Where will the chips fall?

In the same vein as an important job interview, Portland State slipped on its finest suit, perfectly styled its hair and demonstrated its skill set to the NCAA Selection Committee in a victory over Montana State to capture the Big Sky Championship Wednesday night.

Now all the Vikings can do is wait while the committee pours over its resume and decides just how worthy Portland State is of a higher seed than the No. 16 it received last year.

After receiving the lowest possible seed, Portland State was matched up with eventual National Champion Kansas, and the results were not exactly what Vikings fans might have hoped. Portland State was bounced with an 85-61 first-round loss.

Not wanting to repeat history, athletic director Torre Chisholm is hopeful that the Vikings will receive a higher seed in the school’s second ever trip to the Big Dance.

“You want a 14 or better because there is history behind you,” Chisholm said. “Half the battle is getting the team to believe. When you’re a 16, it’s tough.”

Chisholm recalled that before the Portland State squared off against the Jayhawks last March, it was difficult for head coach Ken Bone and his staff to definitively claim that the Vikings held an advantage and were indeed the better team.

Most bracketologists, experts in the field of NCAA Tournament brackets, expect the Vikings to receive either a No. 14 or 15 seed when the NCAA Selection Committee unveils its seedings on Sunday’s selection show.

If the Vikings receive the No. 14 or 15 seed treatment, then Portland State could be matched up with a host of teams ranging from the athletic Michigan State Spartans to the disciplined Blue Devils of Duke.

While Chisholm admits that even if the Vikings land a No. 14 or 15 seed, where most prognosticators currently have them slated, it would be challenging to stake the claim that Portland State was the better team, the matchup would be easier.

“You get a [No. 3 seed] and you know that they’ve had some ordinary games,” Chisholm said, commenting on how teams outside the top two seeds have experienced some hiccups over the course of the season.

A few weeks after last year’s NCAA Tournament, Chisholm said he spoke with a few members of the NCAA Selection Committee, which allocates seeds and game locations to participating schools.

Chisholm said the primary advice he received from the committee members was scheduling games against top-notch Division I squads. And Chisholm heeded the advice, securing perennial tournament participant Gonzaga, Pacific-10 regular-season champion Washington and Cal State Fullerton, a 2008 tournament team.

Portland State notched an upset victory over then No. 7 ranked Gonzaga back in December, topped Cal State Fullerton in a hard-fought matchup and narrowly lost to Washington in Seattle, Wash. They also had games against Boise State and Baylor, both NCAA Tournament teams last season.

“If you have the committee look at all the pieces this year, you would assume and hope that we get better than a 16 seed,” Chisholm said.