The Utes are normally a strong shooting team, so even coach Jim Boylen was somewhat surprised that they had such difficulty hitting shots in the 63-50 loss at Brigham Young today.

"I thought at times we over-forced it when we had open looks," he said, "and I thought at times we took bad shots when we should have moved it to the next guy."

The Utes shot just 29.5 percent, including 25.8 percent in the second half, when they scored just 14 points in the final 15 1/2 minutes. Nobody had much of a night offensively; center Luke Nevill shot 3-for-12 and did not make a basket in the second half, forward Shaun Green was 1-for-8 and point guard Luka Drca missed all six of his three-point attempts -- part of a 5-for-25 showing that included missing all nine attempts in the second half.

"We just didn't execute like we normally do," Green said.

Guard Lawrence Borha was 6-for-12 and led the Utes with 15 points, but even he agreed with his coach's assessment.

"That second half, we couldn't get a ball to fall," he said. "We had wide open shots, we just didn't make them and a lot of us didn't shoot 'em. We passed them up for a lower-percentage play."

Coach Jim Boylen said "nothing has changed" for him and his Utes, heading into the final week of the regular-season, just because they suffered an ugly 63-50 loss to Brigham Young at the Marriott Center today that snapped their eight-game winning streak and cost them their first chance to clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference title and the top seed in the league tournament.

But things certainly have become more interesting.

While the Utes could have put themselves in position for a stress-free final week with a victory, their loss means that the pressure suddenly gets turned way up in their final games at New Mexico and at home against TCU. Winning at New Mexico is never easy, to begin with, and now the Utes will have to play a Lobo team motivated to claim its own piece of the championship -- or maybe even win the whole thing.

And while everybody generally assumes the Utes will beat TCU in the final at home, the environment could wind up much more difficult if the Utes enter that game still needing a victory, and the Horned Frogs decide that spoiling Utah's title hopes is reason enough to play harder than a team just finishing out the string normally would.

"We've got to strap it on," Boylen said. "Nobody's going to give us nothing."

Certainly, nobody did at BYU.

The Utes had decent control of the game early, forcing BYU's Lee Cummard and Jonathan Tavernari into atrocious first halves. But even then, the offense wasn't doing enough to give the Utes the kind of lead they probably earned by holding the two stars to 1-for-13 shooting. The Utes led by only two at halftime.

And then, everything went wrong.

The Utes fell asleep right away to start the second half, allowing the Cougars to score three straight easy lay-ups -- two off inbounds passes and another in transition -- to gain some momentum. Within moments, the Cougs were rolling. They outscored the Utes 29-14 over the final 15 1/2 minutes.

"We just weren't paying attention," center Luke Nevill said. "We were moving around, we weren't set up when they ran the plays, so they kind of caught us by surprise."

From then on, it was all Cougars.

The Utes shot only 25.8 percent and scored just 22 points in the second half, including only two in the final 4:21, and suffered one of the worst offensive performances in recent history. For the game, the Utes endured their worst shooting performance of the season -- they hit a meager 29.5 percent -- and scored their fewest points since a 69-43 loss at Air Force two years ago. Nevill grabbed 16 rebounds, but scored only nine points and did not make a basket in the second half.

At one point during a 16-2 Cougar run that decided the game, the Utes committed four of their 15 turnovers on consecutive possessions, with point guard Luka Drca responsible for a couple of them to add to his utterly forgettable night. The junior scored just four points with six turnovers while missing all six three-pointers he attempted, after nearly recording a triple-double in the 94-88 overtime win against the Cougars last month at the Huntsman Center.

"I just think they came out in the second half and dominated us, really," guard Lawrence Borha said. "We didn't play with enough force and passion. I don't think it was anything they did, but it was just us."

And that part, at least, had better change by next week, or the Utes might not be able to fulfill their dream of winning a league championship.

By the way, fine article about the Utes and center Luke Nevill on Rivals.com the other day, noting their ascent and how they have aspired to follow the success of the football team.

"We definitely were following the football team and watching their progress, and we were excited to see what they were doing," Nevill said. "At the same time, it's like we felt because they're having a good season, we can't be a letdown. ... You never want to see fans get so excited and pumped up for football games, and then they don't have the same excitement for basketball. We want it to continue."

