MWC basketball: UNLV earns Top 25 ranking before Cougars

Even though the BYU Cougars were the overwhelming preseason pick to win the Mountain West Conference men's basketball title and haven't lost a game yet, the first conference team to break into the Top 25 this season is UNLV.

The Runnin' Rebels, with a 5-0 start and an upset at home last weekend over No. 16 Louisville, grabbed the No. 21 spot in this week's USA Today Coaches poll and came in at No. 24 in the Associated Press poll.

It's UNLV's first Top 25 ranking in three seasons, and the first time the Rebels have been ranked in November in 17 seasons.

The Cougars (5-0) and New Mexico (6-0), also received votes. BYU is 31st in the AP poll and 33rd in the coaches' poll. However, neither the Cougars nor Lobos have played a ranked team yet. But there seems to be no jealousy about UNLV being ranked above them.

"I think it's a very good thing for our conference," BYU head coach Dave Rose said.

Utah, with its comeback win over No. 20 Illinois in Las Vegas last week, is the only other MWC team to beat a ranked opponent this season. New Mexico will get its chance tonight when it hosts the No. 25 California Golden Bears. The conference's other two highlight games of the week are BYU at Utah State tonight and UNLV at Arizona tonight.

Overall this preseason, the MWC has a 31-15 non-conference mark. Last week's MWC teams went 8-4. The only MWC team with a losing record at this point is Wyoming, which is 3-4 after dropping games last week at home to Monmouth and Hampton.

MWC/MISSOURI VALLEY CHALLENGE: In the inaugural Mountain West Conference versus Missouri Valley Conference challenge, in which every MWC team will play a preseason game against a team from the MVC, the MWC currently holds a 2-1 lead. The challenge began with BYU beating Bradley on Nov. 13, and a week later Colorado State lost to Indiana State. But on Nov. 22 UNLV knocked off Southern Illinois. The next game in the challenge is Saturday when Air Force visits Missouri State.

The challenge is a four-year arrangement, with each conference hosting a combined 18 games over a four-year period. The only team not participating in this year's challenge is Evansville, which finished 10th in the MVC last season.

CADET GARNERS WEEKLY HONOR: Air Force 6-foot-8 forward Grant Parker is the MWC player of the week. Parker, a senior from Auroa, Colo., led the Falcons to a win last week over Charleston Southern by scoring 25 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, which was his first career double-double and the first by an Air Force player in two seasons. He made 7-of-13 field goals, hit 10-of-12 free throws and also dished out three assists.

e-mail: jimr@desnews.com