UNLV seeks to secure possible at-large bid in NCAA Tournament
With March less than a week away, college basketball fans throughout the nation are scanning NCAA Tournament bracket projections on a weekly - and sometimes daily - basis.
For UNLV fans, the projections have been friendly - to this point. As of this past Monday, nearly every major bracket projection includes the
Runnin' Rebels (20-7 overall, 8-5 in the Mountain West Conference) in the field of 65 as a possible at-large bid on the strength of UNLV's four wins vs. Top 50 RPI opponents, 7-5 record vs. Top 100 opponents and an 8-3 road mark.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi has UNLV as a No. 8 seed in Bracketology,
CBS's Jerry Palm and
The Sporting News' Ryan Fagan have UNLV as a No. 9 and
Sports Illustrated's Andy Glockner has UNLV as a No. 10.
"We'll keep saying it - it's good to be in the conversation, but we just need to focus on performing," said UNLV head coach Lon Kruger. "Sure it's better to be included in any projections than to be on the outside looking in at this point in the season. However, there is a lot of basketball yet to be played and how we prepare for those games is all we can control."
No. 10/12
New Mexico and No. 13/11
BYU have positioned the Mountain West Conference to possibly have its strongest field ever in the 65-team tournament. Projections for the two teams range from No. 3 seeds for the Lobos to No. 6 seeds for BYU.
And by winning eight out of its last 10 games,
San Diego State has become one of the most-talked about "bubble" teams in the nation being mentioned by many experts as one of the last teams in or first teams out of the brackets.
"This is the best we've ever seen the Mountain West Conference," Kruger said. "And that's exciting because there are so many young players in the league. It's only going to get better."
The winner of the Mountain West Conference Tournament - March 10-13 - receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. UNLV closes regular season play with two home games against
TCU (tomorrow - Wednesday) and
Wyoming (March 6) and a road game at
Air Force (Saturday).