# 2010–11 Mountain West Conference men's basketball season

The 2010–11 Mountain West Conference men's basketball season was the 12th season of Mountain West Conference basketball. This was the final season for the two Utah schools in the conference. BYU became a member of the West Coast Conference in most sports, including basketball, while its football program became independent. Utah joined the Pacific-10 Conference, which changed its name to the Pac-12 with Colorado also joining from the Big 12 Conference. The Mountain West welcomed new members as well, with Boise State joining in 2011 and Fresno State and Nevada following in 2012. The Brigham Young University Cougars and San Diego State men's basketball teams ended the regular season as co-champions. San Diego State earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by defeating BYU in the conference tournament. BYU and UNLV secured at-large bids into the tournament. Both BYU and SDSU reached the Sweet Sixteen round but were also eliminated in that round.

## Preseason

The Mountain West Conference held its pre-season media day on October 12, 2010 at the MountainWest Sports Network studios in Denver, Colorado.

### Mountain West Media Poll

| Rank | Team | Votes |
| 1 | San Diego State (21) | 261 |
| 2 | BYU (5) | 220 |
| 3 | New Mexico (3) | 214 |
| 4 | UNLV | 203 |
| 5 | Colorado State | 132 |
| 6 | Utah | 105 |
| 7 | TCU | 92 |
| 8 | Wyoming | 88 |
| 9 | Air Force | 35 |

### awards

Preseason All-MWC team
* Jimmer Fredette, BYU
* Dairese Gary, New Mexico
* Kawhi Leonard, San Diego State
* Malcolm Thomas, San Diego State
* Tre'Von Willis, UNLV
Preseason Player of the Year
* Jimmer Fredette, BYU
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
* Drew Gordon, Jr., New Mexico
Preseason Freshman of the Year
* Kyle Collinsworth, BYU
Postseason All-MWC team
* Jimmer Fredette, BYU
* Andy Ogide, Colorado State
* Dairese Gary, New Mexico
* D. J. Gay, San Diego State
* Kawhi Leonard, San Diego State
Player of the year
* Jimmer Fredette, BYU
Newcomer of the Year
* Drew Gordon Jr., New Mexico
Freshman of the Year
* Kendall Williams, New Mexico

## Regular season
### Rankings

2010–11 Mountain West Conference Weekly Top 25 Rankings Key: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. RV = Received Votes :
| Coaches Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 |
| Air Force | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Brigham Young | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 21 | 18 | 23 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| Colorado State | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Mexico | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | |
| San Diego State | RV | RV | 22 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 6 |
| Texas Christian | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| UNLV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 19 | 22 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | |
| Utah | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wyoming | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Weekly awards

MWC Player of the Week Throughout the conference season, the MWC offices named one player of the week.
| Week | Player of the week |
| November 15 | Kawhi Leonard, SDSU |
| November 22 | Kawhi Leonard, SDSU |
| November 29 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU, and Chace Stanback, UNLV |
| December 6 | Malcolm Thomas, SDSU |
| December 13 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU |
| December 20 | Malcolm Thomas, SDSU |
| December 27 | Travis Franklin, CSU |
| January 3 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU |
| January 10 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU, and Malcolm Thomas, SDSU |
| January 17 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU |
| January 24 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU |
| January 31 | Andy Ogide, CSU, and Drew Gordon, New Mexico |
| February 7 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU, and Kawhi Leonard, SDSU |
| February 14 | Jackson Emery, BYU, and D.J. Gay, SDSU |
| February 21 | Malcolm Thomas, SDSU |
| February 28 | Jimmer Fredette, BYU, and Tre'Von Willis, UNLV |
| March 7 | Drew Gordon, UNM |

## Post season berths

A record tying 6 teams received post season berths. San Diego State was the conference's automatic qualifier to the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and were joined by BYU and UNLV as at-large selections. SDSU was given a second seed in the Western regional while BYU was a third seed. Colorado State and New Mexico went to the National Invitation Tournament. In addition, Air Force received an invitation to compete in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.