Mountain West Tournament seeding: Boise State, Colorado State to battle for No. 2 seed

The Mountain West Conference men’s basketball regular season comes to a close this weekend.

New Mexico (24-6, 16-3), which hosts UNLV (17-13, 11-8) at 8 p.m. Mountain time Friday, is locked into the MWC Tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Lobos held on for a 71-67 victory at Nevada (16-14, 8-11) Tuesday night to clinch their first MWC regular-season title in 12 years.

Boise State (22-8, 14-5) and Colorado State (21-9, 15-4) will also meet at 8 p.m. Friday in a battle for the No. 2 seed. The Broncos, who have won five straight games, are 13-1 at ExtraMile Arena this season.

Saturday will feature three more MWC games: Air Force (4-26, 1-18) at Utah State (24-6, 14-5), Fresno State (6-24, 2-17) at San Jose State (13-18, 6-13) and Nevada at San Diego State (20-8, 13-6).

The MWC Tournament runs March 12-15 at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The top five seeds receive a first-round bye.

The following teams are already locked into their seeding:

No. 1 - New Mexico

No. 6 - UNLV

No. 7 - Nevada

No. 8 - San Jose State

No. 9 - Wyoming

The MWC’s straightforward two-team and multi-team tiebreaker system can be found here. In short, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head record, followed by best record against the top team (New Mexico) in the standings, and moving down the standings as necessary until one team has the record advantage.

As stated above, the winner of Friday’s game between Boise State and Colorado State will earn the No. 2 seed.

If Utah State defeats Fresno State, the Aggies will clinch the No. 3 seed.

San Diego State can secure the No. 4 seed with a victory over Nevada and a Boise State loss to Colorado State. Utah State and Colorado State cannot fall below the No. 4 seed.

Boise State will be the No. 2, No. 4 or No. 5 seed. There is no functional difference between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds as both receive a first-round bye before facing off against each other in the quarterfinals.

If Air Force loses to Utah State, Fresno State will clinch the No. 10 seed. The Falcons need a victory over Utah State and a Fresno State loss to San Jose State to move up to 10th.

New Mexico and Utah State are projected to be safely in the NCAA Tournament field of 68 while Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State are on the bubble.

Here is the full MWC Tournament schedule:

All times listed are Mountain Standard Time

Wednesday, March 12

First round

San Jose State vs. Wyoming, noon (Mountain West Network)

Nevada vs. No. 10 seed, 2:30 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

UNLV vs. No. 11 seed, 5 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Thursday, March 13

Quarterfinals

New Mexico vs. San Jose State/Wyoming winner, 1 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed, 3:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

No. 2 seed vs. Nevada/No. 10 seed winner, 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)