Mountain West Connection - All you need to know about the Mountain West

Mountain West Conference Standings

(updated 3.13.2010 at 11:26 PM PST)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
New Mexico Lobos	14	2	29	4
BYU Cougars Vanquish The Foe	13	3	29	5
San Diego St. Aztecs	11	5	25	8
UNLV Runnin Rebels	11	5	25	8
Colorado St. Rams	7	9	16	15
Utah Utes Block U	7	9	14	17
TCU Horned Frogs	5	11	13	19
Wyoming Cowboys	3	13	10	21
Air Force Falcons	1	15	10	21

NCAA Tournament Instant Reaction: Mountain West Gets Disrespected

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 14, 2010 6:01 PM PDT in Basketball Comment 10 comments

Yes four teams made the NCAA tournament but the seeding is a bit odd specifically for BYU and San Diego State. First off here are the game schedule for the Mountain West.

6 Tennessee v. 11 San Diego State

7 BYU v. 10 Florida

3 New Mexico v. 14 Montana

8 UNLV v. 9 University of Northern Iowa

The biggest complaints comes from San Diego State and BYU who should be higher, and to a lesser extent UNLV. Nearly all year BYU was seen as a three to a five seed through all the bracketology sites but were surprised Sunday with a seven seed. Below is BYU's RPI and SOS from CBS Sports.

Strength of Schedule and RPI
	Home	Away	Neutral	SOS	SOS Rank	RPI	RPI Rank
All Division I games games (28-5)	15-1	10-4	3-0	0.5252	116	0.6120	24
Conference games (14-4)	7-1	6-3	1-0	0.5241	129	0.5955	35
Non-conference D-I games (14-1)	8-0	4-1	2-0	0.4897	196	0.6057	25

Record vs. Teams Ranked in the CBSSports.com RPI
No. 1-25			No. 26-50			No. 51-75			No. 76-100			No. 101-200			No. 201+
2-2			2-3			2-0			2-0			10-0			10-0
H	A	N	H	A	N	H	A	N	H	A	N	H	A	N	H	A	N
1-1	1-1	0-0	1-0	1-3	0-0	1-0	0-0	1-0	1-0	1-0	0-0	4-0	4-0	2-0	7-0	3-0	0-0

Their strength of schedule could have been the reason, and possibly losing against New Mexico at the end of the season -- but without a fulls strength Jimmer Fredette -- and then losing to San Diego State in the conference tournament semis. Plus I doubt seed line could make a difference with BYU only being able to play a Thursday/Saturday regional. One seeding could be the reason and the only logical spot to put BYU and keep within the rules would have been a six seed in New Orleans and taking Notre Dames spot or possibly Butler but they are even under seeded.

Poll

Should both BYU and San Diego State Be Seeded Higher?

Continue reading this post »

10 comments | 0 recs | Share

Selection Sunday Open Thread: WOOT!!! WOOT!!!

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 14, 2010 1:33 PM PDT in Basketball Comment 63 comments

The day is here selection Sunday is on tonight at 6pm ET on CBS with the required viewing of two or so hours afterwards on ESPN. Come here and chat it up with predictions and, complain about your teams seed, or how your team will cruise to the final four.

Also do not forget to join our Bracket Challenge which is being hosted at CBS and to join click this link. Also the password is mountainwest

via www.hotstovenewyork.com

Let's hear what you think. Register for a free account here on the site and leave your comments, predictions and other game day chatter below in the comments section.

63 comments | 0 recs | Share

SB Nation's Final Bracketology! Well At Least The Most Current

We all know four MWC teams are safe and here are their seeds:
New Mexico (3), BYU (5), UNLV (9), San Diego State (10).

Here is the bracket, seed list and tracking spreadsheet.

Also, here is the final Bubble Watch.

about 8 hours ago Jeremy Mauss 2 comments 0 recs

AUDIO: Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson Talking Hoops And Expansion

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 14, 2010 1:05 PM PDT in News Comment 3 comments

This is a great interview that was done during the conference tournament and it is a good listen.

The interview is a lot about the basketball being so good and the extra money the league and participating teams will get. The real topic was expansion since at these tournaments the schools get together for informal meetings on the league.

To me it sounded like Craig Thompson was approaching expansion as a reactionary instead of a proactive approach. He said since nothing was done with teams realigning or contact being made with their schools; most specifically from the Pac-10 to Utah. I get his point that there is no need to panic, but with all the public knowledge from the Pac-10 and Big 10 looking to expand the MWC should be looking to protect themselves.

