Air Force and Wyoming duke it out for who gets the 8 seed in the MWC tourney, and who gets the 9. The winner gets 8, the loser gets 9. Wyoming has lost by single digits only once in the last 8 games: the rest were all double-digit losses. Air Force has lost by single digits twice in the last 7. Bottom line: both teams stink and have showed it, particularly recently. Air Force pulls out the elusive road W, 62-57.
I would anticipate some flatness from New Mexico, hosting TCU after an emotional win at the Marriott Center. They should be able to overcome that against a TCU team that never really gelled. New Mexico over TCU, 70-58.
CSU probably needs to win at SDSU in order to secure a bid to the NIT. SDSU needs to beat CSU to stay in the running for an NCAA bid. SDSU is clearly a better team. And they are at home. And they have had the weekend off to rest and prepare for the game after a somewhat poor showing at BYU last week. And CSU is riding a 4-game losing streak. SDSU stays on pace with a win over the Rams, 69-58.
BYU-Utah, normally a big deal. This year: not so much. Utah has been meddling around .500 all season, dropping below, then rising back to it. Right now they stand at exactly .500 and in need of a win to secure 5th place in the conference. Only 1 other time this season have they put together 3 wins in a row. They are sitting at 2 in a row right now. Again, I don't like Boylen's approach and I don't think he'll have them prepared to beat BYU. His biggest problem is that his coaching philosophy doesn't have a big impact on BYU's style. He wants to grind it out in the halfcourt and utilize his size and his D. But you have to score at least 70 to beat BYU. This Utah team is built to run, excluding Foster, but Boylen doesn't allow them to do that: he is holding them back. The question is: how will BYU respond after the disappointing loss to New Mexico last week? Regardless of whether Jimmer plays, BYU takes it in a closely contested game, 73-68.
It doesn't really matter who wins for the 8 and 9 spot as they play each other again. I have heard nothing in Utah about the Utah BYU game to date; just a mention here and there. Jimmer may not play in SLC.
ReplyDeleteThere are rumors of a sellout? Either Ute fans are riled up about the "fight" from last game, or there are a lot of BYU fans going to the game. I can't imagine that they are expecting 10,000 more fans for this game than their season average. The Utes are playing better now than they have been all season, but not THAT MUCH better...
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