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2019 NCAA Tournament Projections: Nevada Earns A Three Seed
Nevada finally getting respect.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
A three-seed might be a bit high for the Wolf Pack.
It may seem like it is too early to look forward to the 2018-19 college basketball season, but it is always fun to project what can happen.
The latest stupid early look ahead for college basketball is predicting the 2019 NCAA Tournament field before the draft deadline is not all that productive, but it sure is fun to think about.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has done such an exercise and gives the Nevada Wolf Pack a three seed in the West Region and has them up against Penn from the Ivy League as a 14 seed.
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That is not too far off when you look at the extremely early top 25 rankings out there — also remember rankings have no bearing on tournament seeding. The Wolf Pack are in the upper teens for most of those, however, they could change if Caleb and Cody Martin plus Jordan Carolina all keep their names in the NBA Draft. None have hired an agent so that means there is a chance they could return.
One other surprising note is that Lunardi has no other Mountain West teams in his first field of 68, and no team from the league is even being considered. The conference should be in the running for at least two, and if things fall right three bids.
New Mexico overachieved quite a bit last year in Paul Weir’s first season and while San Diego State is losing Max Montana and potentially Justin Michael they still should be a pretty good team. Then there is UNLV who showed better but odds are that freshman phenom Brandon McCoy is likely out, but if he does decide to return that would go a long way to helping the Rebels get back to the top of the league.
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