The site also tabs Utah as a sixth seedfor the upcoming NCAA Tournament, but notes that while it has a great RPI, it "hasn't beaten anyone of note on the road" which means its seed "could be a spot -- or even two -- lower."

Just another reason they could use a huge win at Brigham Young today.

So we all know the Utes can clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference title by beating the Brigham Young Cougars today at the Marriott Center, and that a victory also will give them the top seed in the conference tournament in two weeks.

But there's something else they can clinch -- though they're surprisingly big 6-point underdogs today -- and that's the player of the year award for center Luke Nevill.

The 7-foot-2 senior is all but a dead-solid lock for the award, considering he's the best player on the best team, a future first-round pick in the NBA Draft who's leading the league in rebounding and blocks, ranking second in scoring, third in field-goal percentage and sixth in free-throw percentage, and the owner of a pile of double-doubles and big performances in big games, and five player of the week awards.

The only way he could lose the award is if he falls off the face of the earth over the final three games, disappearing while the Utes suffer an inexplicable collapse that costs them the league title and Lee Cummard just starts going off to help the Cougars surge past them.

Don't think that's going to happen, but it could.

So Nevill needs to have another solid, if not spectacular, performance in what could be his final game against the Cougars, amid much intrigue about how the Cougars might defend him. The Cougars didn't really double-team him last time, and Nevill annihilated center Chris Miles' one-on-one defense for 32 points and 10 rebounds in an overtime victory, even if Miles had a solid night offensively, himself (aside from his crucial missed free throws, anyway).

But if Nevill can simply have a good game -- particularly in victory -- then he can go ahead and start clearing shelf space, as well as preparing for that noon game against one of the league's weakest teams in the first round of the league tournament.

"It's a huge game," coach Jim Boylen said. "It's a huge game for them, it's a huge game for us. ... I've never strayed from it being a big game, and I never will. It's a different game than any game you'll play, and that's the beauty of it. So, they'll be ready, we'll be ready."

If the Utes are anxious and tense for their big game against Brigham Young on Saturday, they're not showing it. Coach Jim Boylen whistled an early end to practice today after an encouraging play by freshman guard Jace Tavita, and center Luke Nevill spent some extra time afterward playfully working on his deep three-point shot.

"What the BYU games come down to, it seems to me," Boylen said, "is we know each other so well and do such a good job of stopping first options -- at least trying to defend first options -- that the second-option plays, the open threes, the free throws, those kind of become the difference."

That, and "supporting" players.

"Last year, Burgess and Murdock buried us here," he said. "You remember that? So hopefully we can defend the three guys who are just awesome players, and their support guys who are improving don't step up and kill you -- which they're all capable of doing."

The coach was in a hurry to leave practice so he could head south and watch recruit Kyle Collinsworth practice at Provo High School, but said he wasn't sure whether to expect the Cougars to play more of the zone defense that helped them come back and win at San Diego State the other night or attempt more double-teams of Nevill than they did while he erupted for 32 points and 10 rebounds in an overtime win against the Cougars last month.

Meanwhile, Nevill took a break from clanking his long bombs off the rim and backboard long enough to say he doesn't believe he needs to have another monster game for the Utes to win.

"It would be great," he said, "but we just need a few guys to step up -- make shots, make plays -- and we should be good."

So here's the deal, amid what appears to be a tight and jumbled race for the top seeds to the Mountain West Conference tournament:

If the Utes beat Brigham Young on Saturday, they're the top seed.

Period.

End of story.

That's because if the Utes can win at the Marriott Center, the New Mexico Lobos would be the only team still able to tie the Utes atop the league standings -- and only if the Utes were to lose their last two games (including one at New Mexico next week) while the Lobos won all of their final three.

In that case, the Utes would own every tie-breaker edge over the Lobos, regardless of the order of the next three teams in the standings. The Utes would have split with the Lobos -- that's the first tie-breaker -- which would force the tie to be broken according to which team fared better against each of the other teams in the league, in descending order of the standings.

