The 2010–11 Mountain West Conference men's basketball season was the 12th season of Mountain West Conference basketball. This was the final season for the two Utah schools in the conference. BYU became a member of the West Coast Conference in most sports, including basketball, while its football program became independent. Utah joined the Pacific-10 Conference, which changed its name to the Pac-12 with Colorado also joining from the Big 12 Conference. The Mountain West welcomed new members as well, with Boise State joining in 2011 and Fresno State and Nevada following in 2012. The Brigham Young University Cougars and San Diego State men's basketball teams ended the regular season as co-champions.^[1][2] San Diego State earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by defeating BYU in the conference tournament. BYU and UNLV secured at-large bids into the tournament. Both BYU and SDSU reached the Sweet Sixteen round but were also eliminated in that round.

The Mountain West Conference held its pre-season media day on October 12, 2010 at the MountainWest Sports Network studios in Denver, Colorado.^[3]

A record tying 6 teams received post season berths. San Diego State was the conference's automatic qualifier to the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament^[5] and were joined by BYU and UNLV as at-large selections. SDSU was given a second seed in the Western regional while BYU was a third seed. Colorado State and New Mexico went to the National Invitation Tournament. In addition, Air Force received an invitation to compete in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.^[6]