Mountain West Tournament 2016: Bracket, Schedule and Championship Odds

A down year in the conference makes the Mountain West tournament as important as ever.

While there was always an intense battle for the league title, past seasons featured at least a couple of safety nets. Multiple teams had strong enough profiles to earn at-large bids to the NCAA tournament even if they were unable to grab the automatic bid. However, the Mountain West could end up being just a one-bid league this year for the first time since 2001.

All of a sudden, the pressure is on for each team to win it all this week at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. This is certain to be an exciting event, so make sure you don't miss a second of the action. 

Schedule

Date	Game No.	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV
March 9	1	No. 8 Wyoming vs. No. 9 Utah State	2 p.m.	MW Network
March 9	2	No. 7 UNLV vs. No. 10 Air Force	4:30 p.m.	MW Network
March 9	3	No. 6 Colorado State vs. No. 11 San Jose State	7 p.m.	MW Network
March 10	4	No. 1 San Diego State vs. Game 1 winner	3 p.m.	CBS Sports
March 10	5	No. 4 New Mexico vs. No. 5 Nevada	5:30 p.m.	CBS Sports
March 10	6	No. 2 Fresno State vs. Game 2 winner	9 p.m.	CBS Sports
March 10	7	No. 3 Boise State vs. Game 3 winner	11:30 p.m.	CBS Sports
March 11	8	Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner	9 p.m.	CBS Sports
March 11	9	Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner	11:30 p.m.	CBS Sports
March 12	10	Championship Game	6 p.m.	CBS

Bracket

Odds

Team	Odds
San Diego State	+110
Boise State	+300
UNLV	+275
New Mexico	+700
Fresno State	+1200
Nevada	+1200
Field	+1400

Preview

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

One thing this conference does have a lot of is elite scorers. Three different players averaged at least 20 points per game during the regular season, including Wyoming Cowboys guard Josh Adams (24.4 points per game), New Mexico Lobos guard Elijah Brown (21.5) and Fresno State Bulldogs guard Marvelle Harris (20.9).

This led to some debate over the conference's Player of the Year award, which eventually went to Harris. Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports is one person who had a problem with this decision:

The difference likely came down to the separation between the teams. Wyoming is the No. 8 seed in this tournament and hasn't won consecutive games since January. In order to win this tournament, the Cowboys would have to win four games in a row, something they haven't done all season long.

Adams will likely get his numbers, but his team isn't much of a threat this week.

That is much different from Harris and Fresno State. While the senior is the main scorer on the roster, the rest of the players on the squad know how to fill their roles, with six other players averaging between 7.9 and 10.5 points per game. This is a veteran lineup that doesn't make many mistakes and knows how to pull out close wins.

If the Bulldogs get their shots to fall, they could easily earn themselves a trip to the Big Dance.

The same could be said about a few outside contenders such as New Mexico, the Boise State Broncos and even the UNLV Rebels. While the first two teams have been more consistent during the course of the season, UNLV has wins over the Indiana Hoosiers and Oregon Ducks and enough talent to make a run as the No. 7 seed. Meanwhile, Boise State and New Mexico have dynamic guard play that could be dangerous in a tournament like this.

Beyond all the contenders, though, the class of the league remains the San Diego State Aztecs. They are the one team that could potentially get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, although they would prefer not to let it get to that point. The regular-season champions went 16-2 in the league but just 7-6 in nonconference play.

Kent Horner/Getty Images

Veteran head coach Steve Fisher also explained that his team has to prove itself at this event after some struggles in recent years.

"If you’re not the best team in a one-and-done, then you’re not the best team," Fisher said, per Mike Millburn of KUSI. "We haven’t been since 2011. We’ll make sure that everyone is aware that it’s been a while."

As most have come to expect from this program, San Diego State is once again led by its defense, ranking second in the nation in efficiency by KenPom.com. The team uses its length, athleticism and intensity to make every shot difficult for opponents.

On offense, forwards Winston Shepard and Malik Pope were expected to make leaps, but instead it has been freshman guard Jeremy Hemsley leading the way with 13.1 points per game. While there are some questions about the team's consistency on that end of the court, the reality is that the defense is good enough to overcome many of these problems.

If all goes right, the Aztecs will play to their ability and cruise to three wins and a conference title. However, a number of other teams have the ability to knock the favorites off their pedestal, which could create a lot of drama throughout the week in Las Vegas.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for year-round sports analysis.