We thought we offered our final Mountain West men’s basketball power rankings of the offseason, but those must be updated with the addition of Grand Canyon, which will join the league a year earlier than expected for the 2025-26 season. The Antelopes have reached three straight NCAA tournaments and four of the last five, averaging 25.8 wins per season in the last four years with an NCAA Tournament win over Saint Mary’s in 2024. Grand Canyon will dive into a much better basketball league this season with the MW coming off four straight years with at least four tournament berths; the WAC hasn’t been a multi-bid league since 2010. Here are our updated power rankings with Grand Canyon now included.

1. San Diego State

Last season: 21-10, 14-6 (tied for fourth place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s First Four)

2025-26 outlook: SDSU is a clear No. 1 with the return of All-MW wing Miles Byrd (12.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.7 apg), who probably would have been selected if he stayed in this year’s draft. Instead, he withdrew to try and get into play in the first round. He leads a stacked roster that also includes MW defensive player of the year and freshman of the year Magoon Gwath (8.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.6 bpg); BJ Davis (9.0 ppg); Pharaoh Compton (5.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg); Taj DeGourville (5.1 ppg); Miles Heide (4.1 ppg); and 2024 preseason All-MW player Reece Waters, who missed last year with an injury. Add three above-average transfers in Louisiana Tech’s Sean Newman Jr. (9.9 ppg, 7.9 apg); Charlotte’s Jeremiah Oden; and SJSU’s Latrell Davis (11.1 ppg) and this is the MW’s team to beat. Shooting could be an issue, but everything else looks set up for a Sweet 16 kind of season.

2. Utah State

Last season: 26-8, 15-5 (third place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s first round)

2025-26 outlook: Utah State could have lost its coach (Jerrod Calhoun) and star player (Mason Falslev) in the offseason but retained both (the salary/NIL money must be increasing in the Cache Valley). Falslev (15 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.7 apg, 2.3 spg) is one of two returning All-MW players along with Byrd. Also returning are Karson Templin (7.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg), Tucker Anderson (5.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg) and Drake Allen (7.0 ppg, 3.8 apg), who are all starting-level MW players. Utah State has been a net positive in the transfer portal with the additions of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Garry Clark (14.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg); Vanderbilt’s M.J. Collins Jr. (7.4 ppg), Drake’s Kolby King (5.6 ppg), Air Force’s Luke Kearney (8.9 ppg) and Utah’s Zach Keller. This team is deep.

3. Boise State

Last season: 26-11, 14-6 (tied for fourth place; lost in College Basketball Crown’s semifinals)

2025-26 outlook: Boise State looks like the same quality of team as previous season, meaning 20-plus wins yet again. Depth is a concern, as it usually is with the Broncos. Tyson Degenhart moves on, but Boise State returns Andrew Meadow (12.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg), Javan Buchanan (9.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg), Pearson Carmichael (6.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg), RJ Keene (2.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Julian Bowie (3.9 ppg) with Meadow and Buchanan needing to make the jump from quality role players to All-MW-caliber players. Boise State added Georgetown’s Drew Fielder (7.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and UCLA’s Dylan Andrews (6.9 ppg, 3.4 apg) out of the portal, so that’s a nice seven-man rotation that should keep the Broncos in the NCAA Tournament mix.

4. UNLV

Last season: 18-15, 11-9 (sixth place)

2025-26 outlook: UNLV returns almost nobody but lured one of the best mid-major transfer classes. This is a complete rebuild as the Rebels return only 33 of their 2,285 points from last season under first-year coach Josh Pastner, who lost six to seven starting-level players, including star Dedan Thomas, Jr. (LSU). Pastner needs to nail the transfer class. Some of the top additions include Illinois’ Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (5.9 ppg), Louisiana Tech’s Al Green (10.2 ppg), Texas-Rio Grande Valley’s Howard Fleming Jr. (12.3 ppg), UC Irvine’s Myles Che (12.1 ppg), High Point’s Kimani Hamilton (13.1 ppg), Iowa’s Ladji Dembélé (4.5 ppg), Alabama’s Naas Cunningham and Arizona’s Emmanuel Stephen. This ceiling is high if they gel.

5. Grand Canyon

Last season: 26-8, 13-3 (second in the WAC; lost in NCAA Tournament’s second round )

2025-26 outlook: Grand Canyon lost star Tyon Grant-Foster to Gonzaga with fellow double-digit scorer Duke Brennan moving on to Villanova, meaning the Antelopes lost their top-four scores and six of their top seven. Makaih Williams (8.2 ppg) and Caleb Shaw (6.1 ppg) are the top returning players, so this roster will hinge largely on transfers. The Antelopes have added plenty of those, including Gonzaga’s Dusty Stromer (4.3 ppg), UNLV’s Jaden Henley (12.5 ppg), Washington’s Wilhelm Breidenbach (4.5 ppg), Brown’s Nana Owusu-Anane (14. 7 ppg), Norfolk State’s Brian Moore Jr. (18.1 ppg) and UC Riverside’s Kaleb Smith (11 ppg, 4.5 rpg). There are good pieces, but first-year MW schools tend to struggle given this league’s depth.