Sooner or later, that process would come down to the Cougars, because the Utes and Lobos have both split against the only teams -- UNLV and San Diego State -- that could finish ahead of the Cougars in that scenario. And that would give the edge to the Utes, since they would have swept the Cougars while the Lobos only split with them.

In other words, nothing matters more to the Utes right now than the rivalry game. But then again, we already knew that, right?

It's going to be awfully hard to stop the Utes, now.

That impressive victory over UNLV last night all but assures at least a share of the Mountain West Conference title, unless the Utes shock everybody by losing their last three games. Even if the 20-7 Utes simply win their only remaining home game against TCU in the regular-season finale, both Brigham Young and New Mexico would have to win the rest of their games to simply draw even, and force a tie-breaker for the No. 1 seed at the league tournament.

Yet if the Utes can beat either the Cougars or Lobos on the road in the next five days, they will secure the top seed in the tournament even without a home win against TCU -- since that would give them the tie-breaking edge against either team, in all but one potential scenario.

And that would be a nice advantage.

The top seed gets to play at noon on the first day of the tournament, against one of the two worst teams in the league, probably either Colorado State or Air Force. Then, it would enjoy the most rest between games of any team in the field, the rest of the way.

At any rate, my colleague noted today the big role the seniors have played in the increasingly amazing season, while the Rebels have shifted their focus to winning three games in three days at the league tournament in order to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Big victory for the Utes tonight, steadying themselves in the final minutes after a frighteningly shaky second half that hinted at another second-half collapse against the UNLV Rebels that would have jeopardized their dream of winning the Mountain West Conference championship.

And who would have guessed that point guard Luka Drca would have made some of the biggest plays to seal the 70-60 victory at the Huntsman Center?

The junior had done awfully little lately, and was coming off a truly atrocious game at Colorado State last week -- never mind having that 0-for-6 free-throw shooting streak still going. But when the Rebels had cut a 14-point lead to two with about three minutes left, it was Drca who pulled up and hit a killer three-pointer, followed by two perfect free throws that gave the Utes all the cushion they would need to snap a three-game losing streak against the Rebels.

"Coach called a play, it was a pick-and-roll play," Drca said. "We were looking for Luke out of it, but I was open. ... I don't hesitate, when I shoot it."

Now, the Utes are 20-7 and riding an eight-game winning streak -- 10 in a row at home -- and a two-game lead over Brigham Young and New Mexico with just three games to go. The next big one comes Saturday, when they play the Cougars at the Marriott Center with the chance to clinch a tie for the title.

For the moment, though, it was satisfying enough to relish a victory that looked as if it might not come.

"It's huge," coach Jim Boylen said. "I told my team before the game, 'It's as big a game as you'll play in your life tonight.' I feel that way. I felt that way. I talked to my team that way, because it's part of the process."

Center Luke Nevill responded with another outstanding performance -- no way does he not win the league player of the year award -- by contributing 19 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. The Utes had a hard time finding him in the second half, something about which Boylen complained after the game, but he scored 11 of the team's first 17 points and helped stake it that 14-point lead.

Good thing, too, because the Rebels turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and forced the Utes into the final dozen of their 20 turnovers while cutting into the lead and nearly overtaking the Utes.

But in addition to Drca's big plays, guard Lawrence Borha took a long pass off an inbounds pass for a lay-up and a three-point play, and the Utes effectively shut down the prime UNLV weapons. Guard Wink Adams managed only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting, and Tre'Von Willis was limited to 14 points, after scorching the Utes for 22 in the victory last month in Las Vegas.

What's more, four others joined Nevill in scoring double-figures, and the Utes hit 20 of 24 free throws while crushing the smaller Rebels in the rebound battle. Afterward, somebody asked Boylen about the contribution of his four seniors -- Nevill, Borha, guard Tyler Kepkay and forward Shaun Green.

"I was hoping somebody wasn't going to ask me that question," he said, "because I get emotional when I talk about my seniors, because I've been really hard on those guys. For them to be a part [of our good season] ... to me, that's what it's all about. Making a memory, having a memory, having something you did with a group of guys. That's why I got into this thing, to do something with a group of guys and have some memories and have some things you look back on at the reunion 10 years from now. 'Remember that? Remember that?' I'm really happy for them, because I've been hard on them."

