The top two teams face off in the Mountain West this Saturday. Does the absence of one key player tip the scales between Boise State and Nevada?
TV schedule: Saturday, Jan. 20, 10:00 p.m. ET. ESPNU
Arena: Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada
For the past couple of seasons, the Mountain West Conference has been a one-bid league, thanks in part to some traditional powers struggling. This season has been much better in terms of overall quality in the league; yet on paper, it appears that much hasn’t changed.
In this week’s edition of Busting Brackets Bracketology, only one team is slated to get an at-large bid — Nevada 17-3 (6-0). The Wolf Pack are in a position where they don’t need the automatic bid at a seven see but does need to continue winning against the inferior opponents in the league.
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That’s now going to be harder, with Cody Martin, one of the twin brothers from NC State, out for the upcoming game. He’s part of a lethal trio, along with his brother Caleb and Jordan Caroline. He was out in the past game versus bottom-feeder San Jose State, and the Wolf Pack struggled for about 25-30 minutes of the game.
That’s because Caroline scored a season-low six points and failed to pick up the slack. Th good news is Caleb Martin led the way with 24 points, along with sharpshooter Kendall Stevens scoring 19 himself. The win over the Spartans was the 15th straight win in conference play for Nevada.
Their opponents are Boise State 16-3 (6-1) who come in relatively healthy and has the current front-runner for MW Player of the Year in Chandler Hutchinson. Coming off a school record 44 points against San Diego State, he had 16 in a tight win over a tough Utah State team.
The Broncos also had contributions from Lexus Williams, Alex Hobbs, and Marcus Dickinson. One concern was the frontcourt, where Christian Sengfelder and Zach Haney combined for just four points in the game against a team who doesn’t have nearly the talent as Nevada.
These two teams have a combined one loss in conference play, with the third place team having three defeats. There will be a rematch in Boise on Feb. 14, but considering that the Broncos are in Bracketology’s first four out, this is a huge opportunity for a win.
Next: Who Nevada plays in latest Bracketology seeding
Losing Cody Martin hurts for this game, not only with his scoring, but he also was going to be tasked at with guarding Hutchinson. At this point, this is a toss-up, but I believe that Caroline will be the difference making, inserting his name for the ultimate individual award in the league.
Prediction: Nevada 84 – Boise State 83
Bonus prediction: Boise’s Hutchinson 31 points – Nevada’s Caroline 35 points