All along down the stretch of this season, my sense about the Utes was that while they had improved drastically to reach the point where they could beat almost anybody at home and most mediocre to poor teams on the road, they had yet to grow quite enough to show they could win a big game against a really good team on somebody else's floor.

Well, tonight's their chance.

The 23-9 Utes are in the championship game of the Mountain West Conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center -- not against hometown UNLV, as many might have expected, but against San Diego State, the league's third-best team in the Ratings Percentage Index with a No. 31 ranking. The Utes are ranked 12th, but have not won any of their four games away from home against Top 50 teams.

What's more, the 23-8 Aztecs seem to be flying just as high as the Utes -- the Aztecs are actually 1-point favorites -- and coach Jim Boylen expects a close game.

"We struggle with their athleticism, their size," Boylen said. "It's going to come down to grit, toughness, who wins the loose balls and who makes their open looks. They got us at their place, we got them at our place. I've felt San Diego State was one of the best teams in our league, and I think it's proven to be that.

"What they've done is handled adversity all year long," he added. "They've had the flu bug hit their team. They've had injuries, they've had issues on their team where their lineups haven't been consistent. ... In my mind, they're just starting to catch their groove because they're healthy and feeling better. Nobody in the league -- I think I can speak for the league -- doubted whether they're one of the top teams. They are, and they're proving it this week."

And if the Utes can beat them, they will have proven something every bit as important and impressive.