Air Force’s Grant Best earns MW honors after record-setting first week

Grant Best’s first week of college basketball wasn’t something Air Force could have seen coming.

Because it just hadn’t seen him.

Coach Joe Crispin was hired last spring, when Best was wrapping up a season at the prep school. So the coach’s only chances to really watch Best play came during a pair of workouts held during basic training.

But Best — named Mountain West freshman of the week on Monday following a record-setting first three games with the Falcons — did come with a strong recommendation from one of the program’s all-time best.

“I had never seen him play,” Crispin said. “But (assistant) Mike Lyons, having been down at the prep school, knew. He said, ‘Grant’s going to play.’ And I…