The final week of the college basketball regular season is here, and teams continue to jockey for position for the upcoming NCAA tournament.
San Diego State has won nine of their past 11 games heading into the final week of the college basketball regular season. Saturday’s victory over Wyoming earned the Aztecs a bye into the quarterfinal round of next week’s Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
The Aztecs have helped their positioning for an at-large bid in the past few weeks with games against UNLV and Nevada set for this week. CBS Sports updated their tournament projections on Sunday and list San Diego State as a seven-seed in the West Region. The Aztecs would take on Louisville in a first-round game in Milwaukee with Wisconsin and Norfolk State set to play on the other side of the quadrant.
San Diego State will have the opportunity to improve that seed with this week’s games and next week’s tournament. The Aztecs will open in the quarterfinal round and could potentially play three of the top four teams in the league if they make a run to the title game.
Boise State has worked its way into the tournament with its recent run of wins, according to CBS Sports. The Broncos are listed third among the last four teams in alongside Xavier, Baylor and Arkansas. Boise State would take on Arkansas in a first four West Region game with the winner going on to play six-seed Arizona.
CBS Sports currently has New Mexico as a nine-seed taking on eight-seed Illinois in Lexington, Kentucky. The winner would take on top-seeded Auburn in the South Region. CBS views Utah State in a similar position as the Lobos. The Aggies are listed as a nine-seed in the East Region, taking on eight-seed Creighton. The winner would take on top-seeded Duke in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Colorado State remains outside of the projected NCAA tournament field despite its recent run that has it sitting in second place in the Mountain West standings. The Rams’ out-of-conference schedule continues to hamper them among comparable teams. Colorado State will have a resume-building opportunity at Boise State later this week and could steal the conference’s automatic bid in Las Vegas next week.
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