Photo by Joe Grimando

We’ve entered the month of March, so naturally it’s time for the Madness. Some conferences have already crowned their tournament champions and teams have punched their tickets. The Mountain West has four days of hoops scheduled this week. With a victor to be crowned on Saturday and everyone else gearing up for a Selection Sunday, which could only produce one Mountain West participant for the first time in nearly a decade.

The last week of Mountain West action certainly didn’t help that narrative. With a 27-point road loss to UNLV currently blotching Utah State’s at-large hopes if they don’t cut down the nets inside the Thomas and Mack Center this weekend.

For now, we chose five different websites to reference. Some old school heavy hitters like CBS, ESPN & Sports Illustrated to go along with some new kids on the block in One3 & Basket Under Review. Let’s see how Mountain West teams are faring out there with less than a few weeks of games to go.

Current Metric Rankings for Perspective Teams:

Boise State 20-11, 12-8 in MWC (2-6 Q1)(6-3 Q2)(8-1 Q3)(3-0 Q4)– KenPom 55th, NET: 57th
New Mexico 22-9, 137 in MWC (2-6 Q1) (6-1 Q2) (4-2 Q3) (9-0 Q4) – KenPom 49th, NET: 45th
San Diego State 20-10, 14-6 in MWC (2-7 Q1) (5-2 Q2) (6-1 Q3) (6-0 Q4)-KenPom 47th, NET: 47th
Utah State 25-6, 15-5 in MWC (3-4 Q1) (8-1 Q2) (8-1 Q3) (5-0 Q4)- KenPom 36th, NET: 29th

What the Experts Say:

CBS

No. 8 Seed Utah State vs. No. 9 Seed Iowa in East (Greenville)
Boise State on Bubble Watch/First Four Out
New Mexico on Bubble Watch/First Four Out

ESPN

No. 8 Seed Utah State vs. No. 9 TCU in South (Tampa)
San Diego State on Bubble Watch/Next Four Out
New Mexico on Bubble Watch/First Four Out

ONE3

No. 8 Utah State vs. No. 9 Clemson in Midwest (Philadelphia)
New Mexico on Bubble Watch/First Four Out

Basket Under Review

No. 8 Seed Utah State vs. No. 9 Iowa in West Region (San Diego)
San Diego State on Bubble Watch/Next Four Out
New Mexico on Bubble Watch/First Four Out

Sports Illustrated

No. 8 Seed Utah State vs. No. 9 Iowa in West Region (San Diego)
San Diego State-Next Four Out
New Mexico on Bubble Watch/First Four Out

Things have changed since our last Bracketology report. New Mexico has followed San Diego State’s lead and entered First Four Out territory on everyone’s bracket this week. Something that is expected after falling to both Colorado State at home last Tuesday and on the road in Logan on Saturday. It’s a tough pill to swallow for Lobo fans as two teams New Mexico has beaten this season are pegged as Last Four In selections in Santa Clara and VCU. While the Aztecs have fallen off of some outlet’s brackets entirely, while entering Next Four Out status on others.

As mentioned above, Utah State has entered some dangerous territory. Dropping three of their last five games in an already weak (by metric standards) conference has put their at-large status in question. That’s of course if they don’t win the Mountain West Tournament on Saturday, which let’s face it, it’s March anything can happen. I can’t imagine Utah State falling out of the field entirely, but I can see the Aggies fall into Last Four In territory and end up playing their first game in Dayton. The conference just has that negative perception on it Nationally at the moment.


Larry Muniz is a Mountain West Basketball beat writer for Couch Potato Sports along with West Coast mid-major coverage at Mid-Major Madness.

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