Mountain West Basketball: 2024 conference tournament preview and predictions
By Joey Loose
The MWC Tournament launches Wednesday from Las Vegas and features a really strong field; which team will stand out and earn that coveted automatic bid to the Big Dance?
No matter how you slice it, this has been a tremendous season for basketball in the Mountain West. In a year when the Pac-12 is bidding farewell it certainly appears like basketball on the West Coast is still in very solid hands. When the NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed on Sunday there will likely be at least five MWC teams in the field, and perhaps more than that.
Last season saw the MWC send four teams to the Big Dance though San Diego State clearly stole the spotlight, advancing all the way to the national championship game with their incredible play. None of the other MWC teams won a Tournament game, though a mid-major league getting four teams into the field is certainly an accomplishment.
That’ll be even more impressive this season. San Diego State will certainly be back again with hopes to make more history, but they didn’t even finish Top 4 in this league. Utah State surprised everyone with a new coach and roster to win the regular season title while stalwarts like Nevada and Boise State have really impressed all season long.
Both Colorado State and New Mexico have to play in the first round but both have attractive Tournament resumes, though those Lobos might have some work to do to punch their own ticket. We’ll talk more extensively about this, it’s just to show that the conference is deep, talented, and very exciting. Throw in the fact that UNLV finished ahead of three of these teams in the standings and will have home-city advantage once again in Vegas.
With this surplus of impressive teams, this will surely be one of the most exciting MWC Tournaments in recent memory. It’s been a lot of San Diego State and Utah State in recent years, though any of those other potential Tourney teams could certainly impose their will in three or four games this week in Las Vegas. Who will prevail in this incredible postseason event?