You know when you post a tweet with a typo but don’t realize it until well after the fact? Well, that happened with this week’s Monday Mailbag post, as I wrote we were “one week from Selectin Sunday” when I meant to write “Selection Sunday.” But this time it worked out all right since teams are selected into the field of 68, so “Selectin Sunday” also makes sense. Funny how that worked out. Anyway, onto the Monday Mailbag. Thanks, as always, for the inquiries.

Nevada will win the Mountain West Tournament if …

… it makes at least 35 percent of its 3-pointers (sans the Air Force game because Nevada could make zero threes against the Falcons and still win)

… it makes at least 20 free throws per game (sans the Air Force game because Nevada could make zero free throws against the Falcons and still win)

… it outrebounds each of its opponents (sans the Air Force games because Nevada could lose the rebounding margin by 15 to the Falcons and still win)

… it defends the post like it did in home wins over Utah State and New Mexico last month (sans the Air Force game because Nevada could give up 40 points in the paint to the Falcons and still win)

… Corey Camper Jr. plays like a first-team All-MW selection (sans the Air Force game because Camper could score 10points against the Falcons and Nevada would still win)

… it plays like it does at home rather than how it plays on the road (sans the Air Force game because Nevada beat the Falcons by 15 on the road despite not playing all that well)

… it doesn’t have to play Grand Canyon, Utah State and San Diego State (that path seems too rigorous to climb, so an upset and easier-seeded team along the way would be beneficial)

So, basically Nevada needs to make its 3-pointers, get to the free throw line a lot, outplay its opponent in the paint and get a break or two in the bracket, which seems doable. Here is the issue. Nevada has made the MW Tournament semifinal once in Steve Alford’s first six seasons (in 2021 where it lost to San Diego State). And the Wolf Pack’s average game score over its last nine games is 56.3 (out of 100). Its average game score in the 11 MW games before that was 82.4. The Wolf Pack is not playing its best basketball, but it is talented enough to make things interesting this week if all of the above comes to fruition. We’ll see if Nevada has a run in it.

Nevada landed in a fairly favorable position since it’s on the other side of the bracket as San Diego State (the only Mountain West team the Wolf Pack didn’t beat this season) and could draw a lower seed in the semifinal given UNLV’s dominance of Utah State. By seeding, Nevada’s path to a MW Tournament title would be wins over No. 12 Air Force, No. 4 Grand Canyon, No. 1 Utah State and No. 2 San Diego State. Winning all four of those games will be tough (most projections give Nevada a 5 percent chance of winning the tournament title). But what if UNLV beats Utah State in the quarterfinal after twice beating the Aggies by double-digits in the regular season? A path of Air Force-Grand Canyon-UNLV-New Mexico doesn’t look quite as difficult. The issue here is Grand Canyon. That’s the second-worst matchup for Nevada behind San Diego State. The Wolf Pack and Antelopes only played once, and GCU dominated Nevada on the road until the game’s final minute, and it did so without two starters. Beating Grand Canyon won’t be easy given the Antelopes’ defense. But if Nevada gets past Grand Canyon, I like the Wolf Pack’s chances against Utah State. That’s a good matchup for Nevada, which I also matches up well with New Mexico if that’s the title game. The Wolf Pack’s two toughest matchups are Grand Canyon and San Diego State due to their length and defense.

I’d actually prefer to be the No. 5 seed in this situation because you get a walkthrough win over Air Force to get some rhythm before playing in the quarterfinal. If the No. 12 seed was a threat, it’d be a different story. But Air Force isn’t beating anybody. Nevada should be able to play its starters 20-25 minutes and win that game easily as a Thursday tune-up. Long term, playing four games in four days is not ideal in terms of sapping energy. But for only Thursday’s quarterfinal, I’d prefer to play a game Wednesday given the caliber of opponent offered by Air Force. In the women’s bracket, we just saw three of the four quarterfinal winners being teams that played in the first round, including Air Force’s massive upset of top-seeded San Diego State. I think there is an advantage to playing that first-round game if there’s no threat of losing.

I agree. This feels like the Mountain West from the Eric Musselman era, which was not as good as it has been during the Steve Alford era. This year marked the first time the MW champion had five league losses, albeit as part of a 20-game conference slate. This was a winnable MW despite seven of the league’s 12 teams winning 20-plus games. If you flip Nevada’s two overtime losses to wins and converted the Wolf Pack’s loss at San Jose State into a victory, that puts the team at 15-5 with a share of the MW title. Now, that’s wishful thinking. Nevada’s true outcome in MW play should have been 11-9. So, getting from there to 15-5 would have required a lot of breaks. But in terms of winnability, the MW was vulnerable.

I’ll predict a three seed in the NIT. It’s hard to give a seed because we don’t know which schools will accept NIT berths. But Nevada has submitted a bid to host an NIT game.

If every invited team accepted an invitation, Nevada probably would not host. But’s not going to be the case, so I would give the Wolf Pack a 65 percent chance of hosting if it goes 1-1 at the Mountain West Tournament, with that number increasing by 10 percent with a win in the quarterfinal and another 10 percent with a win in the semifinal.

I think Nevada would accept a berth this season. Last year, the Wolf Pack had three players out with injuries and two ready to join the transfer portal, which would have left it with six players in the NIT. This year, Nevada is healthy and has five seniors who won’t be entering the portal and might like to play some postseason ball to end their college careers. And I think the NIT makes more sense than the College Basketball Crown, which doesn’t start until April 1. The NIT could have several MW teams as Nevada, Grand Canyon, San Diego State, Boise State, New Mexico and Colorado State could all get a bid if they want one.

Yes, over the last eight games Nevada is 45-of-151 from three (29.8 percent) after shooting 94-of-226 from three (41.6) in its first 12 Mountain West games. The answer, as it usually is, lies in the middle. I’d project Nevada as a true 34 or 35 percent 3-point shooting team. The Wolf Pack can win a game from the 3-point line, and probably will need to if it’s going to claim the MW Tournament title, but that’s not its offensive bread-and-butter. The only high-volume good 3-point shooter Nevada has is Corey Camper Jr. (41.5 percent). Vaughn Weems is shooting 44.9 percent from three but makes less than one per game. Nevada’s offensive strength is getting to the foul line and avoiding turnovers. If it falls in love with the three, it can be problematic.

Per usual, I’m against speculating on who will and won’t enter the transfer portal since nobody knows. But it’s always hard to retain all-conference players (Elijah Price will qualify) and guys who have fallen out of the rotation (Chuck Bailey III will qualify). I’d put the over/under on Nevada losing 2.5 players to the transfer portal. The Wolf Pack has a really interesting freshman class coming in next year. If it could retain Price, Vaughn Weems, Tyler Rolison and Peyton White, that’d be a good offseason.

I don’t see the Mountain West adding another non-football program to boost basketball unless it is Saint Mary’s, and the Gaels are probably waiting for a spot in the Pac-12 and willing to sit things and dominate the West Coast Conference until that happens. UC Irvine (more so than San Francisco) would improve MW men’s basketball. But not to the point where adding the Anteaters is necessary. Below is this year’s KenPom ranking for each men’s basketball team that will be in the MW in 2026-27. It’s not pretty. Basketball could use a boost because that looks like a one-bid league whereas the new Pac-12 will be a three- to five-bid league immediately.

New Mexico (49)

Grand Canyon (60)

Nevada (76)

Wyoming (98)

UNLV (104)

Hawaii (115)

UC Davis (155)

UTEP (277)

San Jose State (237)

Air Force (344)

Wyoming would go from ninth in this year’s MW to the fourth-best team in the new MW.

Nevada football retained more talent than I expected it to this offseason, which perhaps cut into the quality of the transfer class added because NIL money was used to retain players, which is fine. You want to keep your best players first and foremost. And the transfer-portal additions were solid. I still have questions about the quarterback and wide receiver situation and the defensive back seven must be rebuilt. So, while a bowl berth in the new Mountain West, which is nowhere near as strong as the old MW, is doable. I’m not super comfortable predicting that result until it happens. I feel like the last three years have all been earmarked as “the season things will turn around.” So, I need to see the turnaround before believing it. With that said, going 6-6 and qualifying for a bowl against Nevada’s 2026 schedule is doable.

