March 21, 2024 |
Some men’s basketball teams in the Mountain West are considering the NCAA Tournament committee as giving the league a backhanded slight.
Yes, the league is celebrating six teams making the tournament.
The tournament seeding has some also feeling slighted.
CSU came out Tuesday night and thrashed Virginia, the 2019 NCAA tournament winner 67-42. Virginia fans expecting a different outcome left the stadium early. The Rams will face No. 7 Texas tonight in a 5 p.m. game.
Meanwhile, San Diego State, which finished fifth in the conference and is ranked No. 24 in the latest Associated Press poll released Monday, is a No. 5 seed.
Utah State, which won the regular-season title and is ranked 20th, is an 8 seed.
Nevada, Boise State and Colorado State are all 10th seeds, and the latter two were sent to Dayton for play-in games.
Boise State fell to Colorado last night in the final First Four game. The Buffs came out on top, 60-53, in the battle of the ten seeds.
Nevada plays Dayton at 1:30 today.
Utah State, looking for its big moment, plays TCU on Friday.
The No. 5 seed Aztecs play No. 12 seed UAB in first round action on Friday in a game aired on TNT.
New Mexico, which won four games in four days to claim the Mountain West Tournament title and is ranked 22nd in the NCAA’s NET metric, is an 11. Not to worry, oddsmakers know the NCAA committee has a history. A No. 11 seed has knocked off a No. 6 five more times overall for a total of 58 upset victories since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. New Mexico and Clemson square off tomorrow and most Las Vegas odds makers have the Lobos as a marginal favorite.
So much for the show of disrespect handed down from the suits on the selection committee.
