Best and worst of the Mountain West Conference

By Rob Miech

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Coach of the year: Lon Kruger, UNLV

This took a lot of pondering.

Dave Rose at Brigham Young did a stellar job, but the Cougars were favored anyway.

Steve Alford pumped up the fans in his first year at New Mexico, but he whines too much about the league tournament being played in Las Vegas. Play in one, coach, before you go to that card.

Yet it’s tough to argue with the Mountain West Conference panel, which selected Kruger. He had a tough enough task when he lost four starters, and five valuable seniors, from last season’s Sweet 16 squad.

Toss in the fact that he essentially kicked three other players off his team this season and the challenge seemed daunting.

Yet UNLV won 23 games and is poised to return to the NCAAs even if it doesn’t win the conference tournament crown this week.

Rebels athletic director Mike Hamrick should be working on a rollover contract, common with elite coaches at top-flight programs across the country, to lock Kruger up for life.

MVP: Wink Adams, UNLV

Where would the Rebels be without the 6-foot junior spitfire from Houston?

Down in the other half of the league, that’s where.

Attrition zapped the program this season, leaving 6-7 junior Joe Darger — a swingman, at best — to defend centers in the post and a shooting guard, Curtis Terry, to play the point.

This is basically a playground team of shooting guards. But that’s not a negative, because the way they trap and rotate on defense is a testament to Kruger.

They’d better hit their 3-pointers, too, to win, and that’s where Adams is so vital. He’s playing with what he thinks is a broken right index finger, but he’ll tend to it in the offseason.

In the meantime, he has some work to do to defend his team’s conference tournament title.

Best duel: Brandon Ewing vs. Wink Adams at UNLV, Jan. 23

Ewing poured in four 3-pointers during a short run in the first half and finished with 26 points, but Adams answered with a career-best 33 in the Rebels’ 78-71 victory against Wyoming at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Streaking

New Mexico senior guard J.R. Giddens has hit double figures in scoring in his past 10 games, the best streak in the league entering the tournament.

In addition, Giddens leads all conference players with nine double-doubles (double-digit points and rebounds in the same game) this season.

Look-alikes

We already tabbed Wyoming boss Heath Schroyer as “Joey” from the TV show “Friends.” On Saturday, while watching Utah coach Jim Boylen, it was just as easy to pin his alter ego — “Al Bundy,” played by Ed O’Neill in “Married with Children.”

Boylen was animated and boisterous as he prowled in front of his bench at the Thomas & Mack Center. He’d crouch, like a third-base baseball coach, to home in on the action.

But we expected more.

Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely that the Cowboys and the Utes will meet in the tournament this week. They can play each other only if both reach the final.

But Joey vs. Al showdowns promise to be eventful in the future.

Recently, Boylen didn’t appreciate Wyoming forward Joseph Taylor’s dunk at the end of a game in Laramie, and Boylen exchanged words with Schroyer.

Leave it to Wyoming to replace the wild and crazy Steve McClain with Schroyer, who brings to mind “Lunatic Fringe” by Red Rider with his courtside antics.

A mile low

Colorado State’s men’s and women’s teams have the dubious distinction of not winning a conference game this season.

No other school in the country has done that this decade.

First-year Rams coach Tim Miles said that’s not what he had in mind when he talked about making history. Too often, he fielded only seven healthy players this season.

Look for both CSU teams to make quick exits this week from Las Vegas.