What to know about Colorado State in Mountain West women's basketball tournament

McKenna Hofschild walked away from the podium after the final regular season press conference with a big smile on her face.

“It’s tourney time, baby!” she yelled.

The Colorado State women’s basketball team finished the regular season with a solid and important 66-51 win at home over Boise State on Tuesday night.

Now it’s into the Mountain West tournament.

Here’s what you need to know about the tournament for the Rams.

Mountain West starts with a rematch

Tuesday’s win was huge because of the massive quagmire in the conference standings. On the final day the Rams could have fallen as far as the No. 6 seed, but the win secures the No. 3 spot.

How important is that? The top five seeds earn a first-round bye and have to win three games in three days to win the title. Seeds 6-11 would have to win four games in four days. Landing the No. 3 also kept the Rams on the opposite side of the bracket of top-seeded UNLV.

CSU’s win, combined with other results, meant Boise State slid to the No. 6. It also means a rematch Monday in the quarterfinals after Boise State beat No. 11 Utah State in Sunday's first round.

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The Rams (19-10, 12-6 MW) beat Boise State by 15 at home and 21 on the road this season, but will be conscientious of the threat of facing a team for the third time overall and second time in a week.

CSU will play at 7:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. MT on Monday, March 6.

Path to an NCAA Tournament

The Mountain West is again likely a one-bid league to the NCAA Tournament, with regular season champ UNLV (NET ranking of 52) unlikely to even be able to earn an at-large bid if it falls next week.

CSU nearly made the run to steal the conference's automatic bid last year, advancing to the title game before an exciting championship loss to UNLV. A lot of those Rams — most importantly Hofschild — are back and ready for another crack at it, as evidenced by Hofschild’s yell of excitement after Tuesday’s game.

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“Our kids are excited. They got to experience a lot of the tournament last year with a nice little run,” CSU coach Ryun Williams said. “We have a lot of those kids back, so I think they’re excited to re-create some of those moments and they know what it takes.”

Here’s the likely path for the No. 3 Rams if they keep winning:

• Quarterfinal: Monday, March 6, 8:30 p.m. MT vs. winner of No. 6 Boise State/No. 11 Utah State

• Semifinal: Tuesday, March 7, 8:30 p.m. MT, likely against No. 2 Wyoming (who would face winner of No. 7 Air Force vs. No. 10 San Jose State)

• Final: Wednesday, March 8, 8 p.m. MT, likely against No. 1 UNLV

How to watch Mountain West tournament games

The first round, quarterfinals and semifinal are all only available to watch online via the Mountain West Network. The MW Network is available on Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV or Roku. Mobile apps are available through the iOS App Store and Google Play.

The final will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.

Games will be broadcast over the radio at Power 102.9 FM.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: What to know about Mountain West women's basketball tournament