photo Courtesy of Mountain West Conferance
Mountain West Sends Four Teams to 2025 NCAA Tournament
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The Mountain West Conference earned four bids to the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, a feat they’ve achieved for three consecutive seasons.
Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State, and San Diego State are all headed to the Big Dance, continuing the conference’s streak of multiple bids for the seventh straight year.
The Mountain West Tournament champion Colorado State (25-9) earned the league’s automatic bid. It will be a No. 12 seed in the West Region.
The Rams will take on No. 5 seed Memphis (29-5) in Seattle on Friday, March 21, at 11 a.m. PT on TBS. This marks CSU’s 13th NCAA appearance and third under head coach, Niko Medved.
photo Courtesty of © Logan Newell/The Coloradoan
New Mexico (26-7), the conference’s regular-season champion, landed an at-large bid as a No. 10 seed in the South Region.
The Lobos, led by standout guard Donovan Dent, will face No. 7 seed Marquette (23-10) in Cleveland on March 21 at 7:25 p.m. ET on TBS. This is UNM’s second straight NCAA appearance and 17th overall.
Photo Courtesy of pressenterprise.com
Utah State (26-7) also received an at-large bid and will be a No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region.
The Aggie’s head to Lexington, Kentucky, to battle No. 7 seed UCLA (22-10) on TNT on Thursday, March 20, at 9:25 p.m. ET.
Courtesy of Utah State Athletics
USU is making its third straight NCAA appearance and fifth since joining the Mountain West in 2013.
San Diego State (21-9) secured an at-large bid but had to settle for one of the Last Four In spots.
The Aztecs will face North Carolina (22-13) in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday, March 18, in a First Four matchup at 6:40 p.m. ET on truTV. Despite SDSU’s rich tournament history—marking their 17th overall appearance and 14th since joining the MW—their 1-12 record in Quad 1 games put them on the bubble.
Photo Courtesy of San Diego State Athletics
While SDSU cut, Boise State was left out, missing the Last Four In spot. Joining the Aztecs in that category were Texas, powered by freshman sensation Tre Johnson and Xavier.
The Mountain West continues to make its mark on the national stage, sending four or more teams to March Madness in four straight years. With experienced squads and tough matchups ahead, these MW teams will look to make noise in the 2025 tournament.
2025 March Madness: The 5 Biggest NCAA Tournament Snubs
Every year on Selection Sunday, heartbreak is inevitable. Some teams are left out of the 68-team NCAA tournament field despite strong résumés. In contrast, others slip on the bubble, leaving fans and analysts debating the fairness of the committee’s decisions.
This year, the most controversial inclusion was North Carolina, a team that finished 1-12 in Quadrant 1 games but still managed to grab one of the final at-large bids due to its top-40 metrics and strength of schedule. That decision pushed other bubble teams to the sidelines, creating some major snubs.
Here are the five biggest teams left out of March Madness 2025:
1. Boise State (24-10)
KenPom: 50 | NET: 43 | Q1: 3-6 | Q2: 5-2 | Q3: 5-1 | Q4: 10-1
The Mountain West was a battleground for bubble teams for the second straight year, and Boise State was on the wrong side of the fight. The Broncos won 14 conference games, took down Clemson and Saint Mary’s in non-conference play, and advanced to the MW tournament title game.
However, a Quadrant 4 loss to 19-loss Boston College in November returned to haunt them. Coach Leon Rice was vocal about his frustration, noting that a single buzzer-beater loss in a non-conference tournament shouldn’t have kept them out. But in a year with razor-thin margins, it did.
2. Indiana Hoosiers (19-13)
KenPom: 48 | NET: 54 | Q1: 4-13 | Q2: 5-0 | Q3: 6-0 | Q4: 5-0
Indiana’s season turned after head coach Mike Woodson announced in February that he would step down at the end of the year. The Hoosiers beat Purdue, Ohio State, and Big Ten champion Michigan State, surging back into tournament contention.
However, an eight-game midseason losing streak left too much damage. Despite four Quadrant 1 wins, their overall record against the top two quadrants (9-13) wasn’t enough. A slow start cost them a Cinderella finish.
3. West Virginia (19-13)
KenPom: 53 | NET: 51 | Q1: 6-10 | Q2: 4-3 | Q3: 4-0 | Q4: 5-0
At one point, West Virginia seemed like a lock for the tournament after impressive wins over Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, and Iowa State. But a 6-9 record to close the season—including a Big 12 tournament loss to last-place Colorado—put them in jeopardy.
The Mountaineers had the second-most Quadrant 1 wins of any team left out, but they didn’t close strong enough to convince the committee. The Big 12’s depth helped some teams (Texas got in as one of the Last Four), but West Virginia wasn’t so lucky.
4. Ohio State (17-15)
KenPom: 39 | NET: 41 | Q1: 6-11 | Q2: 3-4 | Q3: 2-0 | Q4: 6-0
No team this close to .500 has ever received an at-large bid, and Ohio State wasn’t going to be the first.
The Buckeyes had six Quadrant 1 wins, including victories over Kentucky, Maryland, and Purdue. Still, they needed one more win in the Big Ten tournament to stay in the mix. Instead, they lost to a struggling Iowa team about to fire its coach. That sealed their fate.
5. UC Irvine (28-6)
Ken Pom: 65 | NET: 60 | Q1: 1-1 | Q2: 3-2 | Q3: 12-3 | Q4: 11-0
The Big West’s best hope for a two-bid year disappeared when UC San Diego beat UC Irvine in the conference tournament final. Without the automatic bid, the Anteaters were left relying on their résumé, which lacked marquee wins.
Despite being one of the top defensive teams in the country, Irvine didn’t have enough Quadrant 1 victories to make a compelling case. Head coach Russell Turner summed it up best after their conference title loss:
“It’s undeniable how devastating it feels to fall short of playing in March Madness.”
Final Thoughts
Every year, bubble teams suffer heartbreak, and 2025 was no different. While North Carolina slid into the field despite its 1-12 Quad 1 record, teams like Boise State, Indiana, and West Virginia were left wondering what more they could have done.
March Madness is set, but Selection Sunday felt more like Selection Heartbreak for these five teams
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