Boise State, New Mexico on NCAA Tournament bubble entering critical Mountain West showdown

The Boise State men’s basketball team has already banked a pair of victories over NCAA Tournament-caliber teams in Butler and Saint Mary’s.

The Broncos (8-4, 0-1) will get a chance to secure another signature win on Tuesday against Mountain West rival New Mexico (10-2, 1-0). Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. Mountain time at ExtraMile Arena.

In the latest NCAA Tournament projection from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, Boise State and New Mexico were both among the first four out alongside California and Oklahoma State.

The Lobos won last year’s MWC regular-season title and received a No. 10 seed for the NCAA Tournament. New Mexico defeated No. 7 Marquette in the opening round before falling to No. 2 Michigan State in the round-of-32.

The MWC sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament last year: Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State and Utah State. The Broncos were among the first four out.

First-year MWC member Grand Canyon also qualified for the NCAA Tournament a season ago as the champion of the WAC.

A record six MWC teams received NCAA Tournament bids during the 2023-24 season: Boise State, Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State and Utah State.

The Aggies (10-1, 1-0) were the lone MWC representative in Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament field of 68 projection, which was released on Tuesday. Lunardi gave Utah State a No. 7 seed with a first-round matchup against No. 10 Baylor.

Lunardi listed Miami, Ohio State, Butler and Oklahoma as his last four teams in.

Boise State has been off for more than a week following a disappointing 81-66 road loss to Nevada in its MWC opener.

“Well, to be honest, it ruins Christmas,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said of the poor showing. “But you can’t let it do that, and I tell our guys that, too. It’s just what we do. You look all over the country and that’s always happening. The teams that can keep responding … because we’ve shown great response through some of the downs and great response through some of the ups.

“When I watch the film, I’ve got to credit Nevada. They did a great job. They were the aggressor and they played a great game. It’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think.”

Boise State has an unbalanced NCAA Tournament resume with a pair of NCAA NET Rankings Quad 1 victories over No. 28 Saint Mary’s and No. 42 Butler and a loss to Division II Hawaii Pacific.

The MWC has just one team inside the top 45 of the NET Rankings: No. 19 Utah State. The Broncos are No. 46 in the NET Rankings.