Bracketology: Mountain West still has six teams in the field

This past weekend the Mountain West took a small hit win Boise State fell to Air Force, and Wyoming upset San Diego State, but according to some of the latest NCAA Tournament predictions the league is still getting six teams in, for now.

SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean still has the Mountain West landing six teams come March:

No. 4 New Mexico vs. No. 13 Louisiana Tech
No. 6 San Diego State vs. No. 11 Temple
No. 7 UNLV vs No. 10 Oklahoma State
No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Wyoming
No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 11 Colorado State
No. 12 Boise State vs. No. 12 Memphis (opening round game)

The reason there are still six teams in the NCAA Tournament has to do with the league's RPI, which is second or third, depending on where one looks. With so many good teams with a top-50 RPI, even loses to those teams will not hurt that much.

The only way teams can play themselves out of a bid is either not win any marquee games, or have multiple loses from either Air Force, Fresno State or Nevada. So, Boise State is on notice since they fell to Air Force just last weekend, they will need to make that up down the road.

Here is what Dobbertean says about the Mountain West this week:

While the chances of three bids for the Missouri Valley ticked up over the past seven days, the odds of a six-team Mountain West contingent slipped. Sure, the same half dozen teams are still hanging around, but two in particular saw their chances take real hits in the past week.

Wyoming took care of San Diego State in Laramie on Saturday, but Luke Martinez‘s arrest on felony charges and Wednesday's loss at Fresno State could really cost them as the conference season grinds on. Boise State, meanwhile, is really just a buzzer-beater away from an 0-3 league start. Wednesday's home overtime loss to New Mexico was a blown opportunity, while Saturday's defeat at Air Force was not the best response to that bit of adversity, even if Jeff Elorriaga was out with a concussion. The Broncos cannot afford to drop either game this week, Fresno State at home or Nevada away.

As for the forecasted contenders, this week's schedule will see a few more opportunities for shuffling. Unbeaten New Mexico may not stay that way for long, as the Lobos travel to Viejas Arena Saturday afternoon -- three days after Colorado State, the only one-loss team in the league, visits The Pit. The Aztecs make the tricky trip to Reno on Wednesday, while UNLV, smarting from a Saturday loss in Fort Collins, can send Wyoming further down the bubble one night later.