Mountain West men’s basketball rosters are being rebuilt after the conference was detonated by 74 players entering the transfer portal (full portal tracker here). That means only one of the 28 MW players who averaged at least 10 points per game last season is due to return to that same school in 2025-26. Some of the MW schools are in decent shape as they continue to add players from the portal. Here is our “early portal” Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for 2025-26, which will be updated when the rosters are fuller later in the portal offseason.
1. Utah State
Last season: 26-8, 15-5 (third place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s first round)
2025-26 outlook: Utah State potentially returns the only All-MW player in Mason Falslev (15 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.7 apg, 2.3 spg), who thus far has not entered the transfer portal. Keeping him would be a huge coup for coach Jerrod Calhoun, who also stuck around in Logan. Also expected back are Karson Templin (7.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Tucker Anderson (5.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg). Drake Allen (7.0 ppg, 3.8 apg) has eligibility if he wants to use it due to his two junior-college seasons. Falslev is the potential MW preseason player of the year with Templin having All-MW potential and Anderson and Allen starting-caliber players. Utah State has also added Texas A&M-Corpus Christi big man Garry Clark (14.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg). The Aggies are in an enviable position.
2. San Diego State
Last season: 21-10, 14-6 (tied for fourth place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s First Four)
2025-26 outlook: SDSU has finished fifth and fourth in the MW the last two seasons. SDSU is in line for a better placement in 2025-26 with the return of MW freshman and defensive player of the year Magoon Gwath (8.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.6 bpg), who entered the portal before returning. The big question is whether All-MW wing Miles Byrd (12.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.7 apg) stays in the NBA draft. BJ Davis (9.0 ppg), Pharaoh Compton (5.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg), Taj DeGourville (5.1 ppg) and Miles Heide (4.1 ppg) form a strong nucleus of returners (we’ll assume for now Byrd stays in the draft). SDSU also has added Louisiana Tech transfer Sean Newman Jr. (9.9 ppg, 7.9 apg) and ex-Wyoming wing Jeremiah Oden. If Utah State is 1, SDSU is 1-A. It’s close.
3. Boise State
Last season: 26-11, 14-6 (tied for fourth place; lost in College Basketball Crown’s semifinals)
2025-26 outlook: Boise State enters the post-Tyson Degenhart era but should remain a 20-win team and NCAA Tournament contender. The Broncos return Andrew Meadow (12.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg), Javan Buchanan (9.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg), Pearson Carmichael (6.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg), RJ Keene (2.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Julian Bowie (3.9 ppg), barring any late portal entries. Meadow and Buchanan have All-MW potential. Boise State also added Georgetown’s Drew Fielder (7.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and UCLA’s Dylan Andrews (6.9 ppg, 3.4 apg) to help at center and point guard, respectively. That’s a solid seven-player rotation with six starting-caliber players. The only question is who steps into Degenhart’s starting role. But this team is a contender.
4. Colorado State
Last season: 26-10, 16-4 (second place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s second round)
2025-26 outlook: Colorado State elevated assistant coach Ali Farokhmanesh after losing head coach Niko Medved to Minnesota, although that didn’t help the Rams keep their top-two returners, Kyan Evans and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who both hit the portal. Bigs Rashaan Mbemba (7.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg), Kyle Jorgensen (4.0 ppg) and Nikola Djapa (2.4 ppg) are scheduled to return, but that’s about it. Colorado State added some pieces quickly in Marist’s Josh Pascarelli (15.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.3 apg) and Virginia Tech’s Brandon Rechsteiner (7.0 ppg, 2.8 apg) plus former four-star recruits Carey Booth (Illinois) and Jase Butler (Washington). This roster is in decent shape, although a return to the NCAA Tournament will take a lot more work.
5. UNLV
Last season: 18-15, 11-9 (sixth place)
2025-26 outlook: The rest of the teams on this list are more or less in full rebuild mode. UNLV lost its top-10 scorers from last season plus head coach Kevin Kruger, which is not usually a formula for success. The Rebels return only 33 of their 2,285 points from last season, so first-year head coach Josh Pastner has a lot of work ahead. He’s already made some gains with the additions of Illinois’ Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (5.9 ppg), Louisiana Tech’s Al Green (10.2 ppg), Texas-Rio Grande Valley’s Howard Fleming Jr. (12.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.4 apg) and Arizona’s Emmanuel Stephen. That’s a start, but there’s still a full roster to fill as Pastner looks to raise UNLV’s ceiling from the Kruger era.
