Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

UNLV picked in bottom half of MWC preseason basketball poll

Rebels Practice with New Coach

Wade Vandervort

Rebel basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger is interviewed by media at Mendenhall Center at the UNLV campus, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019.

One thing T.J. Otzelberger won’t have to worry about in his first season as UNLV head coach is runaway expectations, as his Rebels were picked to finish seventh in the preseason Mountain West poll released on Tuesday.

Utah State was tabbed as the preseason favorite, claiming all 17 first-place votes from the league media.

The results, with total points:

Utah State (187)

San Diego State (150)

New Mexico (141)

UNR (135)

Boise State (128)

Fresno State (103)

UNLV (89)

Air Force (76)

Colorado State (59)

Wyoming (36)

San Jose State (17)

UNLV was picked sixth in the league heading into the 2018-19 season under Marvin Menzies, and ended up going 11-7 in conference play and finishing fifth in the standings. Menzies was fired after the Rebels dropped their matchup with San Diego State in the first round of the Mountain West tournament.

The reason for the Rebels’ low standing in the eyes of the voters is simple—they don’t think UNLV has many good players. The league also released its preseason all-conference team on Tuesday, and no Runnin’ Rebels made the cut.

Utah State senior guard Sam Merrill was chosen as the preseason Player of the Year, and his Aggies teammate Neemias Queta was chosen to the All-MWC team.

The full squad:

Derrick Alston, G, Boise State

Sam Merrill, G, Utah State

Lavelle Scottie, F, Air Force

Nico Carvacho, F, Colorado State

Neemias Queta, C, Utah State

Player of the Year: Merrill

Newcomer of the Year: Malachai Flynn, San Diego State

Freshman of the Year: K.J. Hymes, UNR

UNLV will open its season with an exhibition game against West Coast Baptist College on Oct. 25. The regular-season opener is Nov. 5 against Purdue Fort Wayne at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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