UNLV women make case for at-large NCAA tourney bid

UNLV Lady Rebels head coach Lindy La Rocque calls out to players during the second half of the Mountain West Conference championship game against the San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Photo by Steve Marcus

The UNLV women’s basketball team clinched its fourth consecutive Mountain West regular-season championship on Wednesday, and that’s an accomplishment worth celebrating. But as the party subsides, the team is faced with the fact that it might not matter at all — at least in terms of the NCAA Tournament.

The Mountain West has been a one-bid conference for more than a decade now, so if the ladies want to punch their ticket to the NCAA’s for the fourth year in a row, they still have to win the MWC tTournament.

Or do they?

Is there a chance the Scarlet and Gray could earn an at-large berth if the worst were to happen and they got knocked out of the conference tourney sooner than anyone expects?

UNLV’s résumé puts the team squarely on the bubble. Lindy La Rocque has guided her squad to a 23-5 record, 15-1 in league play, and they are closing strong — they haven’t lost since Jan. 25, when they were sunk by a buzzer beater at San Diego State.

According to ESPN’s latest bracketology projection, UNLV is a No. 11 seed and set to face No. 6 Maryland in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament — but that presumes the Scarlet and Gray are an automatic qualifier. If they were to lose in the Mountain West Tournament, their status would be up in the air.

After watching UNLV clinch another regular-season crown, athletic director Erick Harper believes they are in the tournament.

“Absolutely,” Harper said when asked if UNLV was worthy of an at-large spot. “There is no reason why they shouldn’t. They play a very tough schedule in nonconference and they should be an at-large bid. They’ve earned it. They’ve earned the opportunity.”

UNLV can make an intriguing case.

NET ranking is a crucial metric for the NCAA selection committee, and UNLV’s 30-point win over Boise State bumped the team’s NET from No. 47 to No. 45. According to ESPN’s bracket, the last four at-large teams to make the field — Iowa State, Washington, Harvard and Virginia Tech — are 39^th, 43^rd, 34^th and 47^th, respectively.

A loss would obviously put a big dent in UNLV’s NET, but the Scarlet and Gray would be close enough to have reason to tune in on selection Sunday.

La Rocque said she didn't follow the various bracketology forecasts but has staffers who keep an eye on the ebbs and flows as March approaches.

“You can’t be immune to it,” La Rocque said. “I’m on social media and some of the different things. I try not to give that too much weight or occupy too much mental space because, frankly, so much of that is out of our control. What we can control is our next game, our own outcomes to the best of our ability, the work that we can do, so that we don’t have to totally leave everything up to them.”

One mark against UNLV is its performance against top competition. With a record of 0-2 against Quad 1 opponents and 0-1 against Quad 2 teams, the Scarlet and Gray lack a signature win. Virginia Tech, by contrast, is 1-7 against Quad 1 teams and 3-1 against Quad 2 teams.

While UNLV can certainly argue for at-large inclusion, the safest course is, obviously, winning the Mountain West Tournament and securing the conference's automatic bid.

Senior forward Alyssa Brown said that was the only path the team was focused on traveling.

“I wouldn’t say we’re looking to lose,” Brown said. “We want to win. We want to win and that’s just our goal.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.