The Mountain West Conference Tournament starts on Tuesday with four games. View updated college basketball odds.
The 2011 Mountain West Conference tournament got a lot more interesting last week when #1 seed BYU (28-3, 14-2 MWC) suspended leading rebounder Brandon Davies for the rest of the season for violating the school’s honor code. The Cougars already had beaten #2 San Diego State (29-2, 14-2) twice and was hoping a conference tournament title would lead to a top seed in the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday.
Instead, BYU suffered a devastating 82-64 defeat at home by #5 New Mexico (20-11, 8-8), completing a sweep by the Lobos and possibly getting them into the Big Dance. The Cougars closed out the regular season with a 102-78 rout of #8 Wyoming (10-20, 3-13) on Saturday behind 38 points from Jimmer Fredette, who should still win National Player of the Year after leading the country in scoring with 27.9 per game. They made 9 of 23 shots from 3-point range in the win over the Cowboys and figure to be a much more perimeter-oriented team without Davies.
A quarterfinal matchup against either Wyoming or #9 TCU (10-21, 1-15) awaits BYU on Thursday with the conference’s two worst teams squaring off in the first round on Wednesday. A potential third meeting with New Mexico looms in the semifinals for the Cougars on Friday if the Lobos can get past #4 Colorado State (19-11, 9-7) in the quarters on Thursday. New Mexico split two regular-season meetings with the Rams and could be playing for a potential fourth NCAA tournament bid from the Mountain West if the selection committee decided to take that many.
The defending tournament champion Aztecs tied BYU for the best record in the conference and did not lose to any other team in the nation besides the Cougars this year. They have an outside shot at a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament if they can win the conference tournament and possibly beat BYU for the title. San Diego State faces #7 Utah (13-17, 6-10) in the quarterfinals and would need to beat the winner between #3 UNLV (23-7, 11-5) and #6 Air Force (15-14, 6-10) in the semifinals on Friday to get to Saturday’s championship game.
The Runnin’ Rebels will have homecourt advantage playing at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and are the only other Mountain West team besides the top two seeds that seem to be locks for the Big Dance. They enter the conference tournament on a five-game winning streak but lost two games to both the Aztecs and Cougars during the regular season.
