By Charles Jay
This is the time of year when there is a lot of discussion about who is on the “bubble” for the NCAA Tournament, and rightly so, because there are any number of borderline candidates to get a birth in the Big Dance. Often it results in a first-round exit from the tournament, but given the number of upsets we have seen through the years, every program has hope. And because of the fact that there are conference tournaments being played where the winner gets an automatic invitation into the Field of 68, there is almost nobody who is eliminated.
Vietbet customers who have followed the Mountain West Conference this season saw that the Wyoming Cowboys began the season more hopeful than most. A deliberate team that plays with much discipline and defense under coach Larry Shyatt, Wyoming emerged victorious in 15 of its first 17 games, with victories over the likes of New Mexico State and two fellow conference members who might well find themselves in the Big Dance, Boise State and Colorado State. The only losses came at the hands of Pac 12 entrant California and Larry Brown’s SMU squad, which is most definitely going to be in the NCAA Tournament field.
Wyoming also got itself into the national rankings at one point, and the general feeling among college basketball bettors was that a victory over San Diego State in Laramie on January 14 might give them that extra credential needed to virtually clinch a tournament berth. But despite playing a solid defensive game (holding the Aztecs to just 37% from the field), they still lost a 60-52 decision.
As Vietbet customers are aware, what has not helped them down the stretch was the loss of 6′ 8″ forward Larry Nance Jr., who missed four games with mononucleosis. In those games Wyoming had a 2-2 record, but in the games they lost, they lost very badly, falling 73-50 to Air Force and 67-41 in the rematch with San Diego State, which had crept into the nation’s Top 25. When Nance came back to action he was clearly not at full strength, scoring just nine points in each of two losses coming at the hands of Fresno State and UNLV. Defeats like that really hurt the team’s case when it comes to the Selection Committee.
On March 4, Nance, whose father was the NBA’s first slam dunk champion, looked a little more like his old self, scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in a resounding 76-53 victory over a streaking Utah State team that had won six games in a row and had some post-season aspirations of its own. But was that enough?
One of the things that Vietbet patrons have to consider is that when the Committee sits down and makes its final decisions, they may be thinking about allocating a certain number of bids to each conference. So does the Mountain West deserve two, three or four? And will it be enough for Wyoming to have had a sweep of Colorado State and a win over Boise State – two of the teams that have rather strong at-large arguments of their own? The conference tournament begins on March 11 in Las Vegas, and this will be the ultimate opportunity for Nance and the rest of the Cowboys to make their statement. At this point, the ball may be in their court, to pardon a pun.
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