Though it’s still early in the Mountain West face-offs with 5-6 games in, a general compare and contrast of the entirety of the conference seems about right at this juncture with most teams showing who and what they are and will be.
Idealistically, we ultimately want enough of our teams to get recognized nationally and at least a few of our teams to get asked to the dance. Realistically, only our top tier have a clear chance.
Typically, in the pre-season and based on the previous season, the upper and lower tiers of any conference, or league at this level and above, are mathematically and observationally “easier” to rank and predict than the glut of mid-section teams with more similar stats, players and records, which is the case here with all of the above for the Mountain West.