Women’s coaches believe MWC deserves three NCAA berths

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | 10:22 a.m.

Only one thing is certain when it comes to the Mountain West Conference women's basketball tournament and what it means beyond Saturday afternoon:

Whoever cuts the nets down in Denver is going to the NCAA tournament.

Whether the tournament champion will have company on the big dance floor depends on who you talk to.

According to the bracketologists and other so-called experts, the Mountain West is in line for only one NCAA berth. Of course, the league's coaches say that would be a miscarriage of justice, as most think three teams and possibly even four should get in.

"I just can't even talk about it," said Utah's Elaine Elliott, choosing her words carefully so as not to incur the wrath of the basketball gods, also known as the NCAA tournament selection committee.

"Over the years, they just haven't been taking any teams from this league unless they have the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) to match. They haven't done that to all the teams (in the NCAA) but that's what they've done to the teams in this league."

With a solid RPI of No. 40, at first glance it would appear the Utes have little to worry about, even if they don't win the MWC tournament. Guess again. College RPI.com, which prides itself in the accuracy of its NCAA tournament bracket projections, has New Mexico as the only MWC team advancing, and as a lowly No. 13 seed at that.

As recently as two years ago, the Mountain West put four teams in the big dance but a supbar conference RPI -- the MWC is ranked just 11th behind lesser-knowns such as Conference USA, the Atlantic 10, the Colonial and the Sun Belt -- would seem to quash any chance of that happening this year.

Unless you talk to Brigham Young coach Jeff Judkins.

"I personally feel there should be at least three teams that get in and maybe four, if somebody like Colorado State wins the tournament" said Judkins, whose Cougars will provide the opposition for UNLV in the last of Wednesday's four quarterfinals at the Pepsi Center.

"You've got Utah and New Mexico and Vegas has had a great year -- I think those three teams can play with anybody. Two years ago, we got four teams in and with three straight Sweet 16 appearances, I think this conference has proven itself. Hopefully, the committee realizes that."

At 21-6 overall and coming off a 68-60 overtime victory at Utah, which snapped the Utes' 27-game winning streak at the Huntsman Center, the Lady Rebels are back on the NCAA bubble. But UNLV coach Regina Miller is leaving nothing to chance. She says the Lady Rebels' approach for Denver is to win three games and take the guesswork out of the equation.

"We did pretty good for a UNLV team, considering we had only one starter returning to this year's group," said Miller, whose Lady Rebels will enter the MWC event as the No. 3 seed behind New Mexico and Utah, their highest positioning ever.

"You look at how you finish in the conference, and I think that deserves consideration. But the easiest way to get there is to win the tournament, and that's not going to be an easy road for any of us."

It will be even tougher for the Lady Rebels, who won't have the luxury of playing on their home floor this year. The tournament starts Wednesday with four quarterfinals, as No. 1 New Mexico faces No. 8 Air Force at noon, No. 4 Colorado State and No. 5 Wyoming resume their Border War rivalry at 2:30 and No. 2 Utah and No. 7 San Diego State square off at 6, followed by the Lady Rebels-BYU game at 8:30.

Most of the league's coaches queried in a Monday teleconference said you can probably throw a blanket over the top three seeds, with perhaps Colorado State rating consideration as a dark horse.

"There's New Mexico, and the kids at Utah have done a lot of good things over the past couple of years," said CSU coach Chris Denker. "But you better not overlook Vegas. They go and sweep that Utah trip and I don't think there's a person around the league who thought that was going to happen."