The Mountain West was looking for some signature wins only a few weeks ago. Now they are flush with huge wins after UNLV and Utah did the conference proud by knocking off No. 18 Louisville and No. 16 Gonzaga respectively. Even though some geniuses didn't believe that it could be done.The Runnin' Rebels were mighty impressive, knocking off the host Cardinals, 56-55, without star guard Wink Adams. Oscar Bellfield hit the winner with 14.2 seconds left and fittingly, it was UNLV's defense that sealed the win. The Runnin' Rebels used a strong defense to stifle the Cardinals for most of the afternoon. Though, the ESPN announcers would never admit that. They were too busy claiming that Louisville was having an "off-night." Yes, that tends to happen when an inspired opponent is harrassing your every shot.
I also have a theory that teams missing a star player can always rise to the occassion. At least for one game. And that's why it looked like on Wednesday. When you are missing one of your stars, you tend to make that extra pass and become reallly dilligent on defense. That's not to say that the Rebels certainly won't welcome Wink back on Saturday against New Mexico.
Utah also used a strong defense to down Gonzaga, 66-65. The Runnin' Utes held the Bulldogs to only 2-of-13 shooting (15 percent) from 3-point range. Luke Nevill was nearly unstoppable down low, scoring 15 points. Nevill was able to get loose down low, and shot 10 free throws. There seemed to be a lot of reaching and sloppy defense. Gonzaga might have thought it could sleep walk against Utah, but that wasn't to be. Matt Boldin nearly bailed them out with a last-second shot, but it wasn't to be.
Of course, people will start questioning Gonzaga. But Utah is a tough place to play. You have to straddle the line between giving Utah the credit it deserves, but also question Gonzaga's motivation in this game. The Bulldogs didn't play their best game, but you have to give the Utes credit for that.
Overall, it was a great day for the Mountain West. This conference wants to become a serious, multiple-bid conference and this was a great day for that. UNLV should be in the Top 25 next week and is -- unless something major happens -- a lock for the tournament. Utah has some nice wins that will look good on its tournament resume if they can keep winning during the Mountain West conference season.
An aside for Gonzaga, so much for being the top seed in the West. They don't have leeway for letdown during conference play.
