March is here, and with it comes the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Tournament. With the tournament moving up a week this year, it will be one of the biggest attractions during the week in college basketball. This tournament has a chance to be a great tournament with a lot of talking points and conversation about where programs are at, who actually has a chance to win, and how many teams will end up in the NCAA Tournament. There is a heavy favorite, a couple of teams that can challenge, and a couple of upstart teams that want to make noise. What’s going to happen in Las Vegas this week? It could be crazy, so here are things we can look at going into it:
Category: Lobo Basketball
Setting the table for the MW Schedule (MBB)
With the Mountain West Tournament moving up a week this year, we had a weird glitch in the schedule, where teams played one or two games in December and will have a 16 or 17- game schedule from January 1- February 29. This year, there is a huge advantage for the teams that didn’t have a bye date in December and have their byes out in mid-January and mid-February. Keep in mind that the Mountain West plays an 18-game conference schedule, meaning that every team will have two teams that they only play once (one at home, and one on the road). This tends to come into play for seeding for the Mountain West Tournament, as it can give a team an advantage over similar quality teams. In this piece, we will list out the games each team has played, the games they have coming up, the teams they only play once, and when their byes are. But first, we will take a look at things to keep an eye out for as the conference season goes along.
Zach’s Reacts: Lobos Sweep Aggies
Welcome back to Zach’s Reacts! Tonight we will look at what stood out to me From media row during the Lobos’ 69-62 win over the New Mexico State Aggies. Merry Sweepsmas, everyone!
Zach’s Reacts: A 20 Game MW Slate? Part 1
During the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Media Day, the question was brought up if the Mountian West will be going to a 20-game schedule shortly. The answer is probably yes, but the question is what effect does it have on the Mountain West programs, and the Mountain West at large. Is it a smart thing for the Mountain West to do, and does it make sense in the current landscape of Division 1 College Basketball? There are different ways to look at this question and how it affects the New Mexico Lobos Program. Let’s go through some of those questions here:
We’re Back!!! Lobo Lane’s 2018-2019 Year in Review
We’re Back!
Zach’s Reacts: MW Tournament Quarterfinal vs. Utah State
In a game that looked like an upset win against Utah State (26-6), the Lobos (14-18) were instead unable to finish off the game and saw their season come to an end. There is plenty to talk about this game, so here are the things that caught my eye from media row:
Zach’s Reacts: Mountain West Opening Round vs. Wyoming
What looked like could be a quick exit for the Lobos (14-17) in the Mountain West Tournament instead featured a furious Lobo comeback in the second half to beat Wyoming (8-24), 78-68. It was a game that had its fair share of momentum swings and was an emotional rollercoaster, but left us ready for another day of Lobo basketball. Here are the things that caught my eye during the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament:
Zach’s Reacts: Mountain West Quarterfinal vs. SDSU
In a game that looked like the Lobos (24-6) would be able to advance comfortably to face the winner of Wyoming and Utah State, SDSU Aztecs (14-17) had different plans, as they came back to win the game in overtime 70-61. There are plenty of things to talk and think about this game, which ended the Lobos hopes for a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Here are some of the observation and thoughts that I gathered from media row in the Thomas & Mack:
Zach’s Reacts: WBB vs. AFA
The Lobos moved to 11-1 and 1-0 in MW play with a convincing 78-57 win over AFA in the MW opener for both teams. It was an opening night in the MW that saw every single home team take home a win. While there is very little that we can take from a single night of MW play, but here are some of my reactions and thoughts from Wednesday’s action in The PIT and around the MW:
MW 2018-19 Prediction Poll
Here is our Prediction Poll for the 2018-2019 MW Season. We are looking for more responses this year and decided to do a post on the website instead of just using Twitter. Both links are the same so you should be good to go at either spot.
Link below: