Rick Majerus calls them incremental steps.

Crawl before you can pass, walk before you can catch, run before you can shoot.

"We have to take things slow here," says Majerus. "But hopefully, we'll have a few people we can actually throw the ball to inside this year.

"At least we have bodies there. We didn't last year. We played without a post."

MWC Projections

Here are ESPN.com's MWC projections and previews of each team: 1. Wyoming 2. UNLV 3. Utah 4. San Diego State 5. BYU 6. Colorado State 7. New Mexico 8. Air Force All-MWC Team G: Marcus Banks UNLV, Senior G: Ruben Douglas New Mexico, Senior G: Marcus Bailey Wyoming, Senior F: Britton Johnsen Utah, Senior F: Dalron Johnson UNLV, Senior Most Valuable Player Marcus Bailey, Wyoming Newcomer of the Year Demetrius Hunter, UNLV Freshman of the Year Tim Drisdom, Utah

Utah basketball wasn't Utah basketball last season, a testament to Majerus' coaching skill when you consider the Utes advanced to another NCAA Tournament. But the program that wears red and plays in the Hunstman Center built past championships and a Final Four run on being strong and physical inside.

Last year, it went 21-9 by mostly shooting 3-pointers.

"That's not what they do," said Wyoming coach Steve McClain. "Now, they did it really well, but their matchups without an (inside game) weren't nearly as good. They had to re-invent themselves during a season. That's difficult to do and still be successful, and very few coaches could do it as well as (Majerus)."

Utah's mindset this season returns to an inside-first scheme, one it needs to compete with preseason favorites Wyoming and Nevada-Las Vegas -- not to mention a few others -- for a top-tier Mountain West Conference finish.

The Utes were zapped of their inside game last year when a mid-season injury shelved center Chris Burgess. So they looked outside for victory, to players like guard Nick Jacobson (44 percent on 3s) and wing Britton Johnsen (35.6 percent).

"I actually thought they became a better team without Burgess because they became harder to guard," said BYU coach Steve Cleveland. "But, ultimately, it's hard to win consistently without a post presence."

Said UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour: "(Majerus) is one of the best who has ever done what we do. He adapts as well as anyone to problems. The first time we played them last year, we had some success with our press.

"The second time, they were ahead 11-0 and our guys on the bench were going crazy to take a timeout. I told our players 'Well, at least we stopped them from shooting threes this time,' because all they're doing it making layups off our press."

Faces that will try and toughen Utah's middle this season include senior Cameron Koford (6-11, 230) and junior transfer Tim Frost (6-10, 234). The latter added some bulk in the off-season, while Frost was an all-conference pick at Portland before sitting out last year. Johnsen is a versatile 6-9 senior forward and the league's reigning Player of the Year after averaging 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds.

There is also Australian forward/center Andrew Bogut (6-9, 205), a 17-year old who is expected to enroll and be eligible in mid-December.

"You're talking about a kid 6,000 miles away and he's supposed to come in and really help us right away?" says Majerus. "No way. I just want to see him show up.

"I think Frost can help us. He has some experience. Koford has worked hard to improve. I think Britton wants to be tougher, but is his mind willing? ... The guys played their butts off last year. They defended well. But we couldn't score or guard the post. We just got caught short because of injuries and numbers."

A lack of bodies won't be a problem for Wyoming and UNLV, the teams most think will battle for a regular-season title. The Cowboys return four starters from a 22-win team that upset Gonzaga in the first round of NCAAs before falling to Arizona.

This, a Wyoming team that won the regular-season championship before being defeated by San Diego State in the conference tournament. Still, the Mountain West received three (SDSU, Wyoming and Utah) NCAA bids.

	Britton Johnsen, who at 6-9 was Utah's tallest healthy body by the end of last season, will have some inside help this season.

"I had a (NCAA Tournament) selection committee member tell me, 'Steve, you guys beating Gonzaga proves we should take league champions as (at-large) teams, that what you do over 12 weeks matters more than just three days,'" said McClain. "So now, our coaches go into this season feeling good that we can get three teams in the NCAA Tournament again. We expect it."

It won't be easy, and not for a lack of competent teams. See, a sense of parity has grasped college basketball on a national level and it's no different in the Mountain West.

Six teams (Wyoming, UNLV, Utah, BYU, Colorado State and Air Force) are better than last year. SDSU, which made its first NCAA trip in 17 years, still must prove it can combat the losses of leading scorers Randy Holcomb and Al Faux.

Still, if the Aztecs receive a favorable eligibility ruling on McDonald's All-American forward Evan Burns and the shaky knees of Arizona transfer Travis Hanour hold up, Steve Fisher's team could again sit among the league's best come March.

"We need to dig our heels in, and, having lost some key players, be able to continue to have a good basketball team." said Fisher. "We're going to do that, and I'm going to be disappointed if we're not in a (post-season) tournament again."

There is also mystery to New Mexico, which welcomes a new head coach (Ritchie McKay) and more fresh faces on the court than Albuquerque has Spanish architecture. McKay was the head coach at Colorado State from 1998-2000, and knows well the seven teams he will now face in conference.

"I'm not sure if I'm surprised at how good the league is now," said McKay, who spent the last two seasons at Oregon State. "What happens is a guy like Charlie Spoonhour gets hired at UNLV and a guy like Steve Fisher gets hired at San Diego State. Those guys are going to get good players. ... Joe Scott has done a great job building the Air Force program. Steve McClain has made Wyoming into a consistent winner.

"Hey, I guarantee you Colorado State (picked sixth in most preseason polls) could win the league this year. That's how close everyone is."

And yet, few have the athletic depth as UNLV. The Rebels lost a last-minute thriller to SDSU in the conference tournament final last season, but return two of the league's best in seniors Marcus Banks at point guard and Dalron Johnson at forward. They also add Georgetown transfer guard Demetrius Hunter and welcome back wing Jermaine Lewis, a senior who sat out last season with a knee injury.

"The league is really, really good and we should be much better," said Spoonhour. "But you know, I've seen four teams -- San Diego State, BYU, Utah and us -- picked to finish second in this league. What does that tell you?"

It's a tossup, that's what.

Ed Graney of the San Diego Union-Tribune is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ed.graney@uniontrib.com.