The Mountain West conference is currently a four-bid conference. Heady times for the conference that was robbed by the BCS. But if those teams want to stay in the tournament, there are a couple of rules that need to be followed. Or else the NIT awaits.The first rule is just basic common sense. There can be no bad loses. None. Brigham Young hammered Colorado State on Wednesday night, while UNLV knocked off Texas Christian on Tuesday night. That is big. BYU doesn't lose at home, but they can pout on the road some times. The Rebels lost at Colorado State this season, so there are no rules too small to follow. Especially since Joe Lundardi has BYU and UNLV projected as two of the last teams in the tournament.
And then there is the second rule. Protect your home-court at all costs.
With San Diego State having held serve at Cox Arena in January, this was a must win for Utah.
The Utes certainly played that way, destroying the Aztecs, 67-55. Utah used a strong second half to overcome a halftime deficit and move into sole possession of first place.
The Utes have won five consecutive games, while the Aztecs had a four-game winning streak snapped.
The key for the Mountain West regular season title will be the home games. San Diego State stole a win at UNLV last week, and can sweep the season series on March 7. The Rebels won at Provo, and can sweep the season series against the Cougars next week in Las Vegas. Utah has lost at Vegas, but plays host to them on at the end of the month and plays at BYU a few days later.
These teams can round-robin each other, and still figure in the tournament mix. But remember that first rule. No bad loses. So in effect, Utah's game against Air Force on Saturday might be more important that those games against UNLV and BYU in the long run. A regular season title is nice, but this is four-bids we're talking about here.
So in short guys, don't mess up.