Without a game in which to guide his team last weekend, coach Jim Boylen and his assistants spread out to cover some recruiting ground -- including a visit to watch shooting guard Derek Kaster.

The 6-foot-5 shooting guard plays for Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley, Calif., and Boylen traveled to watch him play before returning to Salt Lake City to watch 6-9 forward D.J. Wright -- he originally signed with LSU -- erupt for 31 points and 10 rebounds for Salt Lake Community College in a victory over incoming recruit Jay Watkins and the College of Southern Idaho.

Meanwhile, assistant coach Jeff Smith traveled to see shooting guard Alex Dragicevich of Glenbrook North High School near Chicago, primarily, while fellow assistant Barret Peery went to see incoming recruit Shawn Glover at Cedar Hill High School in Texas. Assistant Stan Johnson watched small forward Kyle Collinsworth play for Provo, and caught up with shooting guard Moses Morgan of Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas.

One thing that should help the Utes tonight against UNLV is their free-throw shooting.

Not only do the Utes lead the Mountain West Conference and rank fourth nationally by hitting 78.2 percent, but they're even better in the clutch (despite a few wobbles in some recent games). In "clutch situations," which the Utes define as the last two minutes of regulation and all of overtime with the score within 10 points either way, they're making 81.3 percent.

Guard Tyler Kepkay is among the best, having made 28 of 31 free throws since the league season began, and the Utes won at Colorado State last week in large part because they made all 10 free throws in overtime. In fact, they're close to the school record for free-throw percentage in a season -- 79.1 percent in 1992-93.

Boy, no sooner do we write about how tough the stretch run is going to be for the Utes than the upcoming games grow even bigger.

With rival Brigham Young's astonishing comeback win at San Diego State last night, the Utes need to beat UNLV tonight at the Huntsman Center not only to knock the Rebels out of serious title contention but to maintain their two-game lead on the Cougars and New Mexico -- whom they will face next, both on the road.

"We have to come in and play the same way we played when we were in second place, battling for that first-place spot," guard Lawrence Borha said. "We know everybody's coming out, and they're gunning for us. We have to be ready to take everybody's best shot, and I think we are ready."

At least, they're about 5-point favorites at home, where they hope to avoid the same fate as the Aztecs, whose abysmal second-half collapse has effectively removed them from title consideration, solidified coach Steve Fisher's reputation as a guy who struggles to turn talent into titles, and provided just about the quote of the year from forward Lorrenzo Wade.

"There is no excuse for letting Jimmer Fredette come in here and score 28 points," Wade said. "That's impossible. ... I don't get [angry] about too much, but I'm [upset]. We played 32 minutes of good basketball. We set ourselves up in this conference to be at the top at the end of [the regular season], and there's no way we should have lost two games in a row like this."

Yet they did, and the Utes have to avoid having it happen to them, too.

Coach Jim Boylen said the Utes have to come out with the same intensity they did while building a 12-point lead in the first half against the Rebels on the road last month -- they will be going against Riverton's Joe Darger, who nearly committed to the Utes but has enjoyed a solid career at UNLV -- and not the softness with which they played in the second half that led to a colossal meltdown in a 75-65 loss. Darger played a key role in that game, by fouling Utah's Luke Nevill before he could make easy baskets.

"It comes down to toughness and finishing plays,” he said. "Two things you have to do for Vegas is you have to play through contact and physicality, and you have to finish plays at the rim. And we didn't do that in the second half. Really, they pounded us in the second half. ... Our guys know that. We know that. And we've coached our guys to understand that."

The Mountain West Conference announced today enhanced security measures for its tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas "in a coordinated effort to ensure a secure environment" ... in other words, to keep the drunken UNLV fans from trampling the Brigham Young Cougars again.

The league said it will limit alcohol sales -- only two drinks per person, per transaction, and no sales after the 16-minute mark of the final game of each session -- and operate a text-messaging system that will allow fans to questions or requests to the arena security staff, in addition to other "behind the scenes" measures.

It also will allow fans to celebrate on the court after the championship game, something it stupidly tried to restrain last season by blocking most of the portals from the stands to the court. That created a bottleneck that resulted in the post-game melee between the UNLV and BYU fans that came perilously close to a full-scale riot.

