For those merely concerned with the regular-season championship picture, it's simple: The possibility still remains that one, two or three teams could walk away with at least a piece of the crown because the Mountain West recognizes multiple regular-season champions in the event of a tie. All of the eye-crossing number-crunching you see below is merely a way to determine seeding for the MW tournament.
San Diego State and New Mexico simply have to win to claim their share, while UNLV has to win and hope for a little help from TCU and Boise State. However, should the Aztecs prevail Saturday on the Horned Frogs' home court (a place where all other MW teams have failed this season, I might add), SDSU will earn the coveted No. 1 seed due to New Mexico having split its series with the Horned Frogs.
Meanwhile, TCU, which has won eight straight at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, enters Saturday's contest knotted up with Colorado State in fourth place. In any tiebreaker scenario, should the Frogs and Rams finish tied in the final standings, Colorado State would earn the higher seed, regardless of whether both finish 8-6 or 7-7. Should CSU and TCU finish in a three-way tie with Wyoming at 7-7, the Rams would be seeded fourth, while the Frogs and Cowboys would be seeded fifth and sixth, respectively.
In the interim, if you have yet to purchase tickets to next week's Conoco Mountain West Basketball Championships, visit UNLVTickets.com. Single-session tickets are now on sale - purchase yours online or by calling 702-739-3267.
Oh. And happy reading.
| MW MEN'S BASKETBALL TIEBREAKING SCENARIOS
(as of March 1, 2012) |
||||||
| CONFERENCE | OVERALL | |||||
| STANDINGS | W | L | Pct. | W | L | Pct. |
| New Mexico | 9 | 4 | .692 | 23 | 6 | .793 |
| San Diego State | 9 | 4 | .692 | 23 | 6 | .793 |
| UNLV | 8 | 5 | .615 | 24 | 7 | .774 |
| Colorado State | 7 | 6 | .538 | 18 | 10 | .643 |
| TCU | 7 | 6 | .538 | 17 | 12 | .586 |
| Wyoming | 6 | 7 | .462 | 20 | 9 | .690 |
| Air Force | 3 | 10 | .231 | 13 | 14 | .481 |
| Boise State | 3 | 10 | .231 | 13 | 15 | .464 |
| AIR FORCE 1-1 vs. Boise State 0-1 vs. Colorado State (Mar. 3) 0-2 vs. New Mexico 1-1 vs. San Diego State 0-2 vs. TCU 0-2 vs. UNLV 1-1 vs. Wyoming
BOISE STATE
COLORADO STATE
NEW MEXICO |
SAN DIEGO STATE 1-1 vs. Air Force 2-0 vs. Boise State 1-1 vs. Colorado State 1-1 vs. New Mexico 1-0 vs. TCU (Mar. 3) 1-1 vs. UNLV 2-0 vs. Wyoming
TCU
UNLV
WYOMING |
Two-way tie between UNM and SDSU at 10-4:
• UNM and SDSU split with each other
• Both teams split with CSU and UNLV
• SDSU is 2-0 vs. TCU, UNM is 1-1 vs. TCU
• Both teams are 2-0 vs. WYO
• SDSU gets No. 1 seed due to sweep of TCU
Three-way tie between UNM, SDSU and UNLV at 9-5:
• UNM, SDSU and UNLV split with each other
• All three teams split with CSU, TCU
• UNM and SDSU are 2-0 vs. WYO; UNLV is 1-1
• UNLV gets No. 3 seed
• UNM is 2-0 vs. AFA; SDSU is 1-1 vs. AFA
• SDSU is 2-0 vs. BSU; UNM is 1-1 vs. BSU
• If BSU is 4-10 and AFA is 3-11, tiebreaker goes to SDSU
• If AFA and BSU are tied at 4-10 (both UNM and SDSU went a combined 3-1 against AFA and BSU), tie broken based on Feb. 27 RPI ranking (28-SDSU; 34-UNM)
• SDSU is No. 1 seed due to higher RPI ranking
Two-way tie between UNM and UNLV at 9-5:
• SDSU is No. 1 seed at 10-4
• UNM and UNLV split with each other
• Both teams split with SDSU
• Both teams split with CSU, TCU
• UNM is 2-0 vs. WYO; UNLV is 1-1
• UNM gets No. 2 seed due to sweep of WYO
Two-way tie between SDSU and UNLV at 9-5:
• UNM is No. 1 seed at 10-4
• SDSU and UNLV split with each other
• Both teams split with UNM
• Both teams split with CSU, TCU
• SDSU is 2-0 vs. WYO, UNLV is 1-1 vs. WYO
• SDSU gets No. 2 seed due to sweep of WYO
Two-way tie between UNM and SDSU at 9-5:
• UNM and SDSU split with each other
• Split with UNLV, CSU, TCU
• UNM and SDSU are both 2-0 vs. WYO
• If AFA and BSU are tied at 4-10 (both UNM and SDSU went a combined 3-1 against AFA and BSU), tie broken based on Feb. 27 RPI ranking (28-SDSU; 34-UNM) - SDSU gets No. 1 seed due to higher RPI ranking
