Eighth-ranked Brigham Young University won what was arguably the biggest game in Mountain West Conference history on Jan. 26 against San Diego State in Provo, Utah. 

The 71-58 battle in Provo was SDSU’s first conference loss of the season and a game in which senior point guard Jimmer Fredette furthered his NCAA Player of the Year candidacy. BYU’s record is now 21-2 overall and 6-2 in the Mountain West after Wednesday’s victory over the Cowboys. Their lone conference loss was on Saturday against New Mexico. Nevertheless, they still have a better record than, that’s right, Duke University.

BYU represented well in MWC preseason polls, specifically via Fredette. As a team they were picked to finish second in the conference and Fredette was chosen as Preseason Player of the Year, what now seems to be the obvious outcome, and was also selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Even more impressive is that the point guard was named to the Associated Press Preseason All-America team. Fredette is living up to those expectations and then some. He currently leads the nation in scoring with 27.6 points per game and is shooting 90 percent from the charity stripe prior to the cougars’ game against Wyoming on Wednesday.

BYU head coach Dave Rose doesn’t underestimate what his star point guard does for his squad. “Jimmer’s got a great basketball IQ and a great feel. 

“He’s got a good understanding of how to lead this group of guys and he’s got a great backcourt mate in Jackson Emery who can do the same thing,” Rose said in a league-wide teleconference last week.

Rose knows that what the Cougars are doing this season is special but realizes that they need to keep winning games. 

“What we have here with our players and our coaching staff this year is pretty unique. Everywhere we’ve been we’ve had great crowds,” Rose said. “We’ve played a lot of games outside of our building and at some points maybe even played a little bit better outside of our building. I can tell you this, winning games with a group of guys like this is pretty enjoyable at this point and hopefully we can keep it going.”

The way BYU is playing may garner a No. 1 or No. 2 seed come NCAA Tournament time. Remember a few years ago when star point guard Stephen Curry and 10^th seeded Davidson went all the way to the Elite Eight and lost to Kansas by two points? 

BYU certainly won’t be a 10-seed but Fredette and the Cougars may be reminiscent of Curry and Davidson when the madness of March is upon us.

The San Diego State Aztecs have also seen their fair share of success this season. Despite the loss to BYU, the Aztecs are off to their best start in team history. For the first time in school history, SDSU was ranked in the preseason Associated Press poll and was ranked seventh in the same poll before Wednesday’s game against Colorado State. Their record after their win over Colorado State on Wednesday is now 22-1 overall and 7-1 in the Mountain West. 

After a third place finish in the MWC standings and a MWC championship crown last season, San Diego State was selected to win the conference, with 21 first-place votes in the MWC preseason media poll. Two Aztecs, senior forward Malcolm Thomas and sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard, were selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team. 

Leonard is the reigning MWC Freshman of the Year and is averaging a double-double so far on the season with 15.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. 

He is the only player in the conference who is averaging a double-double this season and is also the first Mountain West freshman ever to receive first-team all-Conference accolades, according to the MWC.

Aztecs head coach Steve Fisher has been coaching this team for 12 seasons now. He built the program from the ground up, going 5-23 overall and 0-14 in the MWC to having more than 20 wins in seven of his last 11 seasons.

The accomplished coach gave some perspective on this season’s team last week in the same league-wide teleconference. “We’ve never been rated before in the history of the school going into the year in the AP Poll. We said let’s see if we’re still there in early December. We were and we’ve continued to be there and climb and we’re proud of that. We have San Diego abuzz. I got a call from one of our administrators who said at 7 a.m. this morning there was a line 1,500 deep of students to get tickets for the Wyoming game,” Fisher said.

Fisher emphasized the fact that he wants his players to take pride in what they’ve done this season because it may not happen again. “We’ve created tremendous buzz and excitement in our own community and we’re proud of that fact. We told our players, embrace it, be proud of it. It doesn’t happen very often, if ever. We’ve said enjoy it but don’t lose sight of the ball. We got here because we prepared well and played well and we’ve got to continue to do that.”

The long-time Aztec coach has been with the program through thick and thin since the 1999-2000 season. He reflected on how far the team has come since then. 

“We thought we had an opportunity to build a program, and we’ve done that. We’ve won over 20 games now for six straight years. We’re very proud of that fact. It’s well documented that we’ve never won a game in the NCAA Tournament in the history of San Diego State in NCAA Division I,” Fisher said. “We’ve got a lot more work to do, but we thought we could compete for a conference championship and we have been able to do that. We weren’t very good when we got here and we’re good now and we want to stay good. We’ve got a gorgeous arena that’s as nice as any in the country and it’s been a phenomenal selling point.” 

It has been well documented and discussed that Mountain West teams generally don’t receive the national attention they seemingly deserve. 

Thanks to the performances of BYU and SDSU this season that attention has increased and will continue to increase with every win they tally. 

With these two teams playing the way they are, get ready for some bracket-busting.

Email:  Zach Greubel