"The Mountain West Conference is committed to creating a safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience for the student-athletes, coaches and fans," commissioner Craig Thompson said. "We believe these plans, in conjunction with the other security measures that will be implemented, will allow everyone to fully enjoy the spirit of competition that is synonymous with Mountain West athletics."

Back around the time the Utes were suffering their last loss a month ago, turnovers were a big problem. Coach Jim Boylen continually worried about his team being too careless with the ball, and it showed when it committed a season-high 18 turnovers in the loss at UNLV.

Since then, though, the Utes have made a drastic improvement.

Though they committed 15 turnovers in an overtime win against Brigham Young that started its current seven-game winning streak, they have averaged only 10.3 turnovers in the six games since then -- which is pretty good for a group that had been averaging nearly 14 before that. And it's a trend that Boylen said must continue if the Utes are going to exact revenge against the Rebels at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night.

"That will be a big part of this game," he said.

Boylen always has said he would be happy with a dozen or less turnovers per game; any more than that, and the number of "shots on goal" that the sharp-shooting Utes miss out on gets to be too overwhelming to endure. He added that the improvement has come simply from an increased attention to the problem in practice.

"We've showed them to our team, we've grouped them, we've analyzed them, we've talked about them," he said, chuckling at the number of ways he has examined the issue. "Every turnover in practice has been emphasized more and examined more. Holding my team to better practice habits, as far as turnovers, I think has been a big part of it."

Injured forward Morgan Grim should be back working with the team by the time it reaches the Mountain West Conference tournament next month, coach Jim Boylen said, presuming his recovery from a broken foot that required surgery continues progressing well.

Boylen said the 6-foot-8 sophomore met with a doctor for a check-up Monday, nearly four weeks after his surgery.

"We'll see how it goes, but I'd like to have him back," Boylen said. "I'd like him to be able to practice. You know, it's one thing not to have him in games, but it's another thing not to be in practice where you develop and grow."

Though Grim has traveled with the team and attended games, he has neither practiced nor played since suffering his injury in practice. He hadn't played all that much before he was hurt, averaging less than one point and one rebound in not quite six minutes per game, but has missed all of that development time that Boylen said is so crucial.

"That's what I've always said about this level, compared to the pros," he said. "You have 150 practices here and you play 30 games. In those 150 practices, you have to get better. Where in the pros, it's kind of flipped. You play basically 100 games and you don't practice as much. So Morgan Grim, missing his practice time is huge. We've seen what it has done to Kim Tillie, as much as he's improved and grown. But he's missed a ton of practice time in his two, three years here. Practice is important."

Everything seems to be going right for the Utes -- they're riding a seven-game winning streak, close to breaking into the national rankings for the first time in four years and fresh from a weekend off with a two-game cushion atop the Mountain West Conference with only four games to play.

But coach Jim Boylen has not deviated from the script he has used with his players all season.

"I haven't talked to my team about the cushion," Boylen said at his weekly press conference Monday. "I really haven't. I've just talked to them about getting better and winning games. Taking care of our business at home this week and then going on the road and playing unselfish team basketball. ... I've talked about hanging a banner, and I've talked about doing the things necessary to hang a banner."

With center Luke Nevill having won his fifth league player of the week award, the 19-7 Utes begin what Boylen has called the "gauntlet" to finish the regular-season against UNLV at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night, followed by back-to-back trips to Brigham Young and New Mexico -- two of the three teams trailing the Utes by two games in the league standings.

In other words, in about eight days, the Utes will have a real good idea whether they're going to win the regular-season championship.

"Big week for our program," Boylen said.

While Nevill shared his weekly league award with Wyoming's Brandon Ewing after scoring 23 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking a school-record seven shots (though one was erroneously credited to him, instead of forward Shaun Green) in an 89-79 overtime win at Colorado State last week, the Utes moved up to 26th in both the AP Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

They also rank 11th in the Ratings Percentage Index, according to RealTimeRPI.com, with the 19th most-difficult schedule in the nation. ESPN's latest “Bracketology” is projecting them as a sixth seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"Excited about that," Boylen said. "Maybe a little disappointed we weren't ranked in the top 25. Don't really understand it. Don't really get into it much, but thankful to be 26th. ... Our RPI and our schedule strength are both in the top 25, but we're 26th, so who knows?"

