Bern’s-Eye View: Boise State should sweep the major Mountain West awards

By Taylor Bern

Sunday, March 8, 2015 | 1 p.m.

This was probably the easiest postseason ballot to put together in my four years covering UNLV and the Mountain West.

There are certainly some debates to be had, especially when you get down to the third team or a couple of the lesser awards, but overall I feel more confident than usual in defending each position. I’ll say up top that some might not like leaving UNLV freshman Rashad Vaughn off the teams completely, but to me, missing the final seven league games makes you look closer at judging his value to the team and Pat McCaw’s ability to fill in that scoring role more efficiently than Vaughn while remaining a superior two-way player makes him, I believe, more deserving.

The Mountain West coaches voted in May to remove media from postseason voting, so none of this actually has an impact, but if it did, here’s how I would vote:

FIRST TEAM

G — Derrick Marks, Sr, Boise State

F — JJ O’Brien, Sr, San Diego State

F — Christian Wood, So, UNLV

F — Larry Nance Jr., Sr, Wyoming

F — J.J. Avila, Sr, Colorado State

Last year I didn’t put Nance on the first team because I felt he missed too many conference games (seven) to earn that. This year his four-game absence because of mononucleosis was the beginning of Wyoming’s downfall, but it was only enough to take him out of Player of the Year considerations.

Avila and Nance were the only two I had on both my preseason and postseason first teams. My other preseason guys were Boise State’s Anthony Drmic, San Diego State’s Winston Shepard and Colorado State’s Daniel Bejarano. Marks more than made up for the absence of Anthony Drmic, my preseason Player of the Year, O’Brien proved more valuable overall than Shepard, and Wood’s production — second in rebounds and blocks, fifth in points and field-goal percentage, sixth in free-throw percentage, 10th in minutes played — can’t be denied despite UNLV’s seventh-place finish.

SECOND TEAM

G — Marvelle Harris, Jr, Fresno State

G/F — Jalen Moore, So, Utah State

F — Winston Shepard, Jr, San Diego State

F — James Webb III, So, Boise State

F — AJ West, Jr, UNR

There’s no bigger reason for Utah State’s ascension from preseason pick to finish 10th to a tie for fourth than sophomore Moore, who averaged 15 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while rocking the best afro in the league. Likewise, Webb’s emergence — his first start was the first game Drmic missed — was the biggest reason Boise State was able to claim a league title that included a sweep against co-champion San Diego State.

THIRD TEAM

G — Aqeel Quinn, Sr, San Diego State

G — Hugh Greenwood, Sr, New Mexico

G — Daniel Bejarano, Sr, Colorado State

G — Pat McCaw, Fr, UNLV

F — David Collette, Fr, Utah State

No coach in the league is looking forward to game planning to stop McCaw and Collette for the next three years. None.

Player of the Year: Marks

The past three years at Wyoming will always be remembered for what could have been had injuries, illness and a bar fight not limited the team's potential. Meanwhile, Marks developed from a mostly inefficient volume shooter to a dominant offensive player and the best closer in the league.

O’Brien has some supporters, including UNLV coach Dave Rice, but this is clearly Marks’ award.

Freshman of the Year: Collette

Good luck finding someone buying more stock in UNLV’s McCaw than me, but Collette deserves recognition for being a huge reason Utah State was able to surpass all expectations this season.

Sixth Man of the Year: John Gillon, Colorado State

It’s got to be comfortable for Larry Eustachy to go to his bench and bring in the league’s leading assist man, who also has the league’s third-best free-throw percentage.

Newcomer of the Year: Webb

It’s going to be very interesting to see what Webb, who sat out last season after playing a year at North Idaho College, does as the Broncos’ best player and the focal point of opposing teams’ scouting reports. In league play this year he averaged 11.9 points and nine rebounds per game while shooting 44.9 percent beyond the arc and grabbing 1.4 steals per game.

Defensive Player of the Year: Shepard

This honor has to go to someone on the San Diego State team, which has one of the nation’s best defenses, and Shepard’s versatility makes him as good a candidate as anyone.

Coach of the Year: Leon Rice

He might still be best remembered in Las Vegas for that dance, but I prefer to think of what it took to win the league after losing your best player (Drmic) seven games in and starting the league 0-3. Retiring Utah State coach Stew Morrill also deserves consideration, but this clearly belongs to the coach (Rice) who most earned his offseason raise.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.