Day 2 of the Mountain West tournament has the quarterfinal getting underway and with some intriguing matchups. First up is Utah State going up against regular season conference champion Nevada.
This is probably the one matchup the Wolf Pack did not want. While the Aggies struggled this year they were able to be the Wolf Pack at home in what was one of the more peculiar losses to the Nevada season.
Added to that is that in the Mountain West the regular season champ has not fared well.
“It’s maturity, professionalism, and understanding that the last 10 Mountain West outright champions have not really succeeded in the postseason tournament,” Nevada head coach Eric Musselman said. “All those things have been discussed and will continue to be discussed until we tip-off. It’s important for guys to understand that.”
Fresno State and New Mexico is the second game and the big question is how much of an impact will the Lobos’ Tim Williams have. Williams missed the latter part of the season with a foot injury and returned for the season finale to play 31 minutes and score 10 points. If Williams is 100 percent then he and Elijah Brown should be able to get past Fresno State.
Colorado State face in-state rival Air Force and the Falcons came out swinging against Wyoming in their opening round game to start off with a 25-0 run and cruised to victory. The Rams are forced to go with a seven-man rotation while the Falcons played 11 in their win over Wyoming have played as many as 15 players in some games, so Air Force could attempt to wear down Colorado State in an attempt to pull off the upset.
The finale should be a good one as both San Diego State and Boise State really dislike each other. The Aztecs must avoid another slow start in this tournament if they want to advance and get past the Broncos. For Boise State, they need a second player to step up and all signs point to Nic Duncan as that player, but he has been extremely inconsistent this year.
The dates, TV/stream viewing options and tip-off times are listed below. To stream CBS Sports Network one must have one of these five pay-TV providers.
Wednesday, March 8 (First round)
Utah State 90, San Jose State 64
Air Force 83, Wyoming 68
San Diego State 62, UNLV 52 (OT)
Thursday, March 9 (Quarterfinals)
No. 1 Nevada vs. No. 8 Utah State - 12pm PT, CBS Sports Network (Nevada -8)
No. 4 Fresno State vs. No. 5 New Mexico - 2:30pm PT, CBS Sports Network (Fresno State -2)
No. 2 Colorado State vs. No. 10 Air Force - 6pm PT, CBS Sports Network (No line)
No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 San Diego State- 8:30pm PT, CBS Sports Network (No line)