Against the Rebels, the Utes will try to avenge a meltdown loss on the road earlier this season, when they blew a 12-point first-half lead and lost 75-65 at the Thomas & Mack Center -- site of the annual league tournament in about two weeks. The 20-7 Rebels are coming off a one-point home win over BYU last weekend, and three games behind the Utes in the loss column.

"We've won some big road games," Boylen said, "and we need to continue to do that, play well on the road. And then, we've taken care of our home floor, which we need to continue to do that. So, to me, it's how it's got to be -- take care of your home, and go on the road and play the best you can and give yourself a chance to win."

We here at the Tribune are working on an article commemorating the anniversary of the legendary 1979 NCAA Tournament championship game played at the Huntsman Center between Larry Bird's Indiana State team and Magic Johnson's Michigan State team, and we're looking for people who might have attended the game and would like to share their memories.

So if you were there or know someone who was, please drop an e-mail to me or my colleague, Lya Wodraska, at lwodraska@sltrib.com. Thanks!

Is it time to name the award after him yet?

Center Luke Nevill won the Mountain West Conference's player of the week award for the fifth time this season, sharing it with Wyoming's Brandon Ewing after helping the Utes beat Colorado State 89-79 in overtime last week. Nevill scored 23 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and officially blocked seven shots – even though one of them was mistakenly credited to him instead of forward Shaun Green.

Still, one of Nevill's last blocks kept CSU's Marcus Walker from making a game-winning basket at the end of regulation, and the Utes remained atop the league. Incidentally, the Utes have moved within striking distance of the national polls, checking in at 26th in both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

With the Utes getting the weekend off before starting their finishing stretch -- "the gauntlet," coach Jim Boylen called it -- against UNLV next week, the coaches are heading out recruiting.

Assistant coach Jeff Smith left almost right after the victory at Colorado State the other night, to visit Chicago-area recruit Alex Dragicevich, among others, while Boylen expected to leave today for Los Angeles before returning to scout some local players on Saturday. The Utes will practice today and tomorrow, but will enjoy a complete day off -- no need to even attend study table at the Huntsman Center, as usual -- on Sunday before getting back at it.

And with that in mind, we'll be taking a short breather, too, before getting back to the blog next week. Have a great weekend!

While coach Jim Boylen remains concerned that his Utes aren't always getting up enough to handle opponents' best shots early in games, they did win their seventh straight game with yet another strong finishing surge.

"We've spent so much time on end-of-game situations," he said. "And the five-minute drill ... I thought it was similar to the BYU game. When we got into overtime, there was a calmness and an understanding of what we were going to do."

Dominate, is all.

The Utes owned the Rams in the extra period, with center Luke Nevill putting the finishing touches on a 23-point, 14-rebound, seven-block performance and earning praise from his coach as a "force in the middle. ... [and] has been dominant in the paint for us all year, protecting the basket, reacting. He has been huge at the end of close games, getting the big rebound."

It was the fourth straight close game -- within three points, or in overtime -- that the Utes have won, after losing their first three in that situation, and the fifth straight game in which they have rebounded from a lackluster first half. That marks a big turnaround from last season, when they were 1-6 in games decided by three points or less or in overtime, and never seemed capable of making a game-winning play.

"Every good team, every team I know that has won anything or been at the top for most part of the year, has a bunch of games like this," point guard Tyler Kepkay said. "“Close games, on the road, to maybe a team that people think we should just beat. And I think we need to have games like this to get to where we're going."

Talk about a relief.

Had the Utes lost at Colorado State – the way it appeared they would, before coming on strong in overtime -- they would have entered their weekend off knowing they had created a serious opening for the other contenders in the Mountain West Conference and really kicked their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes in the teeth. The slumping eighth-place Rams, after all, were just 168th in the Ratings Percentage Index before the game, and an upset loss to them would have been lumped unceremoniously with the Southwest Baptist and Idaho State shortcomings.

Instead, the Utes are 19-7 overall and can enjoy their weekend off, knowing that they still control their own destiny, and can even realistically reach 22 victories before the conference tournament.

