The latest Bracketology has been released over at SBNation.com and once again there are four Mountain West teams in the field. UNLV is projected as a No. 5 seed going up against West Virginia, San Diego State is a No. 6 seed taking on Harvard and New Mexico has dropped to a seven seed and taking on Seton Hall. Colorado State is one of the last four teams and gets the unfortunate situation of being in the opening round games in Dayton as a No. 12 seed. Colorado State is projected to take on Texas with the winner going up against Louisville.
UNLV, San Diego State and New Mexico are essentially locks, but Colorado State is by no means guaranteed a sure thing:
The Rams jumped back into the field after Wednesday's home win over UNLV, which completed a Moby Arena sweep of the top three from the Mountain West. Colorado State's computer numbers are excellent, but that's more because of the teams they've lost to (at Duke, UNLV, New Mexico, Northern Iowa and Southern Miss. at home) than their wins. Plus, a 4-9 record away from Fort Collins isn't something to be proud of. Tim Miles' team has one last chance to improve upon that mark before the Mountain West tournament, as a difficult trip to Air Force is on tap for Saturday.
Colorado State should be rooting for the favorites to win their conference tournaments and have no upsets along the way. Plus, they must defeat Air Force on Saturday, and will need to defeat TCU in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament. That could be enough, but to be a safe bet for the tournament, Colorado State needs to make it to the finals, and that would mean getting a win over the San Diego State and New Mexico winner. Avoiding UNLV is huge, as I think they are going to win the tournament since it is being placed on their home court.
I am still hesitant to say Colorado State will get in, mainly because their high RPI is inflated due to playing good teams, but losing most of them.
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