The term ‘mid-major conference’ is a bone of contention in collegiate athletics. The label, after all, implies that a league is not among the top tier in a particular sport.
As far as men’s basketball is concerned, the Mountain West Conference is arguably not deserving of the mid-major distinction. Indeed, when the NCAA tournament bracket is unveiled later this week, the MWC will be on par with several of the so-called power conferences in terms of the number of bids it receives. And, lest we forget, one of the conference’s representatives played for the national championship last year.
The latest Bracketology projection for the tournament field has the Mountain West garnering six bids, behind only the Big 12 and SEC. Said 2023 runner-up, San Diego State, will be among them. Also included is regular-season champion Utah State, the teams that tied for second − Boise State and Nevada, along with Colorado State and New Mexico.
Six team is not an unheard-of accomplishment for a so-called non-power conference. The Atlantic 10 had six make the field in 2014. But that’s the only time since the tournament expanded in 1985 and would better the most teams for the Mountain West, which had five in 2013 as its high-water mark.
‘It’s great recognition,’ said Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez. ‘We’re beating up on each other now, but I think educated bracketologists and voters recognize that and are keeping our teams in, and I think that is certainly warranted.’
IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.
San Diego State’s tournament run helps Mountain West?
While officially not considered in the committee room when evaluating this year’s teams, there’s no doubt that San Diego State’s achievement last season boosted the conference’s reputation.
‘Certainly that was a huge hallmark for us,’ Nevarez said. ‘We’d been below our own expectations the last few years, so that was a huge breakthrough moment.’
But the primary driver of the pending tournament haul is the overall performance in the NCAA’s NET rankings. The six teams in question all finished the regular season in the top 36 of the tool used by the tournament committee. Only one conference has done better – the Big 12 with seven. Ranking behind the Mountain West are all the major leagues − the SEC (5), Big East (4), Big Ten (4), ACC (3) and Pac-12 (2).
‘That’s just this league. This is crazy,’ said Boise State coach Leon Rice after last week’s home loss to Nevada. ‘… Now that we’re at this point in the season and I’ve seen everybody, this is by far the best we’ve been top to bottom.’
How did the Mountain West become a NET powerhouse?
As a whole, the MWC went 73% in non-conference play with a good collection of quality results. Among them were defeats of expected tournament teams Creighton (Colorado State and UNLV), Saint Mary’s (San Diego State and Boise State), Gonzaga (San Diego State), TCU (Nevada) and Colorado (Colorado State).
The NET success was not due to an overarching strategy from league headquarters, according to Nevarez.
‘We talk about it (scheduling), but we don’t have any mandated non-conference guidelines,’ she said. ‘But I think the schools get it – they know that you have to schedule well and get those non-conference wins . I think the main thing in this league right now is there’s just a lot of talent in the coaches room.’
The fact is, lest outside observers accuse the league of gaming the system somehow, the teams in this conference are good.
Could the Mountain West get seven teams?
There’s the potential for a seventh Mountain West team to crash the party.
UNLV finished fourth in the league standings after going just 7-5 in its pre-conference contests. The Rebels posted 11 conference wins, including a sweep of New Mexico and defeats of San Diego State, Boise State and Colorado State. An at-large berth is unlikely with their NET at 75 but winning three games to early the Mountain West’s automatic berth isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
The tournament will be played at UNLV’s home arena, the Thomas & Mack Center. However, a deep run likely will include knocking off some of the league’s other contenders on the edge of the bubble, depending on how the rest of the tournament plays out.