Mountain West Tournament 2015: Bracket, Schedule and Championship Odds

Times are changing in the Mountain West.

The New Mexico Lobos finished the regular season at a rough 15-15 and 7-11 in conference play, which seems to point to their reign of terror at the top of the conference coming to an end.

After all, the Lobos have won the tournament three years and running. Even if they were in normal form, Las Vegas pegs Boise State and San Diego State as hefty favorites for good reason—a changing of the guard seems in order.

With an automatic bid up for grabs and serious repercussions for those bubble teams that miss out, as far as mid-major tournaments go, the Mountain West should provide the best action and drama this postseason.

Mountain West Tournament Schedule and Odds

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	Television
1	March 11	3 p.m.	New Mexico vs. Air Force	Mountain West Network
2	March 11	5:30 p.m.	UNLV vs. Nevada	Mountain West Network
3	March 12	3 p.m.	Boise State vs. Winner Game 1	CBS Sports Network
4	March 12	5:30 p.m.	Wyoming vs. Utah State	CBS Sports Network
5	March 12	9 p.m.	San Diego State vs. Winner Game 2	CBS Sports Network
6	March 12	11:30 p.m.	Colorado State vs. Fresno State	CBS Sports Network
7	March 13	9 p.m.	Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4	CBS Sports Network
8	March 13	11:30 p.m.	Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6	CBS Sports Network
10	March 14	6 p.m.	Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8	CBS

Team	Odds
Boise State	11-5
San Diego State	5-2
Colorado State	3-1
UNLV	4-1
Wyoming	9-1
New Mexico	16-1
Utah State	16-1
Fresno State	50-1
Air Force	100-1
Nevada	500-1

Odds courtesy of OddShark as of March 11 at 9 a.m. ET.

Bracket

Preview

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The first thing folks will notice about the odds department is how much stock Las Vegas does throw behind the .500 Lobos. 

While intriguing odds, it's tough to get behind Craig Neal's team. The Lobos are 1-5 against the RPI Top 50, per ESPN's RPI profile. A season-ending overtime triumph against Wyoming is great, but overshadowing the thriller is an eight-game skid in which the team could not catch a break.

If on the hunt for a trendy upset special, it might be better to roll with those Cowboys. Larry Shyatt's team lost that season-ending encounter and three of four to finish on a sour note.

That said, the Cowboys are a streaky team that looked like conference favorites at one point, rattling off nine wins in 10 outings, including an upset of Boise State. It helps that the Cowboys are 3-3 against the RPI Top 50 and led by explosive senior forward Larry Nance Jr., who averages 16.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

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Utah State is another upset special to watch. While only on record with one victory in five tries against the RPI Top 50, the Aggies share a similar trait with the Cowboys—a knack for playing well against the best of the best in the conference, highlighted by an upset of Boise State on the road at the start of January.

Colorado State is the leader in the RPI column of the conference with wins over Boise State and San Diego State on the resume. The Rams ride a five-game streak into the tournament, although the schedule was weak all season long.

The real focus, of course, goes to Boise State and San Diego State.

Leon Rice's Broncos are 11-1 over the course of the past 12 outings, a ridiculous way to finish that's all the more impressive when one realizes two of those victories came against the Aztecs.

The top interconference battle this season figures to define the bracket this year as both fight for an automatic bid while sitting on the bubble. Recent history is bad news for the Aztecs, as Winston Shepard (11.1 points per game) and Co. scored just 46 points in each of the two recent losses to the Broncos.

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After the second, a 56-46 road win for Boise State in which the Broncos won the battle on the glass in 42-30 fashion, senior guard Derrick Marks explained how it translates to the upcoming tournament.

"I've never won here before. It means a lot to me," Marks said, per The Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "For them to be ranked, this means a lot toward the tournament. This year if we do what we do, it doesn't matter what the other team does."

Marks is the key to the tournament for Boise State. He averages 19.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He scored at least 18 points in both encounters against the Aztecs on a volume-based approach, and if he does it again, it will matter little that San Diego State is one of the better defensive teams in the bracket.

In short, the tournament is the best mid-major offering of the week. There are favorites with star power. There are some underdogs that could ruin the whole thing. Most of all, there are tickets to the Big Dance on the line. 

Stats and info are courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.