Consider: Since the 2012 season, Mountain West teams are a combined 304-330. But the telling part, the absolutely eye-opening and ridiculous part, comes against Power 5 schools, in which the conference is 17-81 over that time.
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The Mountain West should play a 16-game conference schedule instead of 18 so as to allow for more nonleague opportunities against top 50 and top 100 teams. Teams need more chances to schedule the sort of meaningful games league play doesn’t allow.
Now, San Diego State will be relegated to watching on TV when the NCAA Tournament brackets are announced Sunday. Steve Fisher, the venerable Aztecs coach, didn’t sound too optimistic the Selection Show would end well for his guys. The team definitely is on the bubble.
Another No. 1 seed bites the dust, and the loss could be costly for San Diego State. But the bettors who backed Fresno State at 8-1 odds to win the Mountain West tournament are cashing tickets.
The season whose highlight came in the paradise that is Maui in November and yet eventually endured as many emotional bumps and bruises as physical ones ended with a 95-82 loss to Fresno State in a Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Bookmakers always hope for upsets, and this March, it’s not just wishful thinking. There certainly are going to be shockers, and there probably will be a No. 2 or a No. 3 seed go down. What we are witnessing now is a preview of the real madness.
Sometimes, the so-called square bettors are sharper than the oddsmakers. Fresno State’s no-sweat cover in a victory over UNLV, which did get a spirited effort out of Patrick McCaw, served as an example that the public is not always wrong.
UNLV’s basketball program is in for some major changes when the season ends, and it is highly likely the faces of those coaching and several of those playing won’t return next year. But credit the Rebels for this: No one has picked up a white flag.
Several times a hero in March, Steve Alford is a goat this time. The UCLA coach leaned back in his chair, rolled his eyes and watched his team get rocked by rival Southern California for the third time this season.
Mountain West presidents switched from an 11 to an eight-team league tournament next year and they failed to inform their head coaches of the move after the coaches voted 11-0 against it.
UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy was answering questions Sunday evening about the firing (with a capital F) of Dave Rice when the future was mentioned, specifically if the school will commence a national search to identify a new full-time basketball coach.
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