New Mexico headlines fantastic foursome in MWC

LAS VEGAS (AP) -It was supposed to be a rebuilding year in the Mountain West Conference.

Instead, the league could land four teams in the NCAA tournament - maybe five if one of the second-tier schools gets especially hot this week at the conference tourney at the Thomas&Mack Center.

The only seniors among the 15 players who made the all-conference squads are forward Roman Martinez of eighth-ranked and top-seeded New Mexico and swingman Jonathan Tavernari of second-seeded BYU.

The Lobos went 28-3 and handed No. 14 BYU (28-4) half of its losses. The third seed is UNLV (23-7) and the fourth seed is San Diego State (22-8).

With so many seniors having left the league after last year, which was widely considered the strongest in its first decade of existence, expectations weren't high for the Mountain West this year.

“I don't think anybody saw this year coming with all the young guys,” New Mexico coach Steve Alford said Wednesday.

Nobody exemplifies the stunning success of this year's MWC teams as much as New Mexico, which was picked to finish fifth in the preseason polls.

Behind Martinez and juniors Dairese Gary and Darington Hobson, the league's newcomer and player of the year, the Lobos went 6-0 against ranked teams, tied a school record for wins and, thanks to a 14-game winning streak, clinched their first conference regular season crown since 1994.

They haven't lost since Jan. 9.

Yet, they've been one-and-done in the MWC tournament four years in a row, the last two under Alford, the league's coach of the year two years running.

“We've talked about it, (but) each team's different,” Alford said. “We've never come here as the No. 1 seed, we've never come here with an RPI of 7 or 28-3, so you can only talk about it so much because the guys look at you and say, 'Oh, that's great but this is a new year, it's a new team.' And this is a conference champion team.

“So, it's a little different demeanor. We come into this tournament knowing we're in the NCAA tournament and knowing we've had a great year, so there's not quite the pressure and the stress we've had the last two years” when they were squarely on the bubble.

Martinez said nerves are no longer an issue with this team, even though it's young, and Hobson said that pressure has been replaced by a quiet confidence.

“Yeah, I think we're going to come in loose and just play our game because there's no pressure. We're already in the (NCAA) tournament,” Hobson said. “But we can't relax on that and just sit back and say, 'We're going to the NCAA tournament, so these games don't really matter.' We're competitors and we're going to compete every game and really try to win this championship to get a high seed.”

Hobson, a junior college transfer from the College of Eastern Utah, is from Las Vegas, but he's not looking at this tournament as any sort of homecoming.

“It's just another road game. It's all business. I don't really pay attention to me coming home to play. It really doesn't matter,” he insisted.

So, how many family and friends will be packing the Thomas&Mack Center to see him play?

“I don't know. I turn my phone off when I come here,” Hobson explained. “I'm pretty sure they'll be here, but I don't talk to any of them.”

He hopes not to check his messages until Saturday night, either.

“Holding the trophy and we walk off the court, then I'll turn the phone back on,” he said with a smile. “But right now I'm just trying to stay focused on what we're trying to do here.”

While the NCAA tournament selection committee might know how tough this conference is, Hobson isn't so sure hoops fans across the country realize it.

He said he knew the Lobos were better than the middle of the pack when he first arrived to Albuquerque.

“The year before they picked them fifth and they shared the title. We weren't worried about it,” Hobson said. “None of us were on any preseason teams or preseason newcomer, freshman, no one got any of those accolades in the preseason. So, it was just a matter of coming in with a chip on our shoulder and proving people wrong because we knew we were a better team than fifth.”

It took a while for even him to realize how good the league was, however.

It wasn't until the Lobos, who went 14-1 in the non-conference slate, dropped their first two league games - at San Diego State and to UNLV, and by double digits.

“We really got a wake-up call and for us to go on a 14-game winning streak, that's tremendous,” Hobson said. “Our conference is really underestimated. I don't think San Diego State or UNLV should be on the bubble. I think they're solid NCAA tournament teams.

“Of course, we should get four teams in, easily.”