This is part 22 of a 32-part series covering each conference and conference tournament. These previews are meant to provide every bracketologist with the information they need to make informed projections about the teams of the conference.
The standings:
San Diego St 16-2
New Mexico 15-3
Nevada 10-8
UNLV 10-8
Wyoming 9-9
Boise St 9-9
Fresno St 9-9
Utah St 7-11
Colorado St 7-11
Air Force 6-12
San Jose St 1-17
Tournament format:
March 12th to 15th, 4 straight days of play. UNLV (Las Vegas) hosts. No tricks in this bracket, it's straight-up.
The matchups:
8) Utah St (17-13) vs. 9) Colorado St (16-15)
7) Fresno St (16-15) vs. 10) Air Force (12-17)
6) Boise St (19-12) vs. 11) San Jose St (7-23)
1) San Diego St (27-3) vs. 8/9 winner
4) UNLV (19-12) vs. 5) Wyoming (18-13)
2) New Mexico (24-6) vs. 7/10 winner
3) Nevada (15-16) vs. 6/11 winner
The stakes:
No NCAA bubble stakes here. SDSU and New Mexico in, everyone else out. SDSU could be playing for a 2 seed if they beat New Mexico again, New Mexico is mostly playing to avoid the 8/9 line - I think if they don't lose to anyone other than SDSU, I'll lean towards giving them a 7.
The real fun stuff is on the NIT bubble. I have Boise just in. Their resume is sneaky bad, with just the wins over New Mexico and Utah helping. I have a feeling they'll be out of the NIT by next week.
UNLV won at New Mexico. Wyoming beat SDSU at home. That's all either team has. They're both behind Boise. Which means it's entirely possible that in addition to having just 2 NCAA teams, the MWC might not even get a NIT team. What a disaster of a season for the MWC behind the top 2.
If they all get pushed down to the CBI/CIT, this would likely mean the likes of Utah State and Colorado State would get pushed out of the postseason entirely. At the very least, those tourneys will have their pick of MWC teams. I could even see Nevada taken by the CBI given the conference finish. Meh.
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