I used Mienshao is both White & White 2, and it did me good.
I really like Scrafty as well, and I would recommend it in BW in order to help you with Caitlin & Shauntal as well as Grimsley, but it doesn't get moves like Dragon Dance unless you breed. It still gets Crunch & Hi Jump Kick though, and it has really nice defences.
Conkeldurr and Throh are kinda slow, and while they have good bulk, they still need to take hits before doing anything.
As for Sawk, I never really liked it. It's got high attack and good speed, but Mienshao has better speed to utilise, and Regenerator + U-Turn to replenish health if it should miss with Hi-Jump Kick. The thing about Sawk is that it's good to use right off the bat, whereas Mienfoo needs some babying until it can hit hard, and it evolves into a Mienshao really late (Level 50). You can actually catch Mienfoo pretty late in the game, so it's not that much of a problem since they come in at around level ~35.
I still think Mienshao is better though, just because it learns all its useful & powerful moves via level up or via easily obtainable TMs.
Mienshao has the ever useful Fake Out, which (if you're playing White 2) will help you so much against Colress' Magneton/Magnemite, which both have Sturdy. Mienshao can also learn Acrobatics, so it'll also be a good counter against Marshall because your Flying type will have a hard time with its Sawk (Sturdy), so you can switch to Mienshao who can take a Rock hit, use Fake Out and then Acrobatics. It's nice with a Flying Gem or no item at all.
