Boise State on wrong side of NCAA Tournament bubble following gut-punch loss to San Diego State

Utah State remains lone MWC team in Joe Lunardi’s field of 68

Boise State's Dylan Andrews. | Boise State Athletics

The Boise State men’s basketball team was 18 seconds away from nabbing another Quad 1 victory last weekend at San Diego State.

The Broncos erased a 24-point first-half deficit to force overtime and held a 93-87 lead with 18 seconds remaining at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs sandwiched a Boise State turnover with two three-pointers and wound up stealing the Mountain West game in triple overtime, 110-107. 

Following the loss, Boise State (9-5, 1-2) sits two games behind MWC-leading Nevada (11-3, 3-0), San Diego State (9-4, 3-0) and Utah State (12-1, 3-0) in the conference standings. The Broncos have a pair of critical home games this week against Grand Canyon (8-5, 1-1) on Wednesday and Utah State on Saturday. 

In the latest NCAA Tournament field of 68 projection from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, Boise State is team No. 69. Lunardi has Butler, Virginia Tech, Tulsa and the Broncos as his first four teams out. 

Boise State defeated Butler on the road back in December, 77-68. 

Lunardi lists Saint Louis, LSU, Indiana and Miami as his last four byes and N.C. State, Ohio State, Baylor and Oklahoma as the last four teams inside the field of 68. The Wolfpack earned an 81-70 victory over Boise State at the Maui Invitational. 

Utah State is the lone MWC representative in Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament field of 68 projection, which was released on Tuesday. Lunardi has the Aggies as a No. 8 seed with a first-round matchup against No. 9 Kentucky. 

Boise State has an uneven NCAA Tournament resume with a pair of NCAA NET Rankings Quad 1 victories over No. 24 Saint Mary’s and No. 46 Butler and four Quad 1 defeats. The Broncos also suffered a catastrophic home loss to Division II Hawaii Pacific to open the season. 

The MWC has just one team inside the top 40 of the NET Rankings: No. 20 Utah State. The Broncos are No. 45 in the NET Rankings, followed by No. 55 New Mexico (11-3, 2-1), No. 68 Nevada and No. 69 San Diego State. 

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.