The biggest shocker was that any Mountain West school that wants to leave can without penalty which is odd since every league has some type of penalty such as The Big XII where any team must give two years notice and forfeit 50% of revenue. That might be enough to keep Colorado from jumping ship, especially since they are keeping around Dan Hawkins and not buy him out.

Craig Thompson made the impression that if a team does not want to be there then fine we do not want you, and that also comes across as saying it is a privilege to be in the MWC. The other item of interest on expansion is that the league commissioners do no the super secret BCS formula with their weight and that Thompson believes that the info will be released next month. Also, since he knows the numbers and that will determine if they expand **cough Boise State cough** to ten 10 teams. Money is an issue since to expand the revenue needs to be at least equal with a 10th team as each nine teams are getting now.

I guess since he knows the formula expansion will hinge on if the MWC is above the threshold then why expand, but then again who says that the league will keep their current success of three top 25 teams and a BCS appearance. Adding Boise should guarantee a BCS invite, and I still expect it to come this summer.

3 comments | 0 recs | Share

Join The NCAA Tournament Challenge Game

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 14, 2010 1:00 AM PST in News Comment 0 comments

Time to challenge everyone in the NCAA bracket pool. This one will be ran by CBS Sports and to join click on this link. The rules are a bit different, and this will be my first time trying this format. There is also a password that is mountainwest

Each round is worth 32 points, round one each game is one point, round two is two points, and double till the final The twist is that whatever seeds wins their round the seed is multiplied by the round score. For example is a five seed wins a round two game then they would get 10 points. You take the two points the round is worth and then multiply it by their seed.

Though this would bring an interesting twist to the game. Click here to go to game page and the password is mountainwest

0 comments | 0 recs | Share

Kawhi Leonard out-rebounds the entire Rebel squad. He finished with 21 rebounds on the game.

about 23 hours ago Sam (sdsuaztec4) 4 comments 0 recs

Mountain West Championship Game Open Thread

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 13, 2010 3:00 PM PST in Basketball Comment 104 comments

The favorites are gone and it is down to host UNLV and San Diego State. If tonight's game is as good as the previous rounds then everyone is in for a treat.

#4 San Diego State vs. #3 UNLV 7PM ET TV: Versus

If you have DirecTv then you do not have Versus so check the usual online suspects for a feed, go to a friends house, or if you are really out of luck use CBS Sports Game Tracker it is one of the best out there.

Let's hear what you think. Register for a free account here on the site and leave your comments, predictions and other game day chatter below in the comments section.

I have now integrated twitter to the open thread. So, within your message you need to put #mwc in the tweet and it will show up and send it to @mwcconnection. Also, if your not following me my twitter name is @mwcconnection

104 comments | 0 recs | Share

San Diego State Vs. UNLV For MWC Title.

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 13, 2010 11:31 AM PST in Basketball Comment 2 comments

This post is also featured on the SB Nation NCAA Tournament Page

Next Game

San Diego St. Aztecs
@ UNLV Runnin Rebels

Saturday, Mar 13, 2010, 4:00 PM PST

TV: Versus
Mountain West Tournament - Championship - Thomas & Mack Center - Las Vegas, NV

Complete Coverage >

First off the game is a 7PM eastern tip on Versus which is the third network in three days for the Mountain West, so no reason to cast blame for people who had a tough time watching the tournament. However, if you are a DirecTv subscriber find alternate solutions to watch the game since the channel is still off the air.

Now onto the game, each team pulled off the upset in last nights game with UNLV over BYU, and San Diego State defeating New Mexico. The San Diego State win makes them pretty much a lock to the NCAA tournament, as is UNLV. However, there is a small amount of concern since Houston upset UTEP in the C-USA final, and that could mean one less at large spot if UTEP gets in.

UNLV has the home court advantage in this matchup since it is being played on their home court, so expect at least a 70-30 fan advantage for the Lobos, and expect UNLV to come out early feeding off the energy of the home crowd. Both teams played amazing basketball last night which should make tonights games as entertaining as the previous two rounds.

Look for the stars of both teams to continue their great play they have been showcasing in the tournament. The key player for San Diego State is Billy White who had a career high 28 points in last nights win, as well as super frosh Kawhi Leonard. As for the Rebels watchout for Tre'Von Willis who is their leader but he did suffer a minor ankle injury but is expected to play, and the other Rebel to watch out for Chace Stanback.

2 comments | 0 recs | Share