In NCAA Tournament, Boise State could be as close as Portland, as far as Greenville, S.C.
Since 2017, the Mountain West’s regular-season champion has earned an NCAA Tournament bid, which should come as good news for the Boise State men’s basketball team.
The Broncos wrapped up their first outright conference title in any league since 1987-88 with a victory over Nevada on Tuesday. They’ll be the No. 1 seed at next week’s Mountain West Tournament and are virtually a March Madness lock regardless of how they do in Las Vegas.
The bigger question now has more to do with location.
According to Bleacher Report, “geography is the supreme ruler during bracketing,” something the NCAA tried to place a greater emphasis on several years ago with its pod system.
But history shows that the NCAA selection committee hasn’t been particularly kind to Mountain West squads, who often don’t receive the same favorable locations that many Power 5 counterparts have come to expect.
Boise State knows that all too well, drawing host Dayton in the First Four in the Broncos’ most recent NCAA Tournament appearance, which came in 2015. The Flyers rallied for a 56-55 win, becoming the first team since 1987 to play an NCAA Tournament game on their home court. (The First Four games are always in Dayton.)
Boise State also lost a First Four game in 2013, to La Salle. The last time the Broncos made the tournament and avoided a trip to Dayton was 2008, when they had to travel clear to Birmingham, Alabama, to face Louisville.
In the last three tournaments that featured the pod system, Mountain West teams have been sent to Milwaukee (Nevada, 2017), Wichita, Kansas (San Diego State, 2018), Nashville (Nevada, 2018), Columbus, Ohio (Utah State, 2019) and Des Moines, Iowa (Nevada, 2019). The NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the entire 2021 tournament was played in the state of Indiana.
So where are the Broncos going to end up in 2022?
The latest projections place Boise State in either San Diego or Portland, as bracket prognosticators try to adhere to regional rules, but the Broncos could be shipped to the likes of Greenville, South Carolina or Fort Worth, Texas, or Pittsburgh or Indianapolis.
What are bracketologists certain of? That the Broncos are in the tournament, and that they are “a dangerous first-weekend team waiting to happen,” wrote Bill Bender of The Sporting News.
If the postseason began today, here’s where experts think the Broncos would land:
Joe Lunardi, ESPN
Seed: No. 8 (automatic qualifier)
Opponent: No. 9 TCU
Region: Midwest (Chicago)
First-round location: San Diego
Total MW bids: Four (No. 8 Boise State, No. 8 Colorado State, No. 9 Wyoming, No. 12 San Diego State)
Jerry Palm, CBS Sports
Seed: No. 8
Opponent: No. 9 Notre Dame
Region: West (San Francisco)
First-round location: Portland
Total MW bids: Four (No. 5 Colorado State, No. 8 Boise State, No. 8 Wyoming, No. 10 San Diego State)
Brian Bennett, The Athletic
Seed: No. 8
Opponent: No. 9 TCU
Region: South (San Antonio)
First-round location: San Diego
Total MW bids: Four (No. 7 Colorado State, No. 8 Boise State, No. 8 Wyoming, No. 12 San Diego State)
Andy Katz, NCAA.com correspondent
Seed: No. 8 (automatic qualifier)
Total MW bids: Four (No. 7 Colorado State, No. 8 Boise State, No. 9 Wyoming, No. 12 San Diego State)
Bill Bender, Sporting News
Seed: No. 8 (automatic qualifier)
Total MW bids: Three (No. 8 Boise State, No. 9 Wyoming, No. 9 Colorado State)
Women’s basketball: Broncos earn 10th seed
The Boise State women’s basketball team will be the No. 10 seed in the Mountain West Tournament, which begins Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The Broncos (8-20, 4-13 MW) draw No. 7 San Diego State (14-15, 8-10) at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time Sunday. The first-round matchup will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
Boise State split its regular-season meetings with San Diego State, falling 80-63 on Jan. 15 in San Diego followed by a 72-63 win Feb. 5 in Boise.
If the Broncos win Sunday, they advance to the quarterfinals, where they’ll face second-seeded New Mexico (23-8, 14-4) at 7 p.m. MT on Monday.
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 5:39 PM.
