Interesting story about how UNLV's Curtis Terry joined the Rebels with a simple, unsolicited phone call to coach Lon Kruger ... and look at him now, one of the leaders of the team going into his final home game against the Utes today.

"You never know how things are going to work out," Terry said.

That's true, and it's why today's game at the Thomas & Mack Center could be so important for the Utes. Presuming they don't make an unexpected run through the Mountain West Conference tournament here next week, this could be the game that decides whether they reach the postseason for the first time in three years or not.

The Utes are 7-point underdogs at many places around town, according to Covers.com, and right on the bubble for the NIT, according to an amusing bracketology-style site that for some reason aspires to predict the field for the biggest tournament that nobody cares about.

Terry, by the way, scored 14 points with seven rebounds and eight assists in the last meeting with the Utes -- an 81-73 Utah victory at the Huntsman Center -- but shot just 4-for-13 from the field. The Utes' biggest accomplishments in that game were holding guard Wink Adams to 11 points on 3-for-11 shooting, and shooting nearly 50 percent while making 23 of 28 free throws -- including 10 straight in the final two minutes.