MWC Predictions

Utah: they will lose to UNLV, @BYU, and @New Mexico. They finish 11-5 in conference, 20-10 on the season. They haven't been able to beat any significant competition on the road and the Pit and the Marriott Center are tough places to play anyway. UNLV, though they have struggled on the road against some teams, has won two big road games at Louisville and at BYU. They get up for the big game.
BYU: lose at UNLV, at San Diego State, beat Utah. I think they could win one of those two road games as they have been able to play those two teams tough in any venue (excluding last year's blowout in Vegas), but I don't see any reason to think they will actually will get over the hump this year. They finish 11-5 in conference, 23-7 on the year.
SDSU: lost at New Mexico (I would have predicted this had I got this done earlier, instead, I'll just report that they did lose this game), will beat BYU and UNLV at home. They finish at 12-4, 22-7 on the year. They are conference champs.
New Mexico: beat SDSU at home, will beat Utah at home, drop Wyoming on the road the last game of the year. They finish 11-5, 20-11. At 12-4, they might have had a SMALL chance at thinking of an at-large, but 11-5 puts them out of the mix: NIT, here we come.
UNLV: beats BYU tonight, wins at Utah, loses at SDSU. They finish 10-6 (with two losses to SDSU), 22-8. Payback comes in the tournament, where they will knock off New Mexico, SDSU, then Utah in the championship game to take home the automatic bid. At 25-8 with a win at top-10 Louisville and two regular season wins against both BYU and Utah (two likely NCAA tournament teams) with a third win against Utah in the MWC championship game puts them in much better shape for the tournament than most projections have them.

MWC tournament predictions: I already said UNLV beats Utah for the title. I think Utah edges BYU in round 2, assuming that Wyoming and TCU both go quietly in the first round (either of those teams is capable of upsetting BYU or Utah in the first round). San Diego State and UNLV are too evenly matched for San Diego State to win 3 out of 3 games against them.

The MWC in the Tournament: I think if what I have predicted holds, there is a chance that 4 teams get in. The regular season conference champion has never not made the tournament, so San Diego State would get a de facto auto-bid. UNLV gets the actual auto-bid. Then the decision comes down to Utah and BYU. While I think it unlikely that both would actually get in, it would be so difficult to choose between them as in my estimation they would be essentially equivalent by the time the season ends. Trying to predict what happens in a room full of people I don't know three weeks from now and thousands of miles from here is impossible for me at this time. So I will just say that the committee does view them as equal, as I do, and lets both of them in: UNLV getting an 8 or 9-seed, Utah with a 10, BYU with an 11, and SDSU with a 12. New Mexico goes to the NIT where they win any home games they get and drop the first road contest. Maybe Wyoming gets in to the CBI, if that thing is still around this year...any Ute fans aware of the fate of that tournament?

There you have it. I'll try to keep you posted on the actual happenings and my thoughts on what it all means in the larger scheme. I would like to point out that the MWC is actually in the discussion this year. They are getting more respect this year than I can ever remember (same as football). I don't know if this will hold or not, but a little success in the Big Dance and it may move from a traditional two-bid league (with an occasional third) to a traditional three-bid league (with an occasional fourth).