NCAA Selection Committee sends MWC mixed signals
Conference happy to get six teams in tourney, but their seeds lower than expected
The NCAA Selection Show was a Mountain West sports fan’s dream.
There was the chest-thumping, proved ‘em all wrong accomplishment of getting six teams into the NCAA Tournament for the first time — more than “Power Six” basketball conferences such as the storied ACC (5), the dissolving Pac-12 (4) and the historic Big East (3).
However, Mountain West team after team was one, two, maybe even three or four spots lower than most respected bracket prognosticators had predicted — feeding into that one thing that so many fans seem to secretly thrive on: a belief everyone is out to get them.
The selection committee had sent the Mountain West signals of respect and disrespect at the same time.
“I am thrilled that the Mountain West Conference earned a record six bids to the NCAA Tournament, showing the incredible strength of our men’s teams and of our league,” Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said.
“While I would have liked to have seen the Committee reward that strength with higher seeding for our men’s teams, I recognize the Committee has a difficult job. We look forward to supporting our men’s and women’s teams in the coming weeks ahead in what should be an incredible pair of NCAA Tournaments!”
Here is the overall seed list for the Mountain West (and the team’s actual seed and opponent in parenthesis):
18 — San Diego State (No. 5 in East vs. No. 12 UAB)
30 — Utah State (No. 8 in Midwest vs. No. 9 TCU)
37 — Nevada (No. 10 vs. 7 Dayton)
38 — Boise State (No. 10 in South vs. No. 10 Colorado)
42 — New Mexico (No. 11in West vs. No. 6 Clemson)
44 — Colorado State (No. 10 in Midwest vs. No. 10 Virginia
As the Broncos looked on at a watch party in Boise and saw their name revealed as a No. 10 seed playing in Dayton’s First Four — a lower seed than many thought — coach Leon Rice’s jaw dropped as he sat next to university president Dr. Marlene Tromp, who put both hands to her mouth, same as most everyone else in the room.
“It feels like the disrespect has been consistent,” Rice said, as quoted by Bronco Nation News. “We got second in a league that’s a six-bid league. You get that good of a league and you get second and that low of a seed? It’s a head-scratcher but it’s nothing new for us. We just have to put that on our backs and put that on the road with us.”
In Albuquerque, where the Lobos held the league’s automatic berth and knew they’d get in, there wasn’t much shock or disappointment as the team knew it was at least in after winning four games in four days at the Mountain West Tournament this past week in Las Vegas.
“I think our league needs to be proud, extremely proud of the fact that we have six teams in,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said. “We can’t forget that. The storyline will be that the league was under seeded. (But) we got six teams in the NCAA Tournament. That means we have a damn good league.
“As I’ve said many times, we need to parlay this historic year into future success into all these programs to continue to make them better, because if we want to compete with these other leagues, we got to have the resources to do that. And that’s top to bottom,” he said.