Maybe it's suddenly a promising weekend for the Utes, considering the upsets that already have rocked the Mountain West Conference tournament here in Las Vegas.

I mean, the Colorado State men and women combine to lose all 32 of their regular-season league games and enter the tournament on a combined 37-game losing streak ... and all they do is each win play-in upsets before the women stun the Utah women last night?

Maybe that's a good sign for underdogs everywhere.

The Utes are down to being 3 1/2-point underdogs against the New Mexico Lobos in the quarterfinals tonight, where they hope to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Lobos away from the Huntsman Center.

If nothing else, the Utes should be mentally prepared to avoid a poor performance, having watched the women's team suffer that shocking loss last night. Not that they would have been predisposed to cruising against the Lobos, of course, having lost two close games against them already this season.

And while the Utes are here doing what they can to reach the postseason, athletic director Chris Hill already is working with the tournament selection committee in Indianapolis, hoping to make sure the "right" 65 teams reach the tournament.

"There is a real team approach to getting this done the right way," Hill said.

You know ... just like the Utes.