Mountain West coaches put Aztecs’ Matt Bradley on all-conference first team

The Mountain West coaches have spoken.

They named Colorado State forward David Roddy as the conference’s player of the year on Tuesday, just like the media did in separate awards announced a day earlier. Boise State’s Leon Rice was coach of the year, San Diego State’s Matt Bradley newcomer of the year and SDSU’s Nathan Mensah defensive player of the year — same as the media.

The big difference: Bradley was first team all-conference by the coaches, second team by the media.

And this: SDSU’s Chad Baker-Mazara was named sixth man of the year after receiving no votes from the media. UNLV’s Donovan Williams was the media’s choice, and SDSU teammate Adam Seiko got one of the 11 votes.

On the five-man first team with Bradley is Roddy, Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson, UNLV’s Bryce Hamilton and Wyoming’s Hunter Maldonado. The second team has two players from regular-season champion Boise State (Abu Kigab and Marcus Shaver), Colorado State’s Isaiah Stevens, Utah State’s Justin Bean and Wyoming’s Graham Ike, whom the media tabbed as first team instead of Bradley.

“Not getting accolades and all that is fine,” Bradley said. “I didn’t come here for that specific reason. ... I’m really focused on taking care of business in the Mountain West Tournament.”

Added coach Brian Dutcher: “It’s a team sport. The kids know that. Any award we gather is a team award. But Matt deserved to be on the first team, and I’m happy he was.”

Mensah made the third team in the media awards but not the coaches. The latter had two players from Nevada (Desmond Cambridge Jr. and Grant Sherfield), two from New Mexico (Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr.) and Utah State’s Brandon Horvath.

The coaches also select an all-defensive team. Mensah and Lamont Butler made that.

Voting results for the media poll are released, and some journalists make public their ballots. (The Union-Tribune’s is here.) The coaches awards have no such transparency.

The most surprising selection might have been Baker-Mazara, who isn’t really a sixth man but more like the eighth or ninth man off the bench on some nights. But he had nights of 14, 15, 16 and 20 points and ranks second on the team behind Bradley in scoring efficiency (averaging 7.9 points in just 14.3 minutes).

Not surprised was Bradley.

“Chad, I tell him all the time, I tell everybody I talk to, when it comes to having pro-like skill, he fits the intangibles,” Bradley said. “He’s 6-7, long, can score at three levels, shoot the ball really well, athletic. I tell everybody, ‘I think Chad is going to make a lot of money one day playing this game.’ Not only that, he’s a great teammate. There are games he doesn’t play as much as he thinks he should or as we think he should, and there are games he really steps up for us. Ultimately, he doesn’t let it affect him. He always encourages me, especially when I’m in my own head.

“He deserves that award and it’s nice that he’s getting a little recognition.”