Mountain West on track for multiple NCAA Tournament bids

The Boise State men’s basketball team had clawed its way back to the fringes of the NCAA Tournament bubble with four straight Mountain West victories.

Entering last Friday’s road matchup with Grand Canyon, the Broncos were listed as Joe Lunardi’s No. 12 team outside his NCAA Tournament field of 68. Lunardi had Boise State slotted two spots behind Butler, a team the Broncos defeated on the road in December.

But Boise State fell right out of the bubble conversation on Friday following an 86-69 road loss to Grand Canyon. The Lopes swept the regular-season series between the teams.

The Broncos (13-9, 5-6), who host Nevada (16-6, 8-3) at 7 p.m. Mountain time on Tuesday, were not included in Lunardi’s latest bracketology update.

Lunardi once again had three MWC teams listed in his NCAA Tournament field of 68: New Mexico (18-4, 9-2), San Diego State (15-6, 9-2) and Utah State (18-3, 9-2).

Lunardi gave the Aggies, who picked up a 71-66 home victory over San Diego State on Saturday, a No. 9 seed with a first-round matchup against No. 8 seed Villanova. Utah State has made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and is up to No. 27 in the NCAA NET Rankings.

New Mexico received one of Lunardi’s last four byes. Lunardi had the 10th-seeded Lobos facing No. 7 seed Saint Louis in the opening round.

New Mexico, the reigning MWC regular-season champion, is going for its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

San Diego State was Lunardi’s second-to-last team in the field, facing USC in a First Four matchup. Lunardi had Ohio State, Texas, USC and the Aztecs as the last four teams above the cut line.

San Diego State hasn’t missed an NCAA Tournament since the 2018-19 season.

Lunardi’s first four out were California, Santa Clara, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall, followed by Missouri, TCU, George Mason and VCU. Lunardi’s next four teams were Oklahoma State, Washington, Baylor and Nevada.

The Wolf Pack is 4-1 over its last five games entering Tuesday’s matchup with Boise State. Nevada won the first meeting between the teams in December, 81-66.

Nevada made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2023-24 but missed last year’s tournament.

The Big Ten received the most NCAA Tournament bids in Lunardi’s latest projection with 11, followed by the SEC (10), ACC (eight), Big 12 (seven), Big East (three) and MWC (three).

The MWC has received at least two NCAA Tournament bids every year since 2017.