CTC Day Eleven Preview: The MWC – The Best Basketball West of the Mississippi

The Mountain West conference was easily the best conference in the west and could easily be considered one of the best in America – and all of this in a year where they lost one of their better programs, BYU, to the WCC.  UNLV, New Mexico, and SDSU are all nationally legit programs that are, at least, in the same area code as any league’s top 3.  Plus, comparing conferences isn’t exactly easy when they all are different sizes.  Let’s look at the “middle” of this conference – Colorado St., TCU, and Wyoming.  Do they stack up with the 8-9-10 in the Big East (WVU, UConn, Seton Hall)?  Not quite, but it’s close.  What about the 5-6-7 in the Big XII (K-State, Texas, Ok State)?  Again, probably not, but it’s close.  Or, the 6-7-8 in the SEC (Miss St., Ole Miss, LSU)?  I might take the MWC.  The ACC’s 6-7-8 (Miami, Clemson, Maryland)?  I’ll definitely take the M-West.  Okay, enough senseless rambling, we’ve got 49 great games today…

Interestingly, only 3 people went with the top-seeded Aztecs to win this tournament.  The majority of the field took #3 UNLV, actually.  But, even though people don’t seem to believe in the top two seeds, not one person picked either of them to get upset before the semifinals.

Championship Picks
3 for #1 San Diego St. (Dave, Rikey, RSmith)
6 for #2 New Mexico (Alexi, Gross, Lil Lohse, RDoc, Stri)
11 for #3 UNLV

Biggest Upsets
QF – #6 Wyoming (Dave, J)
SF – #5 TCU (KA)

Previous CTC Champions
2011 – Bry/J*
2010 – Stri
2009 – Lynch
2008 – J

#1 San Diego St. vs. #8 Boise St.
Another fantastic job by Steve Fisher, as his team from last year was gutted (and now in the NBA), and yet they still won this great league and are heading for a white-jersey seed next week, with the possibility of a protected seed.  Boise St. is no walkover, though, as the Broncos are as good as (if not better) than every single last-place team in America.  In fact, I’ll make that an official opinion.  With the possible exception of Penn St., Boise St. is the best last-place team in America.

All 20 people took SDSU, but only 3 have them winning this tournament.

#4 Colorado St. vs. #5 TCU
TCU isn’t exactly on the bubble because the beginning of their season was terrible, but they are playing as well as anyone in this conference right now, so the bubbilicious CSU team better be careful.  I love this Colorado St. team, but, like most teams in that great state, it is always interesting to see them play away from the altitude.

5 people went with TCU in the mild upset here (KA, Lil Lohse, RSmith, Stri, Waters), with KA taking them to reach the finals.

#2 New Mexico vs. #7 Air Force
People talk about UNLV and SDSU, but tend to forget about how good New Mexico has been this year.  But, like SDSU in the opener today, they better be careful because Air Force is no pushover.  They can rise up and beat you, if you’re not ready.

All 20 people took New Mexico here, with 6 of them picking them to win the whole thing.

#3 UNLV vs. #6 Wyoming
Wyoming made a name for itself with a gaudy non-conference record that was built on the back of a borderline pathetic strength of schedule.  But, the Cowboys were learning how to win, and they brought it to the MWC.  They play fantastic defense, which is always a good thing this time of year.  And, remember they already have a UNLV victory on their resume this year, so this wouldn’t be a total shock.

Dave and J both have Wyoming winning here, but going no further.  The other 18 have the Runnin’ Rebels here, with 11 of them tagging them as their champion