Aztecs are pride of MWC

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006 | 7:15 a.m.

After calling San Diego State's convincing victory over UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday, ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb said the Mountain West Conference will be a one-team league in the NCAA tournament.

Unless San Diego State (18-7, 11-2 in the conference) or Air Force (21-5, 9-4) win the rest of their games. Those programs are first and second, respectively, in the Mountain West.

UNLV (14-10, 8-4), pushed back into a spoiler's role, plays Utah (12-12, 5-8) at 7:30 tonight at the Thomas & Mack.

The winner of the Mountain West tournament in Denver next month gets the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

"I feel like San Diego State and Air Force are close," said Gottlieb, a former Notre Dame and Oklahoma State guard. "They both really have to finish strong. San Diego State didn't have any notable nonconference victories, but it's a different team. It's the best team, talentwise.

"The question is, can they win at New Mexico, a place that's nearly impossible to win?"

San Diego State plays at New Mexico on Saturday. Air Force plays host to New Mexico tonight, UNLV visits the academy Saturday and the Falcons finish their regular season at Colorado State.

"San Diego State and Air Force have the two best arguments, Air Force because of its two nonconference wins against (Atlantic Coast Conference) teams Georgia Tech and Miami, and a close loss at Washington, which is seen as a good defeat," Gottlieb said.

"It's like a one-plus league. One (the league tournament victor), but you could easily see it getting two if the right team wins out (and doesn't win the conference tournament). And the right team is San Diego State."

He likes Mike

Umeh's subsequent right-knee surgery, to remove a bone chip, reportedly went well.

"Without Umeh it's a different team," Gottlieb said. "In fairness to coach (Lon) Kruger, you kind of have to enjoy the process of building the thing. The guy's won at Kansas State, Florida and Illinois, so he's gonna win here.

"You have to give him time. If you took (Louis) Amundson off and left Umeh on, I think they'd be a better team, despite the fact that I love Amundson, because you can't play in college basketball without your backcourt."

Villepigue hangs tough

For most of his 20 minutes, Villepigue hounded Marcus Slaughter of the Aztecs. Earlier this season, Slaughter went for 20 points and 20 rebounds in a victory over UNLV in San Diego.

Slaughter had 15 points and three boards last week, and Villepigue had 11 points and seven rebounds. Villepigue said he enjoyed the challenge.

"Especially when you're not starting," he said. "There's something wrong, and you need to step it up. My goal was to go out there and play out of myself. He's a competitive guy ... coaches said we won't let him do what he did to us before."

Free throws

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or at miech@lasvegassun.com.