Having earned four NCAA Tournament berths last year, the Mountain West Conference was said to have hit a plateau, an achievement not likely to be repeated.

Don't look now, but the MWC is poised to do it again, or perhaps even surpass that milestone if a team other than preseason favorite No. 6 San Diego State, No. 15 BYU, No. 25 UNLV or defending regular-season champion New Mexico gets hot and wins the conference tournament in Las Vegas.

"We've always been a good league, but we might be at a different level this year," said BYU coach Dave Rose. Getting five teams into the NCAA Tournament "is a possibility. It depends on how the league schedule turns and who wins the [conference] tournament."

The irony for Rose and Utah coach Jim Boylen is that just as the league is at an all-time high, they're leaving. With Utah moving to the Pac-12 next season and BYU to the West Coast Conference, this is the last chance for the Utes and Cougars to flex a little muscle in the conference — and for the schools they are leaving behind to dole out a little last-minute punishment for the departures.

"In my mind, [the MWC] is already a high-major league," said TCU coach Jim Christian, whose Frogs will join the powerful Big East in 2012, the year after BYU and Utah depart.

Right now, the MWC is better than the Pac-12 and WCC, although it figures to drop some next year with the additions of Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State — which all have mediocre basketball programs, or worse.

The MWC is No. 4 or No. 5 in most national ratings services this week. For instance, Jeff Sagarin of USA Today has the MWC as the fifth best league in the land, behind the Big East, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the ACC.

San Diego State (15-0) and BYU (14-1) have been in the national polls all year, UNLV (12-2) is No. 25 in the Associated Press Top 25 released Monday and New Mexico (11-3) is knocking at the door and still breaking in UCLA transfer Drew Gordon, who became eligible at the semester break.

BYU is hungry to go out on top, having not won the MWC tournament since 2001.

"That's definitely one of our goals," said guard Jackson Emery. "Nobody on this team has ever won the conference tournament. It's something we really, really want to do."

Preseason All-American Jimmer Fredette of BYU, named the league's player of the week for the third time on Monday, said one of the reasons he decided to return for his senior season, rather than leave his name in the NBA Draft, was because he wanted to win the conference tournament so badly.

"Not having won it leaves a void" in his career, he said.

Certainly, the Cougars and everyone else will have to go through San Diego State. The Aztecs returned all five starters from last year's conference tournament championship team, and showed they were legitimate in November with an early road win at Gonzaga.

"We've played well," coach Steve Fisher acknowledged. "We went to Gonzaga and won. … We've had great, great home crowds. We have sold out five home games, which is unheard of. We knew we would be good."

Along with Fredette, SDSU's Kawhi Leonard will push for Player of the Year honors, along with perhaps New Mexico's Dairese Gary and UNLV's Tre'Von Willis, although Willis' scoring is down some this year. Leonard has a better supporting cast, though, with D.J. Gay, Malcolm Thomas and Billy White all averaging in double figures.

"San Diego State is a top-10 team," said Utah's Boylen. "Their physicality, their depth, their ability to go at you a lot of different ways" make them the favorite.

New Mexico coach Steve Alford said every team in the league has improved with the possible exception of his own, due largely to the loss of 2010 Player of the Year Darington Hobson.

Colorado State (10-4) has been on a steady rise under coach Tim Miles, while TCU (9-6) was highlighted by several coaches during Monday's teleconference as having improved the most.

"Any league you play in, you always feel like it is a little better than other people recognize," said UNLV coach Lon Kruger. "And certainly I do feel that way about this league. … I think people around the country are recognizing how good our league is."

For BYU and Utah, it's better late than never.

drew@sltrib.com

Twitter: @drewjay, @sltribbyu —

MWC thumbnails

San Diego State (15-0) • A huge road win at then-No. 11 Gonzaga in November showed the Aztecs were for real, and they've had only a few close games since. They also pounded California 77-57 on the road and have risen to a No. 6 ranking in both polls, the highest ranking for any school in Mountain West Conference history. With Kawhi Leonard, D.J. Gay, Malcolm Thomas and Billy White all scoring in double figures, the Aztecs are simply loaded.

UNLV (12-2) • Back-to-back losses in mid-December at Louisville and at home against UC Santa Barbara were the Rebels' only setbacks. They own big wins over Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and Kansas State (which was short-handed) and are seemingly poised to push SDSU and BYU for the league title. Surprisingly, Chace Stanback is the team's scoring leader (12.5 ppg.), slightly ahead of Oscar Bellfield (11.6) and senior Tre'Von Willis (11.3), who was suspended a couple of early games and is struggling to reach his form as a junior.

New Mexico (11-3) • The defending MWC regular-season champions have recovered from the loss of Darington Hobson nicely, with Dairese Gary leading the way, as expected. A double-overtime loss on Saturday at Dayton, combined with losses at Cal and in Las Vegas against Northern Iowa, have hurt the Lobos' RPI a bit, but they look like an MWC contender again. Freshman Kendall Williams is going to be special, and is already the second-leading scorer on the team with a 12.2 average. UCLA transfer Drew Gordon joined the Lobos at the semester break and is already contributing.

Colorado State (10-4) • The Rams went 3-0 in Mexico and won the Cancun Governor's Cup with wins over Ole Miss and Southern Miss, and should continue their ascension up the MWC standings that started last year under coach Tim Miles. Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin, both averaging around 15 points a game, have proved to be a nice one-two punch, and Iowa State transfer Wes Elkmeier is helping, with a 9.6 average.

Air Force (9-4) • An early loss to Colorado College seemed to portend the Falcons were in for another long season, but they rebounded with six wins in their next seven games. The nonconference schedule has been a bit weak, as usual, but Air Force looks capable of pulling off an upset or two with the likes of Micahel Lyons (12.6 ppg.), Tom Fow (12.3) and Taylor Broekhuis (11.7).

TCU (9-6) • The Horned Frogs have improved, and figure to be a tough out this year, especially at home. They dropped their final two nonconference games, at Tulsa and at Rice, after leading scorer Ronnie Moss suffered a concussion in the Tulsa game. Wins over Bradley, USC and Texas Tech showed coach Jim Christian's rebuilding effort is on the right track. Sophomore Garlon Green gives the Frogs another scorer to complement Moss, and junior college transfer Sammy Yeager has added toughness at the guard line.

Wyoming (7-7) • The Cowboys had an uneven start, but were probably most impressive in a pair of reasonably close losses to Missouri and Providence. Desmar Jackson has emerged as their go-to guy, with a 15.5 scoring average, and Afam Muojeke is slowly rounding into form after missing most of the 2010 conference season with an injury. If the Cowboys can improve their 28 percent 3-point shooting and penchant for turnovers, they could be a force in the league, especially when playing at home. —

MWC's Big 4

School Rec. AP rank Coaches rank Computer RPIs

(Palm/Sagarin/Pomeroy)

SDSU 15-0 No. 6 No. 6 9/7/20

BYU 14-1 No. 15 No. 14 4/6/10

UNLV 12-2 No. 25 No. 27 24/17/25

UNM 11-3 unranked unranked 54/59/59