We’re two days into college basketball season, which means every loading dock, every convention center, and every CCD class that hasn’t started yet is abuzz with the same question:
Who’s going to win the 2026 NIT?
To answer that, though, we must first answer a different question.
If mountains are tall, why isn’t the Mountain West better at basketball?
It started on Monday, when 2025 College Basketball Crown participant Boise State fell to a Division II school named Hawaii Pacific. It was the Broncos’ most devastating loss since Taco Bell didn’t renew their arena’s naming rights, and in the aftermath, analysts were quick to share that Hawaii Pacific is in Honolulu, that Hawaii Pacific is named the Sharks, and that Hawaii Pacific exists in an old shopping center called the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Analysts were also quick to point out that Boise State played in the 2025 College Basketball Crown, just like Washington State, who lost to Idaho in Pullman as a massive favorite.
Last night, the Mountain West’s situation got worse.
I absolutely love UNLV’s first word about its own loss being “shorthanded.” And it’s fair! They were shorthanded! How about you try winning a basketball game without 2025 NIT fan favorite Myles Che?
Yes, the shorthanded Runnin’ Rebels fell to UT Martin in the season opener. UT Martin’s Division I, but, well…Division I’s gotten pretty big lately. In the projections of one Ken Pomeroy, UT Martin is currently expected to finish 9–11 in the Ohio Valley Conference.* That would put UT Martin two games behind Southeast Missouri State and Southern Indiana for fourth place.
We feel for UNLV. We really do. New head coach Josh Pastner is an NIT legend and a ball of joy and delight, someone who appreciates the beauty in beautiful things and is full of unexpected surprises. How unexpected? If you don’t know Josh Pastner, picture somebody whose every move conveys an expectation that they will pull a Magic 8-Ball® out of their pocket and ask it where to eat lunch. That is Josh Pastner. And yet—and here’s the unexpected surprise part—nobody has ever seen Josh Pastner pull a Magic 8-Ball® out of his pocket and ask it where to eat lunch. Every cell in his body screams, “Magic 8-Ball® lunch consultation!” Yet there is no Magic 8-Ball® lunch consultation to be found. Not yet, anyway.
Anyhoo, there’s been a lot of talk about the Mountain West and elevation and BPI and I just want to say three things.
First, UNLV will be better when the Che/Pastner pairing gets going. Myles Che might not be trustworthy on the basketball court or even all that effective, but he has an incomprehensible amount of swagger. If any fans go to the Thomas & Mack Center before the Mountain West Tournament this year, they’ll be treated to a show.
Second, Boise State should not have played in the Crown. That was a bad idea. The universe is kicking Boise State’s ass right now.
Third, I don’t think the Mountain West sucks. San Diego State’s good. Utah State’s probably good. This was a Boise State problem and a Shorthanded problem. Leave the rest of the conference alone. They should be allowed to celebrate Boise State losing an embarrassing game.
*To be clear: “Expected to finish 9–11 in the Ohio Valley Conference” means UT Martin is expected to finish with nine conference wins and eleven conference losses. We are in no way comparing the realignment departures of Belmont and Murray State to some sort of 9/11 moment for the OVC and saying that UT Martin is going to finish the job. We don’t even know what that would mean.
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