Utah State head coach Ryan Odom looks on against the Colorado State during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, in Fort Collins, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
In the 2022-23 Mountain West preseason poll, the voters picked Utah State to finish eighth of the 11 teams in the conference.
San Diego State was picked to win the conference, garnering 16 of the 20 first-place votes. Wyoming came in at second with the other four, followed in order by Boise State, Colorado State and New Mexico to round out the top five (it may be worth noting that ballots were due prior to the release of the news that Colorado State star guard Isaiah Stevens is likely to miss the season with an injury so the voters couldn’t have taken it into account on their ballots).
Utah State has been picked seventh or lower just three times in its prior nine seasons in the conference. Each time the Aggies were picked that low, they exceeded those expectations, often drastically. In 2014 USU was picked 10th (the lowest it’s ever been picked) and finished fourth; and, in 2018 the Aggies were picked to finish ninth but won a share of the regular season title and won the conference tournament. On the only other occasion, 2017, Utah State was picked to finish eighth but finished seventh.
Eighth place is the most common finish for Utah State since joining the conference, though it hasn’t finished that low since 2016. The Aggies have finished either seventh or eighth five times in their nine MW seasons. USU finished seventh last season in head coach Ryan Odom’s first year as head coach of the team.
Here is the full list of the order of finish.
- San Diego State (16) – 216
- Wyoming (4) – 204
- Boise State – 166
- Colorado State – 156
- New Mexico 136
- UNLV – 110
- Fresno State – 101
- Utah State – 96
- Nevada – 73
- San Jose State – 35
- Air Force – 27
The Mountain West also released its preseason accolades. No Utah State players were honored in any of the categories. Wyoming’s Graham Ike was named preseason Player of the Year, San Diego State’s Darrion Trammell was given Newcomer of the Year, and Fresno State’s Joseph Hunter got Freshman of the Year.
Of those players with accolades, Ike was the only one to make the preseason All-MW team and was joined by teammate Hunter Maldonado. Stevens of Colorado State also made it onto the team as did Jamal Mashburn of New Mexico and Matt Bradley of San Diego State.
