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Mountain West Basketball: Colorado State Predicted To Finish 4th, Air Force 5th By Media

The Mountain West basketball media days are underway and the media predicts Colorado State to finish fourth and Air Force to finish fifth.

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The Mountain West held its conference media day for basketball on Wednesday and the league is entering a new era with new teams and departing ones. The Utah Utes and BYU Cougars are no longer in the league and the Boise St. Broncos are the the newest team.

On the men's side the New Mexico Lobos are the overwhelming favorite by garnering 22-of-26 first place votes with the UNLV Rebels getting the other four first place votes. The Colorado St. Rams are predicted to finish fourth and the Air Force Falcons are a mild surprise to be predicted to finish fifth in the league, however the difference between Colorado State and Air Force is a large margin.

Here is the complete preseason predictions and all-conference side:

2011-12 PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
Rk. School (First-Place Votes Pts.
1. New Mexico (22) 203
2. UNLV (4) 183
3. San Diego State 158
4. Colorado State 119
5. Air Force 78
6. Wyoming 68
7. TCU 64
8. Boise State 63

 

2011-12 MOUNTAIN WEST PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Name Class Position Institution
Oscar Bellfield Sr. G UNLV
Drew Gordon Sr. F New Mexico
Chace Stanback Sr. G/F UNLV
Hank Thorns Sr. G TCU
Kendall Williams So. G New Mexico
Preseason Player of the Year
Drew Gordon, Sr., F, New Mexico
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Xavier Thames, So., G, San Diego State
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Hugh Greenwood, G, New Mexico


While none of the Air Force or Colorado State men's players made the preseason all-conference team, however on the women's side Air Force forward Dymond James is the first lady Falcon to be named to preseason honors in their history in the Mountain West. Not to be outdone, Colorado State's Kim Mestdagh was named as the preseason player of the year. As for team predictions Colorado State gained one first place vote and is predicted to finish third with Air Force predicted to finish eighth.