MWC men’s tournament capsules

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 11:06 a.m.

School: Air Force

Coach: Reggie Minton

Record: 8-19 overall, 4-10 Mountain West Conference

Seed/First round opponent: No. 7/No. 2 Utah

Scoring leader: Jarvis Croff, 16.7 ppg

Rebounding leader: Tom Bellairs, 9.4 rpg

Player to watch: Tyron Wright

Bread & butter: Shooting 3-pointers

Why they could win it all: Well-coached, nothing to lose

Why they probably won't: Not enough firepower

School: BYU

Coach: Steve Cleveland

Record: 18-9, 7-7

Seed/First round: No. 6/No. 3 New Mexico

Scoring leader: Mekeli Wesley, 17.8 ppg

Rebounding leader: Mekeli Wesley, 5.9

Player to watch: Terrell Lyday

Bread & butter: Patient offense, hounding defense

Why they could win it all: Role of underdog suits them well

Why they probably won't: Tough draw

School: Colorado State

Coach: Ritchie McKay

Record: 18-11, 8-6

Seed/First round: No. 4/No. 5 Wyoming

Scoring leader: Ceedric Goodwyn, 17.7

Rebounding leader: Garrett Patik, 5.5

Players to watch: John Sivesind and Aki Palmer

Bread & butter: Led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage

Why they could win it all: Playing well entering tourney and good inside-outside capability

Why they probably won't: If shots don't fall they're in trouble

School: New Mexico

Coach: Fran Fraschilla

Record: 17-12, 9-5

Seed/First round: No. 3/No.6 BYU

Scoring leader: Lamont Long, 18.8 ppg

Rebounding leader: Damion Walker, 6.0 rpg

Players to watch: Wayland White and Kevin Henry

Bread & butter: Shot selection, defense

Why they could win it all: Walker and White could step up to help Long

Why they probably won't: Small inside

School: San Diego State

Coach: Steve Fisher

Record: 5-21, 0-14

Seed/First round: No. 8/No. 1 UNLV

Scoring leader: Myron Epps, 14.5 ppg

Rebounding leader: Marcelo Correa, 6.3 rpg

Player to watch: Bradley Jackson

Bread & butter: Haven't progressed to solid food yet

Why they could win it all: All other teams might stay home

Why they probably won't: Not enough space to list everything

School: UNLV

Coach: Bill Bayno

Record: 20-7, 10-4

Seed/First round: No.1/No. 8 SDSU

Scoring leader: Kaspars Kambala, 18.6 ppg

Rebounding leader: Kaspars Kambala, 9.1 rpg

Players to watch: Mark Dickel, Trevor Diggs and Dalron Johnson

Bread & butter: Up-tempo running game

Why they could win it all: NCAA tournament hopes depend on it, homecourt edge

Why they probably won't: They could have a mental lapse and look too far ahead

School: Utah

Coach: Rick Majerus

Record: 21-7, 10-4

Seed/First round: No. 2/No. 7 Air Force

Scoring leader: Alex Jensen, 13.8 ppg

Rebounding leader: Alex Jensen, 7.5 ppg

Player to watch: Hanno Mottola

Bread & butter: Deliberate half-court game

Why they could win it all: Very deep team

Why they probably won't: Majerus hates conference tourneys

School: Wyoming

Coach: Steve McClain

Record: 18-11, 8-6

Seed/First round: No. 5/No. 4 CSU

Scoring leader: Josh Davis, 14.4 ppg

Rebounding leader: Josh Davis, 8.9 rpg

Players to watch: Anthony Blakes and LaDarion Jones

Bread & Butter: Run the other team off the floor

Why they could win it all: Found successful formula without Ugo Udezue in lineup

Why they probably won't: Went 0-2 vs. CSU

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