MWC surprisingly looks better in basketball

Thoughts about the sports world that have nothing to do with Tiger Woods or Max Hall …

I thought the Mountain West Conference would have a down year in basketball after losing so many seniors last year, but the league actually may be better this year the way things have started off.

Every team is .500 or better, led by New Mexico at 10-0, BYU at 8-1, UNLV at 7-1 and San Diego State 8-2. Among the wins have been UNLV's over No. 16 Louisville, Utah's over No. 20 Illinois and New Mexico's over No. 16 Texas A&M and No. 25 Cal. Other top wins have come against Michigan (Utah), Arizona State (BYU) and Arizona (UNLV and San Diego State).

You have to call the Lobos the most surprising team in what is turning out to be a surprisingly good season for the MWC, which could end up with more NCAA berths than last year's two before it's all over …

How about those Jazz, beating San Antonio, Orlando and the Lakers in the same week? Do you think they just might be a better team with rookie Wesley Matthews in the lineup rather than the 16-million-dollar man Andrei Kirilenko? I've always rooted for AK, but it seems clear the Jazz are just as good without him. Instead of unloading Carlos Boozer, perhaps AK is the guy the Jazz should be shopping right now …

Also Matthews looks good enough that the Jazz shouldn't worry too much about losing Ronnie Brewer or Kyle Korver to free agency in the offseason. Especially if C.J. Miles keeps up his strong play of late …

A lot of folks in the local media as well as Utah Jazz fans have been paying a lot of attention to the New York Knicks this year. That's because the Jazz own the Knicks' No. 1 draft pick next summer. The hope is the Knicks will have a simply awful year, allowing the Jazz to get another top five pick and perhaps get another Deron Williams-type player.

Don't look now but the Knicks have discovered something this month and after starting 3-14, have won five of six in December. If this keeps up, they'll end up with a mid-first-round draft pick and the Jazz will end up with another Kris Humphries or Kirk Snyder …

I'm not disappointed that Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy, although I voted for Stanford's Toby Gerhart. I think being in the national championship game made the difference for Ingram over Gerhart, who was probably the best college player this year …

Bowl season starts this week with the big New Mexico Bowl game featuring Wyoming and Fresno State Saturday night. The Cowboys are one of the biggest bowl underdogs (13 points) — in fact, the MWC better watch out as four of their five teams are underdogs in their bowl games. Only TCU (4 points) is favored to win …