NCAA Tournament 2016: How many bids for the Mountain West?

How many Mountain West Conference teams will be in this year’s NCAA Tournament field?

The Mountain West Conference is usually one of the strongest mid-major conferences in college hoops. However, this season is different than the previous years.

The Mountain West hasn’t had a single team in the Top 25 the entire season, which just seems a bit odd. When taking a deeper look into the conference and the teams, it becomes more apparent why that is. Last season Wyoming, Boise State and San Diego State were all playing in the Big Dance. This year, the Mountain West will be lucky if they can even get two teams in, and even that is a bit of a stretch.

Let’s face it, Wyoming probably wouldn’t have gotten in last season if they hadn’t have won the Mountain West Conference tournament with their victory over San Diego State. The only team that might be a lock is the Aztecs, although after finishing 7-6 in the non-conference slate many people had written Coach Fisher’s team off. Somehow, someway, the Aztecs are now 11-0 in the conference, but have played a handful of close games.

Boise State is probably the team with the best shot of getting an at-large bid this season. They beat Oregon in the non-conference season, but also lost to a Montana team that is now first in the Big Sky. New Mexico is second in the Mountain West at the moment, but has a bad loss on their resume to Rice. The Lobos also lost to Auburn, Purdue, BYU, and Washington State.

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San Diego State hasn’t had the best non-conference schedule, finishing with six losses. They did play, perhaps, the toughest schedule in the conference, with losses against Kansas, West Virginia, and Utah. They also lost to Grand Canyon and Arkansas-Little Rock, as well as cross-town rival USD.

The Aztecs have a signature win against Cal in November, but that’s about it. Cal was ranked at the time, but have since struggled, especially in conference play. The Aztecs winning out, or winning the MWC tournament, will cement their place into the NCAA tournament.

According to KenPom.com, there are currently three teams from the Mountain West Conference who have an RPI of 100 or better. Those three are San Diego State (66), UNLV (98), and New Mexico (100). Boise State dropped below the Top 100 with a loss to Air Force this past Saturday, and currently rank 107^th according to KenPom.com.

Fresno State is at 134, Nevada is at 143, Colorado State is at 164, and Wyoming and Utah State are 172 and 178, respectively. The Aztecs RPI would be much higher if it weren’t for their loss in December to USD, who currently sits at an RPI of 280 out of 351 teams, according to KenPom.com.

It is safe to say this is the weakest the Mountain West has been in a while, as a whole at least. The winner of the conference tournament will of course get an automatic bid, but if the Aztecs win that tournament they may be the only team representing their conference. According to ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi, he has the Aztecs as a 12 seed, and the only team in the Mountain West Conference receiving a spot in the tourney, in his latest Bracket prediction which was released on February 5.

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As March gets closer, and with less than half the regular season conference games left, the bracket will start to form itself. Who will win the Mountain West regular season crown? And who will receive the automatic bid to the Dance by winning the conference tournament? We will see.

Let us know your thoughts and predictions in the comments.