2026 Mountain West Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Basics
Format
traditional bracket
Place
As usual, the event was held at the Thomas & Mack Center, home of UNLV, but on a different floor than the Runnin’ Rebels usually use.
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participants
This may be the first and only Mountain West tournament to feature 12 teams. The Grand Canyon joins this season. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are all headed to the Pac-12 after this season, which includes the University of Hawaii and UC Davis from the Big West and UTEP from Conference USA. So, it looks like this will be a 10-team event.
schedule
Downloadable PDF stand
Round 1 (Wednesday, March 3, 2011)
MWN will broadcast all four games live.
General Motors. 1: (9) Wyoming (18-14, 9-11) 70, (8) University of Nevada LV 73
General Motors. 2: (12) Air Force (3-29, 0-20) 45, (5) Nevada 80
General Motors. 3: (10) Fresno State (13-18, 7-13) vs. (7) Colorado State (20-11, 11-9), 9
Home points: Bulldogs 79-69 on 1/13, Rams 74-70 on 1/24.
General Motors. 4: (11) San Jose State (8-23, 3-17) vs. (6) Boise State (20-11, 12-8), 11:30*
Broncos sweep: 1/27 89-58 (away) and 2/21 84-69 (home).
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Quarterfinals (Thursday 3/12)
CBSSN will televise all four games.
General Motors. 5: (8) UNLV (17-15, 11-9) vs. (1) Utah State (25-6, 15-5), 3
Runnin’ Rebels Sweeps: 86-76 (away) on 1/20 and 92-65 (home) on 3/3.
General Motors. 6: (5) Nevada (21-11, 12-8) vs. (4) Grand Canyon (20-11, 13-7), 5:30*
The Wolfpack won 66-60 (overtime) on Jan. 27 in Reno.
General Motors. 7: General Motors. 3 Winner vs. (2) San Diego State (20-10, 14-6), 9
General Motors. 8: General Motors. 4 Winner vs. (3) New Mexico (22-9, 13-7), 11:30*
Semi-finals (Friday March 2013)
CBSSN will televise both games.
General Motors. 9: General Motors. 5 Winner vs. GM. 6 winners, 9:30
General Motors. 10: General Motors. 7 Winner vs. GM. 8 winners, 12am*
Championship (Saturday 3/14)
General Motors. 11: Semifinal Winners, 6 (CBS)
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potential for chaos
Data originally published by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitter In 2020 I will be adding my own content for future seasons.
The top two seeds have dominated the Mountain West tournament since 2011, winning 12 of 15 titles. However, the No. 2 seed was more successful than the No. 1 seed, winning seven championships compared to the top seed’s five. New Mexico is a No. 6 seed in 2024. Keep in mind, the 2020 Mountain West Championship was held only a week earlier because a conference ultimately canceled it due to the pandemic.
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2 seeds(7): 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2025
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1 seed(5): 2013, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023
NCAA bid totals in the 68-team era
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6 bids(1): 2024 (4-6, 11 members)
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5 bids(1): 2013 (2-5, 9 members)
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4 bids(4): 2012 (1-4, 8 members), 2022 (0-4, 11 members), 2023 (5-4, 11 members), 2025 (2-4, 11 members)
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3 bids(2): 2011 (4-3, 9 members), 2015 (1-3, 11 members)
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2 bids(4): 2014 (2-2, 11 members), 2018 (2-2, 11 members), 2019 (0-2, 11 members), 2021 (0-2, 11 members)
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1 bid(2): 2016 (0-1, 11 members), 2017 (0-1, 11 members)
The Mountain West may be hosting a single-bid conference for the first time in a decade. Utah is safely in, but New Mexico and San Diego State have been lingering near the cut line for weeks. One of the teams would likely need to apply for an automatic bid to secure two bids in 2026, but both could fail if enough problems arise for the other bubble teams.
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Last conference tournament champion
Colorado: 2025 (No. 2 seed)
New Mexico: 2024 (6th seed)
San Diego State: 2023 (No. 1 seed)
Boise State: 2022 (No. 1 seed)
Utah: 2020 (No. 2 seed)
Nevada: 2017 (No. 4 seed)
Fresno State: 2016 (No. 2 seed)
Wyoming: 2015 (No. 4 seed)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas: 2008 (No. 2 seed)
San Jose State: 1996 (No. 6 seed)
air force Never won a conference championship. The Falcons need to win their first four conference games this season to win their first in 2026.
