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NCAA Bracketology: Boise State Is Out; What About Rest Of Mountain West?
Broncos are out, so a three bid league?
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Mountain West lost a team.
A four-bid Mountain West lost a lot of steam since mid-February and it officially was gone when Boise State fell to Nevada in their opening-round game of the Mountain West tournament, 89-82.
The Broncos were already a bubble team but not they are officially out and now the Mountain West is at best a three-bid league. San Diego State is in for sure and likely will be a seven seed, Colorado State has nothing bad but also nothing amazing on its resume, and Utah State is probably the worst of the three with a few bad losses like UNLV and South Dakota State.
The ideal path for three Mountain West teams to get into the NCAA Tournament is for a San Diego State vs. Utah State final and to be safe an Aggies win.
Utah State probably can get in by finishing second but earning the automatic bid makes things easy. Colorado State is probably safe by losing to the Aggies but they would squarely be on the bubble.
For the league’s sake, Nevada can not make it to the final and then lose as that probably means just San Diego State and the winner of Colorado State vs. Utah State.
BracketMatrix has the majority of its brackets updated from March 11, but it is fairly clear the updates were during the day and not the evening as the Broncos are still a 12 seed and in 106 of the 127 brackets. The Aztecs are an eight seed and then Colorado State and Utah Stare are locked in as a 12 seed with the possibility of being in the play-in game.
ESPN has its latest update from last Thursday night which includes the Boise State result, and Joe Lunardi has the Broncos as the third team out. So, there is a chance they could get in.
Especially, with teams like Duke ending its season and Virginia which is projected as a four seed is weighing its options after its ACC game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues, and the team itself is considering what to do for next week’s NCAA Tournament.
https://twitter.com/Cavs_Corner/status/1370430392961015818
Kansas is another team whose March Madness status is up in the air as it had a positive COVID-19 test during the Big 12 tournament on Friday. The Jayhawks withdrew from the conference tournament due to that positive test.
Back to ESPN’s bracket, Utah State is the very last team in the field as a 12 seed and would face Drake in the opening-round games, and Colorado State is an 11 seed and one of the last four in and would face Syracuse.
Over in CBS Sports’ bracket, they have Boise State as the first team out and Utah State as the third team out. San Diego State is sitting as a lock with a nine seed and Colorado State on the bubble as an 11th seed.
One thing to keep in mind as there have been a few COVID-19 issues and teams need seven-straight days of negative tests for coaches, players, trainers, therapists, and the equipment and medical staff. The NCAA Tournament starts on Thursday for the opening games and then Friday for the field of 64. So, teams that have issues now might not play or be less than full strength.
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