Best of the West MBB power rankings: Hot Seat assessment for ASU’s Bobby Hurley (rising) and Utah’s Craig Smith (cooling)

The Best of the West offers fans a candid assessment of the top teams in the western third of the country — a collection that includes the Mountain West and the former Pac-12 schools now scattered across the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and West Coast Conference.

The rankings will be published on the Hotline each Monday through the remainder of the regular season.

Two games two hours apart Saturday evening, in Tempe and Salt Lake City, produced stark adjustments to the seat temperature under the respective head coaches.

The first result: Yet another discouraging loss for Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, whose program has cratered in recent weeks with bad losses and poor conduct.

The Sun Devils have lost six consecutive home games and 10 of their last 12 overall. They are alone in 15th place in the Big 12 race, just two games clear of Colorado.

This comes after a promising start to Hurley’s 10th season in which ASU beat New Mexico and Saint Mary’s on neutral courts and, for a time, had aspirations of reaching the NCAA Tournament.

Even worse: The Sun Devils (12-13/3-11) are struggling to keep their composure.

Guard BJ Freeman head-butted Arizona’s Caleb Love a few weeks ago, then Hurley pulled his team off the court at the buzzer and refused to shake hands with Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd — a bad look for the university. On Saturday, guard Adam Miller was ejected for the second time in four games.

Athletic director Graham Rossini recently addressed rumors that Hurley’s job could be in jeopardy, saying: “No rumors. He’s our coach.”

Until he isn’t.

A coaching change in Tempe is increasingly easy to envision. There’s still time for Hurley to course-correct, but the conduct of his players suggests Hurley might not have the psychological tools to salvage the season.

Or his job.

The second notable result Saturday evening came two hours later and 700 miles to the north, where Utah repelled a late rally by Kansas to record coach Craig Smith’s signature victory.

We should note the Jayhawks (17-8/8-6) are hardly a powerhouse this season, but that matters little in the broader assessment of Smith’s performance.

He entered Year 3 under considerable pressure to show improvement. When the Utes opened Big 12 play with three consecutive blowout losses, the Hotline wondered if a change might be inevitable. But since then, the Utes have more wins than losses. Picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll, they are tied for 10th place and just two games behind Brigham Young.

The victory over Kansas offered confirmation that Smith has the Utes (14-11/6-8) headed in the desired direction — that they belong on the court with the Big 12’s top programs.

Our hunch is Utah’s administration is looking for reasons to keep Smith, not fire him. (Coaching changes are costly and disruptive, especially after just three years.)

As long as the Utes don’t collapse down the stretch, Smith will have presented enough evidence to return for Year 4.

In contrast to Hurley’s increasingly tenuous status, Smith’s seat is clearly cooling.

To the Best of the West …

1. Arizona (17-8/11-3 Big 12)
Last week: 1
Results: lost at Kansas State 73-70 and to Houston 62-58
NET ranking: 9
Next up: at Baylor (tonight), vs. Brigham Young (Saturday)
Comment: Catching Houston for the regular-season title feels unlikely given the paucity of games remaining. The key is locking down a top-four seed and accompanying double bye into the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals.

2. New Mexico (22-4/14-1 Mountain West)
Last week: 3
Results: beat Wyoming 71-67 and Utah State 82-79
NET ranking: 37
Next up: at Boise State (Wednesday)
Comment: The Lobos’ pole position in the Mountain West race isn’t a complete surprise — they were picked second in the preseason media poll, behind Boise State — but we would not have expected a two-game lead with three weeks to play.

3. UCLA (19-7/10-5 Big Ten)
Last week: 2
Results: lost at Illinois 83-78, won at Indiana 72-68
NET ranking: 23
Next up: vs. Minnesota (Tuesday)
Comment: It took three-and-a-half months, but the Bruins finally won on the other side of the Rockies. They head back there in a week, then return again for the Big Ten tournament — and then, quite possibly, for the NCAAs. (Six of the eight first-round sites are in the Eastern and Central time zones.)

4. Saint Mary’s (23-4/13-1 West Coast Conference)
Last week: 5
Results: beat Santa Clara 73-64 and Washington State 77-56
NET ranking: 20
Next up: vs. Portland (Wednesday)
Comment: The Gaels need two wins in their final four games — or one victory and a loss by San Francisco — to secure a coveted top-two seed in the WCC tournament. They should be halfway home by the close of business Wednesday night.