I have no idea when such an announcement could be made, but there is a 0 percent chance this arena would be getting built if it did not eventually include a minor-league hockey team. All of the feasibility studies provided to the Reno Redevelopment Agency requesting TIF money included a hockey element. There would not be enough dates used by the arena if not for a hockey team. So, it’s a matter of when rather than if with regard to GSR Arena including a hockey element beyond the community ice rink that has been announced (and would be used as a practice facility for the minor-league team).

Nevada softball has only four non-conference games left, and they’re against Pacific (twice), Utah Valley and Northern Colorado. So, those are not high-quality opportunities. But the Wolf Pack faces Grand Canyon three times in league play (the Antelopes are 27-0) and has two games against San Diego State, which is always strong. Ultimately, I don’t know that Nevada (16-9) did enough in non-league to get an at-large berth barring a 21-4 record in MW play or something. The Wolf Pack went 1-6 against Top 25 teams in non-league. The RPI and associated Quad rating system numbers are not out yet, so let’s see what those look like when they are released. If Nevada is in the top 35 of the RPI, there could be an at-large chance. As I wrote before the season, I love that Nevada scheduled up in non-league, and the Wolf Pack was more than good enough to win some of those games against ranked teams. But Nevada probably needed to go 3-4 against ranked opponents to be in good position for an at-large berth. I do think this is an NCAA Tournament-caliber team, though. The hitting is really good, but Nevada needs to get ace pitcher Hailey McLean on track (5.30 ERA compared to last year’s 2.62 ERA, albeit against stiffer competition).

Nevada opened the season going 0-3 against a legit NCAA Tournament team in Ole Miss and is 8-2 since then. So, that’s not a bad result to date with the Wolf Pack winning five straight. Stanford is not very good this season, sitting at 5-10 overall and 1-3 against the Mountain West (1-2 against Fresno State and 0-1 against Nevada). But any win over the Cardinal is a good result, and Nevada draws Stanford again this Wednesday. Nevada’s offense has been better over the last week and is now averaging 6.84 runs per game, and that’s without Sean Yamaguchi getting hot yet. The pitching was the bigger question mark entering the season and has a 5.80 ERA compared to last year’s 5.74, so that’s in line with the year-over-year numbers. Ultimately, an at-large berth is not in the picture as the MW hasn’t placed multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament since 2014. This is about winning the MW, which won’t be easy with New Mexico, UNLV and SDSU all improved over last season.

Yep. The news came down today that Amanda Levens was fired after nine seasons leading the Nevada women’s basketball team. It’s never great to see somebody lose their job, and few, if any, have had their team invest more into the community than Levens had her program do. Ultimately, this is a win-loss business, and Nevada was coming off three 20-loss campaigns in the last four years. So, a move was expected.

The quarter system means there are three media timeouts per half in women’s basketball games and four media timeouts in men’s games. I don’t think you’ll see men’s games go to the quarter system because it would remove two media timeouts per game, which means it would cost schools money. I would like to see the men’s game use the women’s format of being able to advance the ball on late-game timeouts. That would make late-game situations more interesting.

I don’t know the answer to that question. And I like “JUM-BO JACK” more than “SON-IC BLAST.” Also, Nevada opponents missed 109 free throws at Lawlor Events Center this season, so at the cost of $5 per miss, you’d owe the Wolf Pack $545. I would guess the Sonic Blast promo blows that out of the water.

I didn’t know former Nevada standout Joel Bitonio was a free agent until I saw him on ESPN’s top NFL free-agent list. I just figured he’d always be with the Browns. But San Francisco makes sense since it is a win-now team close to home (he’s from Long Beach and has a house in La Jolla). As a Bills fan, I’d love to see him replace David Edwards at left guard, but that’s not happening after Buffalo resigned center Connor McGovern for big money. A team in California makes sense with the Chargers and 49ers having bigger guard needs than the Rams. I would not be shocked to see him return to Cleveland where he is loved. But it would be nice to see him play for a winner to cap his career if he continues to play (he also could retire).

