Mountain West Basketball Fans, It's Time to Cheer for Your Enemy

This is a call to arms for fans across the Mountain West Conference.

For the remainder of this month and the first week of April, unless two teams are to meet, this is not the time to worry so much about a single school, but rather the four schools who are representing the nine-team conference in this year's NCAA Tournament.

For a short period, it's time for BYU and New Mexico fans to put aside their differences. We've been given an opportunity to prove to the college basketball world that they shouldn't be so quick to doubt hoops at higher altitude. This is about something bigger than us alone.

Sure, it may sound a little melodramatic, but it's the truth.

For the first time in the 11-year history of the MWC, four schools have made the field of 65, and we should try to do everything we can to prove it's no fluke. Let's represent this conference.

I'm not saying don't cheer for your school—if you're a fan of BYU, UNM, UNLV, or San Diego State, go all-out wearing your red or blue. What I am asking of the fans of the MWC is to cheer for these four schools, even if you tout brown, green, or purple.

There's something special about the Mountain West Conference in terms of a tacit brotherhood, and it stems from the league not receiving a lot of respect on a national level.

Just this past Saturday I was in Fayetteville, Ark., watching some friends who play softball for the Razorbacks in action, and afterwards I headed across the street to Arby's for dinner. While in Arby's I noticed a female track athlete and her parents all decked out in BYU gear—she had just competed at the NCAA 2010 Indoor Championships.

We struck up a conversation simply based on my Colorado State hoodie and her BYU shirt. With the exception of the SEC, you don't see that kind of activity very often.

On Thursday, I'll be making the drive to Oklahoma City to see all four opening-round games of the NCAA Tournament at the Ford Center. Though I'll be wearing my "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" shirt while I root for my Kansas Jayhawks, underneath I'll be wearing a green Colorado State shirt. That shirt will be exposed during both the BYU and UNLV games.

Do I have any vested interest in the Cougars or Rebels? Aside from Noah Hartsock, no. Still, I want to see this conference have success.

So whether you're in attendance or at the bar, let people know that the Mountain West Conference won't go quietly into the night. We will stick together. We will prevail.