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Breakout Mountain West Players To Watch In 2018-19

Seven players to watch out for in the 2018-19 Mountain West basketball season

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Maluach, Juiston highlight list of breakout stars to watch in Mountain West basketball

College basketball season is a little more than three months away, but it’s never too early to start digging into the upcoming hoops campaign.

Below we have seven players to watch out for who could break out during the 2018-19 Mountain West season.

Makuach Maluach, New Mexico

It’s impossible to watch Makuach Maluach without visualizing a player with All-MW potential. Maluach is a lanky, athletic 6-5 wing with nearly a seven-foot wingspan and a developing jump shot. At 69.2 percent, Maluach recorded one of the highest at-rim field goal percentages in the conference last season as a freshman.

Ryan Swan-Ford, Air Force

Through the first 22 games of his career, Ryan Swan-Ford averaged 4.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. In 18 games since, he’s upped that average to 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per outing. If the Raleigh native can improve his scoring efficiency, he will be counted on to finish in double figures for the Falcons night in and night out.

Diogo Brito, Utah State

One of the quiet overachievers in Mountain West basketball last season was Diogo Brito, a junior-to-be guard by the way of Portugal. Brito started 22 times and averaged almost 25 minutes per game among a strong Aggie backcourt, flipping his nightly slash line from 1.2/1.0/0.3 as a freshman to 6.0/3.5/2.0 as a sophomore. Craig Smith‘s team lost a lot of pieces in the spring, which will allow Brito to step in as a main contributor.

Anthony Bonner, Colorado State

There are very few players, if any, that I’m more excited about this season than CSU’s Anthony Bonner. The 6-2 guard had a bit of an up-and-down freshman year but turned things around in year two, starting more than half of his team’s games while doubling almost every per-game statistic and greatly improving his shooting efficiency. Bonner will be an even better fit offensively in a fluid Niko Medved-led attack.

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