New Mexico State’s reign of dominance in the Western Athletic Conference continues. The Aggies had another very impressive regular season campaign to earn the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Can they now translate that dominance to a fifth-straight tournament title, or is there an upset in the cards?
Read on below for our preview of the WAC tournament. Meanwhile, check out Championship Week’s most interesting tourneys with our previews of the Pac-12 and Big 12 tournaments.
March Madness News & Predictions
- 2016 March Madness Sleepers Predictions and Picks
- 2016 March Madness Longshots and Best Long Shots Picks and Predictions
- 2016 March Madness Preview
- 2016 NCAA March Madness Expert Picks
2016 WAC Conference Tournament Preview
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New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State simply stormed through the WAC for the second-consecutive year. The Aggies went a commanding 13-1 for the second-straight season thanks to a suffocating defense that gave up just 61.6 points during conference play, and the dominance of WAC Player of the Year Pascal Siakam (20.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season).
The Aggies are an incredibly young team that features zero seniors and only one junior playing legit minutes, but they will have the advantage of getting the lone bye in the conference. Bye or no bye, though, the Aggies are hands down the team to beat in the WAC.
CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners
The CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners and their roster of experienced upperclassmen led by seniors Aly Ahmed (13.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG) and Kevin Mays (12.8 PPG, 8.3 RPG) rolled to their best record in program history (21-8, 11-3 in conference) this season.
They finished second in the conference in both scoring offense (74.9) and scoring defense (63.3). And with Grand Canyon’s ineligibility to join the tournament due to its Division I transition, the Roadrunners will be the No. 2 seed on a collision course with New Mexico State in the final.
If any team can end the Aggies’ run of dominance in the tourney, it should be CSU Bakersfield. The Roadrunners gave the Aggies their biggest test over two games this season. They pushed the top seed to double-overtime before succumbing at home, and lost by just eight on the road.
Sleeper
Utah Valley Wolverines
Utah Valley will get a pretty favorable matchup in the quarterfinals against UMKC. The Wolverines swept the season series against the Kangaroos, and won by nine and 11 points. However, waiting in the semifinals is No. 1 seed New Mexico State.
That’s definitely a blow against Utah Valley’s chances of springing a major surprise, but don’t count this Wolverines team which has the firepower to concern any team.
Utah Valley topped the conference with 78 points per game this season. The trio of Marcel Davis, Jaden Jackson and Konner Frey all averaged 14 or more points, and any one of them is a threat to go off on any given game.
Long Shot
UMKC Kangaroos
UMKC went just 4-10 in conference play this year, and three of those wins came against fellow bottom-feeders Chicago State and UT Rio Grande Valley.
It’ll take a minor miracle for the Kangaroos to win the tourney. But they do pack some punch offensively with Martez Harrison (15.1 PPG) and LaVell Boyd (13.7 PPG), so their chances of winning a game or three are a tad better than Rio Grande Valley or winless Chicago State.
Writer’s Prediction
New Mexico State completes the five-peat as it wins another tournament title.
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