But, folks, that's it.

What's it all mean?

Maybe the Mountain West simply was not as good as many thought. At times this year, members of this league played some outstanding basketball and registered some impressive performances.

But when it really counted against the big boys, this league did not have the fight, the talent, the moxie to make any real noise.

The league lacks a lot of things. For one thing, the MWC is devoid of real big-time post players.

Sorry, MVP Luke Nevill, you had a great senior year and there might be a spot somewhere as a professional player — but there are post players, and then there are post players. And the great ones are still playing out their college careers.

Second, as Arizona showed Utah, this league doesn't really see man full-court presses and extended pressure defenses. When big-time teams apply said pressure, this league's teams wilt.

Third, the MWC has some nice starting lineups with some talented players sprinkled here and there. But big-time teams have about 10 to 12 studs on their rosters. And every day in practice, they create an atmosphere of what a real battle is like — body on body defense — and those teams get used to fighting against it.

Fourth — and this is perhaps the weakest observation I can take a poke at — maybe the league's balance hurt it in the end.

This year, the MWC was extremely competitive, just like the coaches chirped about all season. In the course of two months, I believe that took a lot out of the league's elite. Legs lost their spring, energy levels dipped, players got tired, many lost focus. Lack of depth caught up with everyone, so basement-dweller Air Force could almost take out BYU and also-ran TCU nearly nipped Utah.

In 2009, the debate leaving Las Vegas was if the MWC deserved three or four bids to the NCAA tournament.

Who were we kidding?

E-MAIL: dharmon@desnews.com