March Madness betting players are keeping a close eye on the Mountain West, where the situation hasn’t changed much from the college football season. TCU may have been overlooked for a spot in the BCS title game, and their win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl has raised the bar for mid-major conference teams, although they’re also bolting to the Big East so they can have a better chance at a BCS berth. Many are now wondering if BYU deserves a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but after this weekend’s big road win, there should be no question as to whether the Cougars will be a top seed, even without a win in the conference tournament. The Cougars have home games left against New Mexico and Wyoming to close out the regular season, and against the Lobos, the sportsbook promo tagline would simply be, “Revenge” as New Mexico is one of two teams to beat BYU this season. The Cougars were coming off an emotional win at San Diego State and were due for a letdown as they lost at New Mexico, and the circumstances are very similar for Tuesday’s game as BYU went to San Diego State and completed a season sweep of the Aztecs with an 80-67 win on Saturday. Jimmer Fredette has to be the leading national Player of the Year candidate after a 25-point, nine-assist performance against the Aztecs, who he lit up for 43 points in the first game (a game which even got the attention of NBA betting players), and it was a very good effort in a place where the Aztecs hadn’t lost since falling to the Cougars by two points on January 23rd, 2010. Now, the Cougars still have to get through the Mountain West tournament, which they haven’t won since 2001, and they lost in the finals in 2007 and 2008. Last year, they fell to UNLV in the semifinals as the No.2 seed, and the Rebels could be tricky again as the tournament is annually held at the Thomas & Mack Center, which is UNLV’s home court. Likely, the Cougars will have to face either the Rebels or San Diego State again in order to win the conference tournament, but we think a trip to the finals would be enough to clinch a No.1 seed. They’ve really handled the Aztecs in both games this season, and a loss to UCLA came at a “neutral site”, which was actually in Anaheim and favored the Bruins. You could definitely argue that BYU jumped Texas in the running for a top seed as the winner of the Big East (likely Pitt) should be joined by Duke and Kansas for the other No.1 seeds. This should be one of the most exciting Mountain West tournaments in years for sports betting players.
