2025-26 Mountain West Bracketology: January 9

Happy Friday, everyone! As we continue forward with the Mountain West men’s basketball season, we will be updating the conference’s bracketology outlook as we approach the big dance in March! Let’s dive into this week’s update!

At Large Candidates:

Utah State:

NET: 16

KenPom: 26

Lunardi: No. 7 seed

Bracket Matrix (out of 58 brackets; Jan. 7): 58

Average Bracket Matrix Seed: 7.43

Skinny: Utah State remains the lone soul for an at-large bid. The only way the MW currently nets multiple bids is if the field — not Utah State — wins the MW Title. They are the only program in the top-40 in NET and in the top-45 in KenPom. They will be tested within the next week against a struggling Boise State on the road on Saturday, and Nevada at home on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Still More Work To Do:

Boise State:

NET: 63

KenPom: 67

Lunardi: ————

Bracket Matrix: 13

Average Bracket Matrix Seed: 9.77

Skinny: It was a rough week for Boise State. They dropped 10 spots in KenPom and 24 spots from last week’s NET as a result of their triple overtime loss to San Diego State and 17-point loss to Grand Canyon. Obviously, the latter stings much more than the former. It’s looking more realistic that Boise’s only path to making the NCAA Tournament is a MW championship, despite topping the conference in Quad 1 wins (2) when the field has three combined.

New Mexico:

NET: 44

KenPom: 53

Lunardi: First Four Out

Bracket Matrix: 8

Average Bracket Matrix Seed: 10

Skinny: New Mexico received the biggest bump from last week’s bracketology. They jumped 22 spots in NET, beating Wyoming (Quad 3) at home by 20 before beating Colorado State by 10 inside Moby Arena. Winners of nine of their last 10, they have a pretty soft schedule coming up, with six of their next seven being Quad 3 or 4 games. The Lobos are now 4-3 in Quad 1-2 games, with their next being on Jan. 17 against SDSU.

San Diego State:

NET: 62

KenPom: 50

Lunardi: ————

Bracket Matrix: 2

Average Bracket Matrix Seed: 11

Skinny: While it picked up a pair of Quad 2 wins over Boise and Nevada, the Aztecs moved up just 11 spots in NET and are still on the outside-looking-in. They have three Quad 2 games over the next two weeks against Wyoming, New Mexico and Grand Canyon, which could be pushed to Quad 3 if Grand Canyon (currently 97 in NET) falls out of the top-100.