, picked in a fourth-place tie with New Mexico, lost the conference’s all-time scoring leader in guard Brandon Heath.

The Aztecs’ Steve Fisher, in his ninth year, is the Mountain West’s longest-tenured coach.

"I’ve seen us picked from seventh to second, and we could probably finish anywhere in there," said Fisher, who thinks six teams have a shot to win the title. "Last year was the strongest the league has been since I’ve been in it.

"Five new coaches make it obviously different. We’re all preparing for change. You would think that change will bring about uncertainty."

Rose is entering his third year at BYU. Before his first season, the Cougars were picked ninth and finished second. So preseason predictions mean little to him.

But some of the offseason coaching changes did disappoint him.

"There are pros and cons on both sides of that," Rose said. "I miss (Wyoming’s) Steve McClain and (Colorado State’s) Dale Layer, guys I consider good friends. So you kind of have mixed feelings."