• If AFA is 3-11, SDSU still gets No. 1 seed due to 2-0 record vs. BSU because UNM is 1-1 vs. BSU
Three-way tie between UNLV, CSU and TCU at 8-6:
• UNM is No. 1 seed at 10-4 if it defeats BSU
• SDSU is No. 1 seed if it is tied with UNM at 9-5
• UNLV, CSU and TCU split with each other
• UNLV, CSU and TCU split with UNM and SDSU
• CSU and TCU are 1-1 vs. WYO; UNLV is 0-2 vs. WYO
• UNLV gets No. 5 seed
• CSU and TCU are both 3-1 vs. AFA and BSU
• Tie is broken based on Feb. 27 RPI ranking (27-CSU; 90-TCU)
Two-way tie between UNLV and CSU at 8-6:
• SDSU is No. 1 seed, UNM is No. 2 seed
• UNLV and CSU split with each other
• Both teams split with TCU
• CSU is 1-1 vs. WYO; UNLV is 0-2 vs. WYO
• CSU gets No. 3 seed due to split with WYO
Two-way tie between UNLV and TCU at 8-6:
• UNLV and TCU split with each other
• Both teams split with both SDSU and UNM
• Both teams split with CSU
• TCU is 1-1 vs. WYO; UNLV is 0-2 vs. WYO
• TCU gets No. 3 seed due to split with WYO
Two-way tie between CSU and TCU at 8-6:
• Split with each other
• Both teams split with SDSU, UNM, UNLV, WYO and BSU
• Both teams are 2-0 vs. AFA
• Tie broken based on Feb. 27 RPI ranking (27-CSU; 90-TCU)
• CSU gets No. 4 seed due to higher RPI ranking
Three-way tie between CSU, TCU and WYO at 7-7:
• CSU, TCU and WYO split with each other
• CSU split with UNM, SDSU and UNLV
• TCU split with UNM and UNLV, is 0-2 vs. SDSU
• WYO went 2-0 vs. UNLV, is 0-2 vs. UNM and SDSU
• CSU gets No. 4 seed, TCU gets No. 5 seed, WYO gets No. 6 seed
Two-way tie between CSU and TCU at 7-7:
• CSU and TCU split with each other
• CSU split with UNM, SDSU and UNLV
• TCU split with UNM and UNLV, is 0-2 vs. SDSU
• CSU gets No. 4 seed, TCU gets No. 5 seed
Two-way tie between TCU and WYO at 7-7:
• TCU and WYO split with each other
• TCU split with UNM and UNLV, went 0-2 vs. SDSU
• WYO is 2-0 vs. UNLV; is 0-2 vs. UNM and SDSU
• TCU gets No. 5 seed, WYO gets No. 6 seed
Two-way tie between CSU and WYO at 7-7:
• CSU and WYO split with each other
• CSU split with UNM, SDSU, UNLV and TCU
• WYO split with TCU and UNLV; went 0-2 vs. UNM and SDSU
• CSU gets No. 5 seed, WYO gets No. 6 seed
Two-way tie between AFA and BSU at 4-10:
• SDSU is the No. 1 seed in this scenario because UNM can't be the No. 1 seed if it loses
• AFA and BSU split with each other
• AFA split with SDSU, CSU, WYO and went 0-2 vs. UNM, TCU, UNLV
• BSU split with UNM, CSU, TCU and went 0-2 vs. SDSU, UNLV, WYO
• AFA gets No. 7 seed due to split with SDSU
Two-way tie between AFA and BSU at 3-11:
• AFA and BSU split with each other
• AFA split with SDSU, WYO and went 0-2 vs. CSU, UNM, TCU, UNLV
• BSU split with CSU, TCU and went 0-2 vs. UNM, SDSU, UNLV, WYO
• AFA gets No. 7 seed due to split with SDSU
• BSU gets No. 8 seed
Mick McGrane has covered the Mountain West since the league's inception in 1999. He spent 12 years at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he served as the beat writer for San Diego State football and men's basketball. He currently represents the MW as a member of the Football Writers Association of America All-America Committee and is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. McGrane serves as senior writer to the Mountain West, providing readers with exclusive, in-depth information about the Conference by highlighting its 10 member institutions and contributing feature stories on student-athletes that participate in the league's 18 sponsored sports.
Mark Knudson is a Colorado State journalism school graduate and a 12-year veteran of professional baseball. During his playing career, Mark pitched for three major league teams, including the Colorado Rockies, where he was the first Colorado native to play for the hometown team. He recorded wins over three of the four legendary pitchers who make up the 4,000 strikeout club: Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. His win over Ryan came for the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day in 1991.
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