6. Nevada
Last season: 17-16, 8-12 (seventh place)
2025-26 outlook: Nevada doesn’t return any full-time starters from last year’s seventh-place team but does bring back two rotation players in Gs Tyler Rolison (7.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.0 apg), who started the last eight games of the season, and Chuck Bailey III (2.4 ppg). The Wolf Pack added Fresno State transfer Elijah Price (10.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.3 spg, 1.3 bpg), one of the MW’s top returning players, just on a different team. Nevada also got a commitment from top JuCo guard Vaughn Weems, who averaged 26.7 ppg at North Idaho College. Rolison, Price and Weems gives Nevada three probable starters with more work to be done. Compared to other schools, the Wolf Pack is in solid shape but needs more talent, especially shooting.
7. New Mexico
Last season: 27-8, 17-3 (first place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s second round)
2025-26 outlook: With 13 players in the transfer portal, New Mexico returns zero points from last season. Utah State won the MW regular-season title in 2024 after suffering the same fate under then-coach Danny Sprinkle, but that’s usually an anomaly. So, first-year head coach Eric Olen has a major rebuild after the Lobos won their first MW regular-season title since 2013 last year. He’s bringing at least two players with him from UC San Diego in Chris Howell (5.6 ppg) and Milos Vicentic. The top transfer addition so far has been USC’s Kevin Patton Jr., who averaged almost 10 points per game as a freshman at San Diego. New Mexico has three rotation players. Now, it needs to get find six or seven more.
8. Wyoming
Last season: 12-20, 5-15 (ninth place)
2025-26 outlook: Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks got the Cowboys job in the middle of May last season, so he didn’t have a real chance of building a strong roster. He’s got more time this season, but there’s still rebuilding ahead. Wyoming lost star G Obi Agbim (17.6 ppg, 3.4 apg, 3.2 rpg) to Baylor, although Kobe Newton (7.3 ppg), Cole Henry (6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg), Touko Tainamo (5.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and Matija Belic (5.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg) all have returning eligibility and have not entered the transfer portal yet. Wyoming will need to find some star-level players to continue to push up the MW standings, but there’s a talent base to work with. The Cowboys have added Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Damarion Dennis (6.7 ppg).
9. San Jose State
Last season: 15-20, 7-13 (eighth place)
2025-26 outlook: SJSU losing its best players is a tale as old as time. The Spartans’ top-four returning scorers all hit the portal in Will McClendon (12 ppg), Latrell Davis (11.1 ppg), Robert Vaihola (7.5 ppg) and Sadaidriene Hall (6.8 ppg). The means the Spartans’ top-eight scorers will depart the program and leaves Jermaine Washington (4.4 ppg) as the top returning scorer. Tim Miles is a good coach and gets the most out of his talent, but it’s yet another season starting from scratch after SJSU returned only two players who scored points for the team entering last year. The Spartans are yet to get a portal commitment.
10. Air Force
Last season: 4-28, 1-19 (11th place)
2025-26 outlook: Air Force had the worst season in program history and now loses some of its top returning players with Luke Kearney (8.9 ppg), Kyle Marshall (6.9 ppg) and Will Cooper (5.3 ppg) entering the portal. Also gone are program stalwarts Ethan Taylor (13.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.5 apg), Jeffrey Mills (5.5 ppg) and Beau Becker following graduations. Wesley Celichowski (8.7 ppg) and Caleb Walker (6.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg) return, so there are at least two pieces to work with unlike the next team.
11. Fresno State
Last season: 6-26, 2-18 (10th place)
2025-26 outlook: Fresno State has lost a MW-high 12 players to the transfer portal, which might not be the worst thing given the disaster that was last season, on the court and off it with the betting scandal. But I don’t see how the Bulldogs build a winning team next season given the situation. And Vance Wahlberg enters his second season as head coach in need of a vast improvement in 2025-26 to get a third year. The Bulldogs have not yet added a player from the portal.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.
