Aztecs' Sweet 16 run good for MWC

Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said San Diego State's run speaks volumes about what the league is capable of.

By Scott Nulph

snulph@wyosports.net

DENVER - The nine Mountain West Conference teams spend each season beating up on each other. But when it comes to the postseason, everybody's a fan of everybody.

Six MWC teams made the postseason last year - San Diego State and TCU in the NCAA tournament, and Wyoming, Brigham Young, Utah and New Mexico in the WNIT.

While the Wyoming and BYU advanced to a third-round showdown in the WNIT, SDSU was making a run to the Sweet 16 in the Big Dance by beating Texas and West Virginia.

Anytime an MWC team can make that kind of national splash, it's a good thing for the league.

"It's tremendous for the conference to have San Diego State make that run, because every night everyone's talking about the Mountain West Conference, along with San Diego State and what they're getting done," University of Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. "It speaks volumes about what this league can accomplish."

Rivalry renewed?

There was plenty of talk Tuesday during the MWC men's basketball media day about scheduling and whether the remaining MWC teams will schedule Utah and BYU next year.

Legerski, good friends with both BYU coach Jeff Judkins and Utah interim coach Anthony Levrets, said it's simply a matter of if the Utes and Cougars would be willing to do a home-and-home.

"The thing with scheduling and the approach that we take is, if you're willing to come to Laramie, we're willing to play you," Legerski said. "That sometimes seems to be the sticking point with some teams out there."

Legerski added that there's not much thought right now to this being the last year for Utah and BYU in the MWC.

"The biggest thing I think about is we're still all in this league together this year," he said. "My thought process is on getting though this season. It may be a little different when we have our meetings next year when you don't see BYU and Utah here. That's when it will sink in a little more."

Filling in

Some might think Levrets is in a tough situation this year, filling in as head coach while legendary coach Elaine Elliott takes a year's leave of absence to figure out if she's going to retire.

Levrets, however, isn't among them.

"Elaine has built an incredible program, and I just feel honored to be the head coach this year," Levrets said. "I'm just happy I don't have to play against her. We're just trying to get our team better. We're so young, with 11 freshmen and sophomores. There's enough of that to worry about without worrying about her lore."

Levrets added he has no inclination about the way Elliott is leaning.

The Utes are headed for the Pac-10 next season.

Century mark

The MWC returns four 1,000-point scorers this season.

Wyoming's Aubrey Vandiver, TCU's Helena Sverrisdottir, SDSU's Paris Johnson and Air Force's Raimee Beck all eclipsed the scoring milestone last year.

UW's Hillary Carlson begins the season just 87 points short of 1,000.