NCAA Tournament Projections: How Many Many Mountain West Teams Will Make It?
Is five a possibility?
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How Many Mountain West Teams?
With a conference like the Mountain West, Selection Sunday can be a frustratingly mysterious riddle.
For those that failed to win their conference tournament, suspense and mystery are inevitable. Even then, it seems like the Mountain West is prone to a uniquely large dose of ambiguity.
The Mountain West is well-established as a multi-bid league and has earned anywhere from one to five. Since the inaugural 1999-00 season, the league has only been a single-bid league three times, most recently in 2016-17.
The league has earned five bids once and four bids three times.
In the past two seasons, the Mountain West had two and then four. Which last happened in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, following which, the Mountain West earned three.
The last time the conference earned four bids before last season, however, was in 2011-12 and the following season the conference earned five bids.
The Mountain West averages 2.5 bids a year and has a five-year Rolling average of 2.2 bids.
At the commencement of the tournament, San Diego State, at number 16 in the NET Rankings, is in. No questions asked. Boise State, 27th in the NET, is on the bubble but looks pretty safe. Also on the bubble are Utah State, at 21 in the NET, and Nevada at 36.
New Mexico has at-large hopes but, at number 50 in the NET Rankings, has work to do. Beyond that, UNLV and San Jose State sitting at 90 and 96 in the NET respectively, are probably just outside of the bubble, even with a tournament run, but could make things interesting by making the finals. For everyone else, it’s automatic qualifier or bust.
2023 Mountain West Basketball Tournament: Bracket Set, TV Schedule, Live Stream
ESPN’s Bracketology has San Diego State projected solidly as a 6-seed, with Boise State in the “Last Four Byes” group as a 10-seed, and both Utah State and Nevada in the “Last Four In” projected to be 11-seeds in the first four round.