6. Colorado State

Last season: 26-10, 16-4 (second place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s second round)

2025-26 outlook: CSU elevated assistant Ali Farokhmanesh to the top job after losing Niko Medved to Minnesota with the Rams losing Nique Clifford to the NBA and Kyan Evans (North Carolina), Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (Minnesota) and Keshawn Williams (Iona) to transfer. Bigs Rashaan Mbemba (7.0 ppg), Kyle Jorgensen (4.0 ppg) and Nikola Djapa (2.4 ppg) return, but that’s about it. CSU added a strong transfer class that includes Marist’s Josh Pascarelli (15.9 ppg), Virginia Tech’s Brandon Rechsteiner (7.0 ppg), VMI’s Augustinas Kiudulas (15.2 ppg) and Florida Gulf Coast’s Jevin Muniz (10.6 ppg) plus former four-star recruits Carey Booth (Illinois) and Jase Butler (Washington). The talent is here to do some damage.

7. Nevada

Last season: 17-16, 8-12 (seventh place)

2025-26 outlook: Nevada doesn’t return any full-time starters from last year’s seventh-place team and lost its top-two returners to transfer in Nick Davidson (Clemson) and Justin McBride (James Madison). Tyler Rolison (7.4 ppg) is the only starting-caliber returner for a team that will have a different look (faster and more athletic). The Wolf Pack added Fresno State transfer Elijah Price (10.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg) plus three more productive Division I players in Evansville’s Tayshawn Comer (16.2 ppg), UTEP’s Corey Camper Jr. (10.5 ppg) and UC Riverside big Joel Armotrading (5.8 ppg). It also added wildcards Kaleb Lowery (NAIA) and Vaughn Weems (JuCo). This team has a high delta given the lack of proven talent, but the ceiling is solid.

8. New Mexico

Last season: 27-8, 17-3 (first place; lost in NCAA Tournament’s second round)

2025-26 outlook: First-year coach Eric Olen, previously at UC San Diego, has the MW’s most daunting job as New Mexico returns zero points from last year’s regular-season title team after 13 players hit the transfer portal with the biggest losses being Donovan Dent (UCLA) and Tru Washington (Miami), not to mention coach Richard Pitino (Xavier). Olen brought Chris Howell and Milos Vicentic with him from UC San Diego while adding USC’s Kevin Patton Jr., Iowa State’s JT Rock, North Dakota State’s Tajavis Miller and Utah State’s Deyton Albury plus junior-college All-American Antonio Chol. There are pieces here, but it’s not often a team returns zero points and succeeds the following season (yes, Utah State did it two years ago).

9. Wyoming

Last season: 12-20, 5-15 (ninth place)

2025-26 outlook: Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks got the Cowboys job in May last season, so he didn’t have a real chance of building a strong roster. He had more time this season but took a big blow in losing star Obi Agbim to Baylor. The Cowboys return Matija Belic (5.6 ppg) and Abou Magassa (3.2 ppg), so the transfers will be heavily relied upon. They include Florida Atlantic’s Leland Walker (9.2 ppg), Quinnipiac’s Khaden Bennett (10.3 ppg), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Damarion Dennis (6.7 ppg) and Memphis Jared Harris as well as lower-level transfers Adam Harakow (Lake Superior State), Uriyah Rojas (Chaffey College) and Kiani Saxon (Missouri Western). This team should be better than last year. Top half will be tough.

10. San Jose State

Last season: 15-20, 7-13 (eighth place)

2025-26 outlook: SJSU’s top-four returning scorers hit the portal in Will McClendon (North Texas), Latrell Davis (San Diego State), Robert Vaihola (Minnesota) and Sadaidriene Hall. The means the Spartans’ top-eight scorers depart the program and leaves Jermaine Washington (4.4 ppg) as SJSU’s top returning scorer. The top transfer additions are Longwood’s Colby Garland (12.1 ppg), Western Michigan’s JaVaughn Hannah (12 ppg), Iona’s Yaphet Moundi (9.8 ppg), Mercer’s Marcus Overstreet (6.2 ppg) and Mississippi State’s Adrian Myers. Tim Miles will coach this group up, but there’s a lower ceiling for any team that can’t return at least some kind of nucleus from one year to the next.

11. Air Force

Last season: 4-28, 1-19 (11th place)

2025-26 outlook: Air Force is coming off the worst season in program history and lost Luke Kearney (Utah State) and Will Cooper (Nebraska) to transfer in addition to the graduation of Ethan Taylor. Kyle Marshall (6.9 ppg) entered the portal before returning to team and joins Wesley Celichowski (8.7 ppg) and Caleb Walker (6.5 ppg). That means Air Force returns three of its top-five scorers from last year, but the academy can’t add transfers, so any improvement must come internally. And there’s a long way between where Air Force was last year and being competitive in the MW after the Falcons finished 310 in KenPom last year and 264 the year prior.

12. Fresno State

Last season: 6-26, 2-18 (10th place)

2025-26 outlook: Fresno State lost 12 players to the transfer portal, so it’s another rebuild, although the Bulldogs are taking a different path than most colleges with 10 freshmen on the 2025-26 roster, the most of any MW school (and maybe tops in the nation). That leaves just five players on the roster who aren’t freshman, a group that will be led by returner Zaon Collins (12.4 ppg, 4.6 apg); Clemson’s Jake Heidbreder, who previously had success at Air Force; and Kansas City transfer Cameron Faas (9.7 ppg). Given the roster’s youth, coach Vance Wahlberg is betting on the future entering his second season with the Bulldogs. We’ll see if that formula leads to a third year.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.