NCAA Tournament projections: San Diego State to face SEC opponent
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ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi updated his NCAA tournament projections on Friday morning as we close in on the final week of the college basketball regular season.
San Diego State, who’s hovered around the bubble for much of the second half of the season, is among Lunardi’s last four byes. The Aztecs are listed with Baylor, Arkansas and Nebraska.
ESPN’s current projection has San Diego State as a 10-seed in the South Region, taking on 7-seed Mississippi State in Milwaukee. 2-seed Iowa State and 15-seed Montana are the other teams in the projected quadrant.
The Aztecs have won eight of their past 10 games, losing at Utah State and Colorado State during that stretch. They’ve registered impressive home victories over New Mexico and Boise State to help improve their postseason positioning.
Boise State, one of the nation’s best teams at home, continues to rise in Lunardi’s projections. Following consecutive wins over New Mexico, Nevada and Utah State, the Broncos are now listed as the third team out. They’re positioned with Georgia, North Carolina and Xavier. The Broncos have road games against Air Force and Fresno State before completing the regular season against Colorado State next Saturday.
New Mexico and Utah State continue to battle for the regular season crown in the Mountain West. The Lobos and Aggies, solidly in the tournament, have not seen their projections change much in recent weeks. Lunardi lists New Mexico as an 8-seed taking on 9-seed UConn in Raleigh. The winner would likely see Duke in the following round.
Utah State is currently projected as a 9-seed in the West Region. Lunardi has the Aggies taking on in-state foe BYU in a matchup in Wichita. The winner would likely see Houston, a team that has been on a run in recent weeks. San Diego State’s win over Houston in Las Vegas earlier this season has been a key piece for the Aztecs to hang their hat on when it comes to postseason play.
Colorado State, despite sitting third in the Mountain West Conference standings, still sits solidly out of the tournament. The Rams have moved up to No. 63 in the KenPom Rankings and are at No. 64 in ESPN’s BPI as of Friday morning. Their lack of a significant victory outside of conference play is likely going to keep them from snagging an at-large bid this season. With time left to improve their seeding for the conference tournament, Colorado State could position themselves for a deep run in Las Vegas.
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Bodie DeSilva has been covering sports in San Diego for more than a decade. He previously covered San Diego State athletics for Scout/Fox Sports.