NCAA Basketball: Predicted Winners of last 17 Conference Tournaments of 2023-24
By Bryan Mauro
Mountain West
Dates: March 13th- 16th
Location: Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV
Top Seed: Utah State Aggies
Winner: UNLV Runnin Rebels
The first bid stealer of championship week comes out of the Mountain West. UNLV winning this tournament is perfect. They get to play the games at home in their home arena, on their home floor, and in front of their home fans. The Runnin’ Rebels are also on a stretch that has seen them win 11 of 12 games to close out the year. UNLV is experienced and has been a popular landing spot for a lot of transfers over the years.
This year they have two fantastic transfers again in Kalib and Keylan Boone who have been integral in the recent run of success for the Rebels and then add that to a 5 star freshman point guard in Dedan Thomas Jr. and you have a team who has three legitimate stars that no one wants to play. UNLV may have already been my pick to win this tournament but now that it is on their home court it's almost a no brainer.
Sleeper: Colorado State Rams
Colorado State came into the conference portion of their schedule as one of the favorites to win the league given who they beat in the non-conference. The Rams hammered Creighton and beat Colorado and with the amount of talent they have on the roster including the Mountain West Player of the Year Isaiah Stevens it made sense why all of the hype. Then it came down to it that Colorado State had trouble winning on the road like so many other teams do, and ended up in the middle of the pack in the league. They are still a tournament team so they don’t need to win the league but there would be a lot of momentum heading into the tournament if they did.
Colorado State is hard to find simply because they have the best point guard in the country and he sets his teammates up to get perfect shots. They are extremely efficient from the floor and don’t turn the ball over much. They are tough when everything is going their way and come tournament play it should all be dialed in because the games mean more.