The early report card on Mountain West hoops is that the league is unfolding according to preseason guesses back in October.

We'll see if that holds up better than the league's football prognostications that disrespected Kyle Whittingham and Utah.

UNLV's win at Louisville and Utah's handling of Gonzaga, along with a BYU win over Tulsa on the road should be the MWC's top non-league wins as conference play kicked off this past weekend.

The Utes' bullwhipping of Wyoming on Saturday was impressive, especially since Heath Schroyer's club had gained a lot of traction with 11 wins coming into league play.

Perhaps Jim Boylen's tougher schedule put more of an edge to the Utes than a year ago at this same stage of the campaign. Or maybe Saturday's blowout was inspired by the Cowboy dunk at the end in Laramie last year.

San Diego State's breakthrough at Air Force gives the Aztecs the early conference lead.

Right now, you'd have to go with 13-2 UNLV and 11-2 BYU as the teams to beat, followed by Utah (9-5) and San Diego State (11-3), according to different polls and power rankings.

"We need to not only schedule teams of that caliber, but win them. That helps all of us," said SDSU coach Steve Fisher.

"It's been a good non-conference for our league. It's going to be a very competitive race coming up. It's an exciting time of the year," Kruger told the media Monday.

BIGGEST KEY: A no-brainer: don't lose at home.

The other factors are less formal but equally weighty: solid home court advantages at UNLV and BYU, UNLV's stifling defense, the play of Utah center Luke Nevill, and San Diego State's consistency at being inconsistent.

If any of these MWC tangibles change, the league becomes more wide open. I'll say the fate of the league (standings, upsets, breakthroughs) is in the hands of three streaky players: 1. Jonathan Tavernari, BYU, 2. Rene Rougeau, UNLV, and 3. Luke Nevill, Utah.

GAME CHANGERS: SDSU's Kyle Spain, UNLV's Wink Adams, Wyoming's Brandon Ewing and UNM bomber Chad Topper.

X-FACTORS FOR UTES AND COUGARS: Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery in Provo and Luka Drca and Carlon Brown on the hill.

BEST GO-TO THREATS: Lee Cummard, BYU, Billy White, SDSU and Nevill of Utah.

Said Kruger, "I don't think it's a situation where one (conference) team is clearly the best this year," Kruger said. "I think four or five could win it and it not be a big surprise. It's not like a North Carolina, where it might be unusual to see them lose.

"But the fact is, BYU will again probably be very tough to beat at their place. It puts pressure on the rest of us to win (at home) and match them. We've been able to do that the last couple of years."