Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament.....

This years conference basketball was a great battle between Utah, BYU, and New Mexico. Personally, I didn't think Utah would be in the mix with the way they'd played the last three season. Last year Jim Boylin turned them around and instilled some toughness into his players that they lacked from the previous years with Ray Giocoletti before he was fired. I did however think Utah would finish better than 4th which they were picked by the media and coaches.

This years tourney appears to be a moot point for Utah as they are projected a lock for the NCAA tourney which starts next week. BYU is pretty much a lock for the MWC as well. Teams such as San Diego State, UNLV, and New Mexico need to have a decent run in the conference to get in although the ESPN bracketologist has all 5 teams in his field of 65 right now.

Predictions....

#9 Air Force vs. #8 Colorado State: Air Force has played better of late, but were still winless in MWC play. They probably should have beaten BYU in Provo last Saturday. But I think that was probably more of the lack of preperation on BYU's part than the skill and ability of Air Force. Colorado State has improved a lot over the second half of the season knocking off UNLV, and taking Utah and New Mexico into overtime.

Winner... Colorado State 64-58

#8 Colorado State vs #1 BYU: While CSU has improved, they will play better than they have against byu all year. They were blown out in both meetings. It is hard to beat a team three times in one year, but it will happen here. BYU is to good for the Rams.

Winner... BYU 75-59

#5 UNLV vs. #4 San Diego State: The fact that UNLV is playing on their home floor is a sore spot to BYU fans as they can't beat UNLV down there or anywhere for that matter. SDSU on the other hand seems to match up with the Rebels and are healthy for the first time in a while. SDSU plays hard defense and has a lot of talent. UNLV seems to step up on their home floor year after year in this tournament. However, I think SDSU is peaking at the right time, and will end any hope of an at-large NCAA bid for the Rebels.

Winner... SDSU 65-61

#6 Wyoming vs #3 New Mexico: This is a tough first round match-up for the Lobos because Wyoming has the ability to make a team work really hard for a win. The Cowboys have a god back court with first team all conference Brandon Ewing. They have some talented forwards, but are a little weak at the center. New Mexico has played great as of late beating Utah and Wyoming to grab a share of the league. This game will be close, but New Mexico needs this to possibly get the attention of the tournament commitee. Wyoming will play in the NIT.

Winner: New Mexico 78-75

#7 TCU vs #2 Utah: Utah has played well even in their two losses they suffered the last week of the season. They led BYU at the half in Provo before going ice cold, and were homered a little against New Mexico. TCU has no answer for Utah's Luke Nevill. They are far to undersized. Kevin Langford can pull Nevill away from the basket a little, but not enough to make a difference. Nevill really effects a lot of shots under the basker. TCU other than Air Force is one of the coldest teams in the conference right now. They started the conference year with a 4-1 record, and closed out 1-10.

Winner: Utah 70-53

Second Round...

#4 San Diego State vs #1 BYU: BYU swepted the season series with the Aztecs which is the reason they got the number 1 seed over Utah and New Mexico. BYU beat SDSU in San Diego just a couple weeks ago behind an incredible come from behind win. They trailed by as many as 14 in the second half. SDSU was playing without starting center which made a difference. This is the game that is tough. It is hard to beat any team three times in one year, especially when they are as talented as SDSU. BYU has played 6 or 7 straight games they could have lost because of their poor first half performance. They will need a 100% great game to beat SDSU. But they won't get it.

Winner: SDSU 66-55

#3 New Mexico vs #2 Utah: Had Utah rebounded and protected the ball a little better in the Pit last week, Utah would have closed out the MWC outrught title. Because they didn't, the had to settle for a share. Nevill disappeared in the second half against the Lobos last game. He will make up for it and Utah will rebound from their previous loss. New Mexico is playing well, but these two teams always play close no matter the location. This will be another close one with Utah improving their NCAA seed stock with a win.

Winner: Utah 68-66

MWC Championship

#4 San Diego State vs #2 Utah

These two seem to play each other well. Both teams won their home game this year by 10 points. A neuteal floor should bring a highly competative game with an outcome going to the wire. Utah will need to play mistake free ball to knock off a hot SDSU team that is trying to lock an NCAA birth. SDSU is strong defensively and has a fast little point gaurd in Richie Williams that Utah struggles to keep in front of them. Again, SDSU is peaking at the right time in the MWC.

Winner: SDSU 62-59

NCAA's

Utah will get a 7 seed
BYU will get an 8 seed
New Mexico will be an 11
SDSU will be a 12

GO UTES

Carlon Brown's dunk of the year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeO83WvClWI