There's a strong chance BYU and Utah will meet as the Nos. 3 and 6 seeds, respectively, in the Mountain West Conference Tournament next week.

With a nod to that game, it's time to look at the two teams' two meetings this season.

OK, to be honest, I'm more interested in the second game. Utah beat BYU by 19 points at the Huntsman Center on Feb. 8. The Utes are 1-3 since. And the Cougars? They're 4-0.

In fact, the loss to Utah is the long blemish on BYU's schedule since midway through the month of January.

And Dave Rose's Cougars are generating buzz as a darkhorse in the tournament next week. Perhaps an NCAA berth is within in BYU's reach, if you believe those guys on sports talk radio (one of them just happens to be our BYU writer).

So was the loss to Utah a fluke? An off night? Has it been all but forgotten in the excitement of all those other wins?

Promise you the streaky Utes haven't forgotten. And guarantee you they'll try to do it again, should the instate rivals meet up in Denver next week.

You know you've got to find a way to bring some understanding, yeah, ... - Marvin Gaye.

The Utes lost to the lowly CSU Rams, 69-61 in overtime on Wednesday, and I'm channeling Mr. Gaye, who asked the relevant question many years ago: What's going on?

A political song for a different time, Gaye probably doesn't have an answer to the Utes' effort issues.

Nobody, not even Utes coach Ray Giacoletti, seems to know how to prepare these young Utes so they're ready to play every time they step out on the court. And this much has become clear: It really is about whether or not the Utes want it.

When they play hard - when they rebound, hustle, box out, dive for the loose balls - good things happen (see: Utah 67, SDSU 65). And when they don't? Look no further than a pair of losses to CSU.

Ev'ry body thinks we're wrong. Baby who are they to judge us?

This week Giacoletti said you're never as good as people say you are and you're never as bad as people say you are.

Okay, fine. But these Utes still haven't shown us what kind of team they'd like to be when the Mountain West Conference tournament begins less than a month from today.

Would the real slim shady, er Utah, please stand up?

There's the good and the bad in college basketball fandom, and I've heard or seen a bit of both this week.

The good: San Diego State.

Fans at Cox Arena hung enlarged Utah parking passes from their necks, teasing Utah senior forward Bryant Markson for his possession of a stolen parking permit earlier this year. Whenever Markson was at the free-throw line they chanted ''No Free Parking!''

The Mountain West Conference player of the week was 5-for-6 from the line, seemingly unruffled by the Aztecs' best effort. They weren't on just Markson.

Somehow -- ''We have our ways,'' an Aztec fan said -- SDSU supporters found and blew up a picture of freshman Shaun Green's girlfriend at the prom. Sitting on some other guy's lap. "Not your girlfriend!" SDSU fans said.

Green, and his teammates, couldn't help but laugh when they came out of the locker room for warmups. Good-natured ribbing, in my opinion. But that wasn't the case in Spokane, Wash., where Gonzaga fans chanted "Brokeback Mountain" at St. Mary's players in a recent win.

Apparently they were suggesting certain St. Mary's players were gay. Faculty advisors to the "Kennel Club," the school's cheering section, asked them to stop.

It seems to me there's not a whole lot going on in Spokane. Didn't the students have ample time to be more creative? San Diegans, with their surfing and their shopping, went the extra mile.

Shame on the 'Zags.

The second round of Mountain West Conference play inevitably breeds a certain measure of familiarity. Everybody has seen everybody else, unless, of course, a team has inexplicably been hiding a Marcus Slaughter type on the end of the bench for half the year.

There are a few exceptions, of course. The Utes didn't see Wyoming's uber-shot blocker, Justin Williams, when they beat the Cowboys in Wyoming last week. Williams was sidelined with an ankle injury. But, for the most part, Utah knows what's coming.

And I think that can't help but be a good thing.

Many Utah players are making their way through the Mountain West Conference for the first time. And many are young enough that the familiarity might help the second time around.

Of course, the thinking could be reversed, too: The MWC's veterans could have been playing close attention during the first go-round.

Although the Cowboys lost to Utah at home on Wednesday evening, it's likely no one was happier to escape the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyo., than one of the game's three officials, Stanley Reynolds. Why?

Because Kim McClain had his number. The wife of coach Steve McClain, Kim sits just behind Wyoming's bench. Reporters, like this cub making her first-ever trip into Cowboy territory, are sandwiched in between the husband and wife.

Steve is one of the most animated coaches in the Mountain West Conference, but on Wednesday, I'm not sure who yelled louder.

Said Kim, to the official: "Stanley, you're an idiot!"

She followed with, "Are you blind? That was a travel!"

And then, "That's 10 seconds, not three, Stanley!"

And so it went, with a few fingers-in-her-mouth whistles of encouragement for the Cowboys, thrown in for good measure. I wondered how the scene would play out when the McClains met up later that night at home.

On press row, local reporters had a laugh at my response, they'd seen it before. And there was no doubt that Reynolds had heard it all before as well -- as the two seemed to be on a first-name basis.

Jarring as it was, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you I've since learned that Kim McClain is putting her outspoken nature to work in other places. An editor with ties to Wyoming said, when I returned to the office and recounted the behavior, that she's involved in community service projects and is quite active in Laramie's philanthropic circles.

Good on her, I say. As long as she's not yelling at me.