In fact, with UNLV losing at Wyoming last night, they can all but clinch the regular-season title before they even take the floor again, if New Mexico beats San Diego State on Saturday and UNLV beats Brigham Young at home. In that scenario, the Utes would have a two-game lead with four to play -- including the finale at home against a TCU team that had lost six straight before beating Air Force last night (and whose only road win in the league was against the winless Falcons).

But coach Jim Boylen was relieved enough to escape with the win, especially knowing how poorly the Utes played for much of regulation.

"I don't think my team understands ... you're going to get everybody's best shot," he said. "People are going to get jacked up for you, and we have to start getting that. A lot of my guys haven't been there before. We have to learn how to be there."

Center Luke Nevill helped save the day for the Utes tonight, blocking a potential game-winning shot in the final seconds of regulation before scoring eight of his 23 points and grabbing five of his 14 rebounds in overtime of an 89-79 victory over Colorado State at Moby Arena.

But he might not have had the chance, if not for point guard Tyler Kepkay.

The senior point guard played the game of his life when the Utes really needed it, scoring 20 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to lead a comeback from a 10-point deficit and spare them the indignity of having their six-game winning streak and impressive NCAA Tournament resume blemished by the eighth-place team in the Mountain West Conference.

"I didn't really say, 'I need to do it,'" Kepkay said. "But you know, I knew that I had to put more energy into it, as well as everybody else, and just put as much energy into it as I could."

In a game the Utes looked for all the world ready to blow -- albeit against a fired-up opponent -- Kepkay steadied the ship. They trailed by 10 late in the first half before he scored his first points on a three-pointer, then pretty much took over in the second half. He scored six straight points early on, to pull the Utes within three, the added a couple of hard-driving lay-ups and an open bank shot as the Utes tried to get over the hump.

It wasn't until Kepkay buried another three-pointer with 6:39 left that the Utes finally grabbed the lead -- after pulling within two for the fifth time -- and his final three pushed them away from a tie game before the Rams came back and sent it into overtime. The only downside to his career game was missing an open jumper with about 19 seconds left in regulation that could have won it.

"The way they play defense, they really try to press you and get to the ball," he said. "And at times, when teams really try to 'overpress' you, it almost makes it easier to get in the lane and get closer to the basket. ... If you can just get past that first line of pressure without making a mistake, you usually have pretty good options."

Once Kepkay's heroics were finished, Nevill took over – swatting CSU's Marcus Walker with his potential game-winner and then erupting in the overtime to send the Utes to their seventh straight victory.

"They say you have to have some of these games when you're trying to win a championship," coach Jim Boylen said. "You have to have some of these games where you have to win it, and win it ugly. And I thought we did that."

His only real problem?

The Utes again stumbled out of the gate, and seemed scarcely into the game at all for way too long.

“I don't think my team totally understands yet that we're on the top of the Mountain West, and people are going to give us a great shot when we come in their building,” Boylen said. “Their energy to start the game was awesome. They were tougher than us to start the game. They were more physical than us to start the game, and it took us awhile to get going. But when we did, we were very good."

When the Utes try to extend their winning streak at Colorado State tonight and continue to enjoy greater national attention, they expect to find a different team than the one they blew out at home last month.

"We're playing a team that is much-improved, athletic, a different team obviously than they've been on the road, with the wins they've had at home," coach Jim Boylen said. "It's going to be a big challenge for us."

Not everybody thinks so.

While center Luke Nevill somehow has been convinced that "we struggled a little bit playing them here" -- maybe he means briefly giving back an 11-point first half lead, before wiping out the Rams in the second half for an 82-66 victory that put the Utes in first place – the oddsmakers have made the Utes definitive 9-point favorites at Moby Arena tonight.

"They're going to come out firing," said Nevill, who's receiving more and more attention around the league for his dominating senior season.

Sure, the Rams are 6-6 at home, with a victory over UNLV, as opposed to 2-11 on the road. But they still are bringing up the rear in the Mountain West Conference, in eighth place, and rank last in the league by allowing 48.1 percent shooting and making just 42.9 percent of their own shots, and second-to-last by allowing 73.7 points per game.

