Mountain West Conference Tournament Preview
by John Eisel
I don’t understand the reasoning behind the time schedule for the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, in terms of both exposure and ticket sales.
Wyoming will have the most fans buying tickets for the games, yet the conference has them playing at 2:30 p.m.? Considering the driving or flying time most of the Poke fans will have to go through, wouldn’t it make more sense to put the game at a time that they could actually attend, either the 7 p.m. or 10 p.m. game?
Also, the conference wants to market New Mexico and show NCAA selection committee members what a great team they are. Then why aren’t they on the 10 p.m. ESPN game with BYU? Instead, they get the ESPN regional game, which will be seen live by people in New Mexico and Utah.
Then with the ESPN game, they put Air Force-San Diego State instead of showcasing the best team in the conference, Utah. The Utes may be in, but they’re still fighting for a good seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. A better seed usually means an easier opponent and a better chance for the Utes to get out of the first round.
Besides, the Falcons’ Princeton-style motion offense doesn’t exactly make for thrilling television and the teams’ last meeting ended in a 20-point rout.
Or maybe its a shot at ESPN for shoddy coverage of the Big Monday games, who knows? But it certainly doesn’t make sense for the conference.
Now to the games.
If history has shown anything about the Mountain West Conference Tournament, its that the hottest team that needs to win the tournament is going to win. Colorado State two years ago. San Diego State three years ago.
First Round (Thursday)
Utah vs. Colorado State, Noon
The Rams will stay with the Utes for about a half before Utah pulls away for the 15-point win.
UNLV vs. Wyoming, 2:30 p.m.
For whatever reason, the Rebels always seem to put everything together for the MWC Tournament, well, at least until the championship game. UNLV by five.
New Mexico vs. Brigham Young, 7 p.m.
Lobos try to run it up as they look for style points from the NCAA Tournament committee. New Mexico by 15.
Air Force vs. San Diego State, 10 p.m.
The young Aztecs don’t have the discipline to stay with the Falcons. Air Force by eight.
Semifinals (Friday, March 11)
Utah vs. UNLV – 7 p.m. – I am sorely tempted to take UNLV, just because I haven’t picked an upset yet and UNLV always plays well in the tournament. But I’m going to fight temptation, just because it never seems like Andrew Bogut has a really bad night. Utes by five.
New Mexico vs. Air Force, 10 p.m. – Hey, here’s the ESPN showcase for the Lobos. And they’ll win, because Danny Granger is that good.
Championship (Saturday, March 12)
New Mexico vs. Utah
It’s impossible to go through this many games without an upset, so here it is. Because the Lobos need it a lot more than the Utes, New Mexico wins on a short jumper by Granger as time runs out as New Mexico secures the automatic bid.
NCAA Tournament
Sixth seed: Utah
12th seed: New Mexico
NIT
Air Force (19-12) goes somewhere, because its gym is too small.
UNLV (16-13) hosts a game, because they have a lot of paying customers for their games.
I have no idea about Wyoming (15-13). I think an NIT berth will come down to the UNLV-Wyoming game.
Staying home
San Diego State (10-18) is wondering what happened after the first two games of the conference season.
Colorado State (11-17) will just go out and recruit more seven-footers.
BYU (9-21) just wants a summer for all the young talent to gel and mature.