5. Utah State (22-4/12-3 Mountain West)
Last week: 4
Results: beat Colorado State 93-85, lost at New Mexico 82-79
NET ranking: 38
Next up: vs. San Jose State (Wednesday)
Comment: The Aggies should collect an at-large berth to the NCAAs as long as they avoid bad losses down the stretch. So far, they are 12-0 in Quadrant III and IV games. Maintaining the zero on the right side of that record is essential.

6. Gonzaga (20-7/11-3 West Coast Conference)
Last week: 6
Results: beat San Francisco 88-77 and Pepperdine 107-55
NET ranking: 10
Next up: at Washington State (Wednesday)
Comment: After their drive to Pullman, the Zags finish against Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara and San Francisco, who have a combined record of 33-10 in WCC play. On the bright side: The rugged finishing schedule should prep Gonzaga for the WCC and NCAA tournaments.

7. Brigham Young (17-8/8-6 Big 12)
Last week: 8
Results: won at West Virginia 73-69, beat Kansas State 80-65
NET ranking: 36
Next up: vs. Kansas (Tuesday)
Comment: Not on our Big 12 bingo card for the 2024-25 season: BYU finishing above Kansas in the conference race. But if the Cougars win the head-to-head this week, that’s a distinct possibility. The teams are currently tied for fifth place (along with Baylor).

8. Boise State (17-8/9-5 Mountain West)
Last week: 7
Results: lost at San Diego State 64-47
NET ranking: 48
Next up: vs. New Mexico (Wednesday)
Comment: The Broncos were the Mountain West preseason favorite — they received 19 of 26 first-place votes in the media poll — but will be five games out if they lose Wednesday. That said, they are catching the Lobos at an ideal time, following New Mexico’s big win over Utah State.

9. Oregon (18-8/7-8 Big Ten)
Last week: 9
Results: beat Northwestern 81-75 and Rutgers 75-57
NET ranking: 32
Next up: at Iowa (Wednesday)
Comment: Good time to remind fans that the NCAA selection committee does not discuss conference record or affiliation when picking and seeding the field. It only matters in the bracketing process, to avoid rematches in the early rounds.

10. San Diego State (17-6/10-4 Mountain West)
Last week: 11
Results: won at San Jose State 69-66, beat Boise State 64-47
NET ranking: 50
Next up: vs. Fresno State (Tuesday)
Comment: As we gain clarity on SDSU’s season, the one result that still doesn’t make sense is that eight-point home loss to UNLV (a Quadrant III result). Had it been a victory, the Aztecs would be safely in the NCAAs at this point, instead of on the bubble.

11. Colorado State (16-9/10-4 Mountain West)
Last week: 10
Results: lost at Utah State 93-85, beat Wyoming 88-53
NET ranking: 70
Next up: vs. Nevada (Tuesday)
Comment: Nothing reflects the Mountain West’s mediocre season quite like a team tied for third place in the conference race having no shot at the NCAA Tournament’s at-large pool.

12. San Francisco (21-7/11-4 West Coast Conference)
Last week: 12
Results: lost at Gonzaga 88-77, won at San Diego 84-61
NET ranking: 60
Next up: vs. Pacific (Thursday)
Comment: We wonder if a shrewd Power Four conference athletic director will note how well Kyle Smith and Todd Golden have fared since leaving The Hilltop and make a run at Chris Gerlufsen this spring. All he’s done is win 20 games for each of the past three seasons.

13. UC San Diego (22-4/12-2 Big West)
Last week: 14
Results: won at Cal State Bakersfield 73-54, beat UC Davis 85-60
NET ranking: 43
Next up: at Cal Poly (Thursday)
Comment: With each passing week, the Tritons’ 13-point home loss to Seattle (10-15) back in November becomes more difficult for the human mind to comprehend.

14. Utah (14-11/6-8 Big 12)
Last week: Not ranked
Results: lost at Cincinnati 85-75, beat Kansas 74-67
NET ranking: 72
Next up: vs. Kansas State (tonight), at UCF (Sunday)
Comment: The Hotline’s supercomputer ran 10,000 simulations of Utah’s finish stretch and gives Craig Smith and Co. a 45 percent chance of winning four more, which would translate to a 10-10 conference record — plenty good enough for him to return next season.

15. Santa Clara (17-10/9-5 West Coast Conference)
Last week: 15
Results: lost at Saint Mary’s 73-64
NET ranking: 55
Next up: vs. LMU (Thursday)
Comment: Pretty clear the Broncos are better off being paired with Gonzaga in the WCC semifinals than with Saint Mary’s given they beat the former on the road and were swept by the latter.

Also considered: Montana, Stanford, UC Irvine, USC and Utah Valley

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