Bracketology 2024: Duke, Kansas, and Boise State highlight the last weekend of the regular season

Boise State (21-9, 12-5 in MWC) at San Diego State (22-8, 11-6 in MWC), Friday, March 8, 10:00 PM ET, FS1

The Mountain West is eyeing a record six bids to the NCAA tournament as the regular season winds down. The biggest finale takes place Friday night when Boise State travels to San Diego to take on San Diego State. Both teams enter the game in the cluster of five teams within 1.5 games of first place. The Broncos are now 21-9 after a loss to Nevada and are in a tie with Nevada and UNLV behind Utah State for the league lead. The Aztecs are 1.5 games behind after their road loss at UNLV on Tuesday. Both teams would like the momentum of a win heading into the conference tournament.

Both these teams are in a solid position heading into the final game of the regular season, so this game is more about seeding for both teams when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. The Aztecs are in contention for a protected seed and the Broncos have climbed as high as a No. 7 seed thus far. San Diego State has played a strong schedule with the No. 14 non-conference strength of schedule and No. 29 overall, but one thing limiting their ceiling is their 3-7 record in quad 1 games. A win in this one coupled with a couple more in the conference tournament would solidify their protected-seed status.

The Broncos are 2nd in the conference in the NET with a ranking and have performed better in quad 1 games with a 5-4 record and a neutral-court win over Saint Mary’s that has aged well in the last couple of months. A second quad 1A road win would bump them up the seed list even further entering the Mountain West Tournament.