Mountain West Conference will have a new landscape

Three stars headed in different directions.

This season's Mountain West Conference basketball scene could be dramatically impacted by the decisions of key players in the past 40 days. The trio includes UNM's player of the year Darrington Hobson who left early for the NBA, leading scorer Jimmer Fredette, who will stay at BYU for his senior campaign and a cloud of trouble surrounding UNLV's star Tre'von Willis.

The most recent is revelation in Las Vegas where Willis, the league's second-leading scorer, whom many thought was the player of the year, faces charges stemming from an altercation with a 28-year-old Henderson woman during a 3 a.m. incident last Tuesday.

Willis, a shooting guard and the backbone of the Rebel squad, faces criminal actions that include felony domestic violence by strangulation, felony grand larceny and misdemeanor coercion.

That is not the way Lon Kruger would like the Rebel offseason to unfold this summer. Innocent until proven guilty, Willis may still plead this down, but it is serious stuff that could derail his UNLV career.

Willis had a troubled relationship with his girlfriend Sky Sanders, according to the Las Vegas Sun, which cited a police report saying the incident involved an argument over Sanders not returning text messages to Willis.

"Willis had his thumbs in the center of her throat with his fingers wrapping around the sides of her neck," the police report stated. "Sanders stated that while Willis was choking her, Willis kept saying to her, 'Say you're sorry.' "

Police reported red marks on Sanders' neck when they arrived at Sander's apartment.

Willis took Sanders' cell phone after the incident. Willis, arrested at his apartment later, admitted an argument but denied physical contact with Sanders. He faces court dates July 31 and Aug. 3. Kruger will await further information on the case before announcing any action on Willis' status as a Rebel player.

Willis, a force defensively, possesses great offensive range and showed great skills at scoring off the dribble in the league. Willis helped limit BYU's Jimmer Fredette to just 7 points in a loss at Provo when he managed just 25 minutes. Willis scored a career high 33 points in an 88-74 win over BYU and Fredette (21 points) in Las Vegas.

The decision by Fredette to return to BYU should ensure a solid player of the year candidacy and provide Dave Rose with a foundation for a run at another championship.