I went 20-11 in the regular season on Nevada basketball picks. Below are the games I missed.

Picked Nevada to win and it lost: UC Davis, Washington, Boise State (road), San Jose State, UNLV, Wyoming, San Diego State (home)

Picked Nevada to lose and it won: Boise State (home), Utah State (home), UC Santa Barbara, Colorado State

So, I was a little too bullish on Nevada with seven picks to win where Nevada lost and four picks to lose when Nevada won. I don’t think I’ve ever had a perfect season, football or men’s basketball. But I usually do better in basketball than I did this season. I usually hit at least 75 percent of my picks. This year, it has only been 64.5 percent. I went 9-3 in football this season, which is 75 percent. Last year in basketball I was 24-9, which is a success rate of 72.3 percent.

1. March Madness

2. NFL

3. World Cup

4. College World Series

5. NBA/MLB/NHL (they’re all the same, basically)

6. College Football Playoff

I don’t like the selection system from the College Football Playoff, so that is last. I love the randomness of one-game samples in March Madness, so that is first. The NFL also has the pressure of one-game series, so that is second ahead of the World Cup, which should have stayed at 32 teams instead of 48. I wish MLB didn’t put 12 teams in the playoffs after a 162-game season, but I am willing to accept it if there is no salary cap because it offers .500 teams a chance to make the postseason.

I’d put it this way — Nevada went from the WAC to the Mountain West at roughly the same time as Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State and San Jose State. Eleven years later when the Pac-12 raided the MW, it took Boise State, Utah State and Fresno State but not Nevada and San Jose State. Clearly, you’d rather be grouped with the former and not the latter. Much of this is a lack of investment in Nevada athletics in its first decade in the MW, which included financial budgets and facility improvement. The Wolf Pack basically got what it deserved as a result of not caring about athletics for a long time. That mindset has changed in recent years, but it was too little, too late. Now, we’ll see if Nevada can excel in the new (and easier) MW to be prepared for the next wave of conference realignment, which is believed to be coming in the 2030-32 window when some of these media-rights deal are up.

I’ve watched a good amount, catching pieces of several games. I love seeing the crowds in the non-American venues. They really loved baseball, which is my favorite sport as well. As for the quality of the games, there are three teams (United States, Dominican Republic, Japan) that can win the tournament in a 20-country field, so that’s not great. But the intensity should ramp up in the semifinals and make for some must-see baseball. The Ohtani-Trout showdown to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic is a top-10 baseball moment of the 2000s, which wouldn’t have been possible without the event. The U.S. should be the heavy favorite to win the title since the Dominican Republic and Japan are on the same side of the bracket. Team USA has a cakewalk into the title game. My pick from the start has been the Dominican Republic. That lineup is insane. Team USA’s pitching is better, but it’s not like pitchers are going to get stretched deep into games in this tournament.

(Also, Tarik Skubal’s will-he, won’t-he pitch routine is annoying. Make a decision.)

This changes every other week, so I will believe nothing is set in stone until those schools are actually playing in the CIF.

Lowry in girls basketball and wrestling. Elko in boys basketball. And congrats on sending me a top-10 most random Mailbag question in this feature’s 15-year history.

Lightning asks Mo Seider’s wrists how to get that explosive.

Surprisingly, I have never seen a single second of Peaky Blinders despite Cillian Murphy being on my top-five list of must-watch actors. That list includes:

5. Christian Bale

4. Denzel Washington

3. Cillian Murphy

2. Daniel Day-Lewis

1. Leonard DiCaprio

I want to watch Peaky Blinders, but we just got done binging Breaking Bad, so we’re usually 10 years late on this stuff.

See y’all next week!

Sports columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. He writes a weekly Monday Mailbag despite it giving him a headache and it taking several hours to write. But people seem to like it, so he does it anyway. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.