March 6, 2010

2010 CONOCO MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's basketball team finished the 2009-10 Mountain West Conference season in a tie for third place, and earned the No. 3 seed for next week's Conoco MWC Men's Basketball Championship, which will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center, March 10-13.

UNLV tied with San Diego State for third in the league standings, but won the tiebreaker because of its season split with BYU. The Runnin' Rebels split the season series with San Diego State and both schools also split with this year's regular-season league champion New Mexico, but since San Diego State was swept by BYU, which finished second in the league standings, UNLV earned the No. 3 seed.

The Runnin' Rebels (23-7, 11-5) will face No. 6 seed Utah (14-16, 7-9) in the 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal game Thursday, March 11, which will be simulcast on The Mtn. - MountainWest Sports Network and CBS College Sports Network. All eight games of the MWC Championship will be broadcast in high definition.

The Runnin' Rebels and Utes have met five previous times in MWC Tournament action, including one quarterfinal, three semifinals and the 2004 title game won by Utah. UNLV holds a league-best 17-6 all-time record in the MWC Tournament, including a 3-2 edge against Utah. The Utes are 13-8 overall in tournament action and took a 22-21 edge in the all-time series with the Runnin' Rebels after sweeping both meetings this season.

UNLV is 8-1 all-time in the quarterfinals of the MWC Tournament, with its only loss coming last year to San Diego State. The MWC Tournament has been held in Las Vegas seven times (2000-03, 2007-09) and UNLV has won the title three times (2000, 2007, 2008).

New Mexico enters the MWC Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time in the league's 11-year history. The Lobos (28-3, 14-2) will face the winner of Wednesday's first-round game between No. 8 seed Wyoming (10-20, 3-13) and No. 9 seed Air Force (9-20, 1-15) on Thursday at 12 p.m. (The Mtn. HD). Wednesday's first-round game between the Cowboys and Falcons is at 2 p.m. (The Mtn. HD).

No. 4 seed San Diego State (22-8, 11-5) and No. 5 seed Colorado State (16-14, 7-9) will face off at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday (The Mtn. HD/CBS College Sports HD), while No. 2 seed BYU (28-4, 13-3) and No. 7 seed TCU (13-18, 5-11) will meet at 6 p.m. (The Mtn. HD).

The semifinals will take place on Friday, March 12 (6 and 8:30 p.m.), and the championship game is scheduled for Saturday, March 13 at 4 p.m. The winner of the tournament will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

All-session and single-session tickets for the Conoco Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Championship are now on sale at the Thomas & Mack Center ticket office, online at UNLVTickets.com or by calling 702-739-FANS. The Thomas & Mack Center ticket office will be open Monday, March 8 at 10 a.m.

The MWC Tournament has produced six different champions in its 10-year history. UNLV (2000, 2007, 2008), San Diego State (2002, 2006) and Utah (2004, 2009) are the only teams to have won multiple titles, followed by BYU (2001), Colorado State (2003) and New Mexico (2005) with one apiece.

The No. 1 seed has won the tournament just twice in 10 years. UNLV won the inaugural championship as the top seed in 2000, while San Diego State became the second No. 1 seed to claim the crown in 2006.

The No. 2 seed (BYU, New Mexico, UNLV), No. 3 seed (Utah), No. 5 seed (San Diego State) and No. 6 seed (Colorado State) have captured tournament championships, while the No. 4 seed is 0-4 and the No. 7 seed is 0-1 in title games. The No. 8 and No. 9 seeds have yet to appear in the championship game.

The MWC regular-season champion has made it to the finals of the MWC Tournament seven times in 10 years (UNLV in 2000; BYU in 2001, 2007, 2008; Utah in 2005, 2009; San Diego State in 2006), winning the championship four times. San Diego State is the only team to win both an outright regular-season title and the tournament crown in the same year.

UNLV has played in the championship game in five of the six years that the MWC Tournament has been held at the Thomas & Mack Center and it was eligible to compete (2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008) - UNLV was ineligible to compete in the 2001 tournament.

2010 CONOCO MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Wednesday, March 10 (First Round)
2 p.m., No. 8 Wyoming vs. No. 9 Air Force, The Mtn. HD

Thursday, March 11 (Quarterfinals)
12 p.m., No. 1 New Mexico vs. No. 8/9 winner, The Mtn. HD
2:30 p.m., No. 4 San Diego State vs. No. 5 Colorado State, The Mtn. HD/CBS College HD
6 p.m., No. 2 BYU vs. No. 7 TCU, The Mtn. HD
8:30 p.m., No. 3 UNLV vs. No. 6 Utah, The Mtn. HD/CBS College HD

Friday, March 12 (Semifinals)
6 p.m., Quarterfinal #1 and #2 Winners, CBS College HD
8:30 p.m., Quarterfinal #3 and #4 Winners, CBS College HD

Saturday, March 13
4:00 p.m., Championship Game, VERSUS HD