Bracketology 2024: Analyzing resumes of the 6 current Mountain West at-large contenders
By Joey Loose
With Selection Sunday just over a month away, we’re certainly getting into the time of the year where bracketology becomes quite the buzzword. With the Super Bowl in the past, many eyes turn to a college basketball landscape that’s as wild as ever. Some of the familiar Blue Bloods continue their great seasons while a few surprises sit in great position this season.
One of those surprises has certainly been the play of the Mountain West Conference. Already considered one of the best mid-major leagues in the nation, the MWC has generally put multiple teams into the Big Dance, sometimes getting multiple at-large bids. Last season, the MWC sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament, highlighted by San Diego State’s trip to the national championship game, but could they send even more in 2024?
More than half of the eleven teams in this league currently sit in viable position for the NCAA Tournament. Remember, this is not the Big 12 or SEC or one of the power conference leagues; we’re talking about a selection of the best mid-majors this season all being part of this same conference. You’ll find more MWC teams than ACC or Pac-12 teams in virtually every bracket projection in the middle of February: a truly bizarre statement.
Today’s task lies in examining the six teams in Tournament shape from the MWC. While there are projections that have all six in the field, it’ll take strong finishes all around to get them all into the Big Dance. As such, we’ll be looking closely at what they’ve done and how they built their resumes, as well as what lies in these next few weeks before the postseason begins. We proceed with our run downs in alphabetical order.