LAS VEGAS – The Mountain West released its 2024-25 Preseason Men’s Basketball All-Conference team and preseason award winners Thursday morning in conjunction with the start of media day.
As voted on by select media members, the preseason team is made up of one graduate student, six seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. Six of the 12 preseason honorees earned All-Conference accolades at the end of 2023-24.
Boise State senior Tyson Degenhart was selected as the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, while Nevada senior Kobe Sanders was named the MW Preseason Newcomer of the Year and San Diego State rookie Pharaoh Compton was voted the MW Preseason Freshman of the Year.
A three-time All-Mountain West selection, Degenhart enters his fourth season at Boise State. Last season, he led the Broncos in scoring with 16.7 points per game and was second on the team in rebounds per contest with 6.2. Degenhart is one of just six Broncos to be named all-conference first team in back-to-back seasons.
A San Diego, California, native, Sanders joins Nevada after three seasons at Cal Poly. The senior guard started all 29 games last season for the Mustangs. Sanders led the team in scoring with 19.6 points per game and grabbed 3.8 rebounds per contest. He also connected on 46.1 percent of attempts from the field.
Compton, a product of Las Vegas, enters his first season with San Diego State. The freshman averaged 19.7 points, nine rebounds and 3.6 blocks as a senior at Arbor View High School. He was also the top-rated recruit in the state of Nevada and the Aztecs’ first top-100 signee since 2005.
Joining Degenhart on the preseason All-MW team are Boise State’s O’Mar Stanley and Alvaro Cardenas, Colorado State’s Nique Clifford, Nevada’s Nick Davidson, New Mexico’s Donovan Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph, San Diego State’s Reese Waters, UNLV’s Dedan Thomas Jr. and Utah State’s Ian Martinez.