They also have lost five of their last six games, while the Utes have won six in a row -- including four straight against the Rams.

"Just like everybody else in the conference, they're a lot better team at home," forward Shaun Green said. "I think they finally have everybody back and healthy. ... We just have to control their three-point shooting. They have a lot of good scorers with [Marcus] Walker, [Andre] MacFarland and [Harvey] Perry. Even their point guard, the freshman point guard [Jesse] Carr, is turning into a really good player, so we just have to control the perimeter and control the inside and do what we usually do. Play defense and run the ball and shoot the ball and score."

The best reason the Utes have been able to come up with for their unspectacular starts the past four games or so is that "we kind of have a bulls-eye on our backs," in the words of center Luke Nevill.

"People are giving us good shots," coach Jim Boylen said.

And of course, the Utes have responded exceptionally well -- locking down after halftime in each of their last four games to extend their winning streak to six heading into a game at Colorado State on Wednesday night. That has been especially impressive, too, considering the Utes at one point were 1-6 when trailing at halftime.

"I do have great relationships with my guys," Boylen said, "and they do seem to respond to when I ask them to do something, or pick it up, or be more focused. The thing is, it's crazy to say that, because I ask them to do that to start the game, too. But we're getting good shots from people. ... Teams do that when they're playing against maybe the top team in the league. That happens.

"But I go back to, I have permission to be real with my guys," Boylen added. "They know I care for them, and they have responded, and I'm thankful for that. They've allowed me to coach them. They've allowed me to mold them and to develop them, and they haven't fought me on a whole bunch of stuff."

Legendary guard Wat Misaka is the subject of a new documentary film that will screen for free at the Salt Lake City Public Library at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The Utes don't play that day, either, so the day is wide open.

The film -- "Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story" -- profiles the first ethnic minority player in the NBA, who led the Utes to national championships in 1944 and 1947 (while serving in the U.S. Army, in between) and became a first-round draft pick amid a cultural climate for Japanese so unfriendly in the World War II era that he had friends locked up at the Topaz Internment Camp in the central Utah desert.

"His perseverance and loyalty to his teammates, other Nissei friends (including those interned at Topaz), and his family are a testament to the unflappable Japanese-American spirit," the film's web site says.

Coach Jim Boylen doesn't want his players getting complacent, even though they're getting something of a breather before their harrowing finishing stretch.

"What I've asked my group to do is take every day, every practice, every minute, and try to get better," he said at his weekly press conference today. "And to respect the fact that we're in first place. Don't rest on it -- build on it. We're hoping we can do that. I'm coaching them to do that, and that's what we're trying to do."

The Utes play at slumping Colorado State -- the Rams have lost six of their last seven -- at Moby Arena on Wednesday night, after trouncing last-place Air Force on Saturday. Then, they get the weekend off before taking on UNLV at home, Brigham Young and New Mexico on the road in advance of the reguarl-season finale against TCU at the Huntsman Center.

Call it Murderer's Row, and the biggest threat to the Utes' dream of winning the Mountain West Conference.

"We haven't talked about it as a team, but some of the guys on the team have talked about it, to where this is the last game where, on paper, we're supposed to really win, and then we do start the really hard stretch of conference," forward Shaun Green said. "But we also look at it as a great challenge. If we want to be an NCAA team and make a run in the tournament, we have to be able to handle games like this and stretches like this."

Time for quick update on where the Utes stand in the eyes of college basketball analysts, heading into the final weeks of the season ...

ESPN's Bracketology still has the Utes holding steady as a No. 8 seed, potentially meeting Virginia Tech as an eighth seed in Kansas City. Meawhile, the USA Today said it expects the Utes to win the Mountain West Conference and its automatic bid, but "the at-large resume is still up there among the best. They should be OK."

And Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports credited the Utes with already having their ticket punched to the NCAA Tournament, largely on account of their superior non-conference resume.

Forward Shaun Green has been named the Mountain West Conference player of the week for the first time in his career, after helping the Utes assume sole possession of first place in the league.

The 6-foot-8 senior scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the 67-55 victory over San Diego State last week, then added 13 points in a 74-59 win over Air Force. Combined, he averaged 17 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 1.5 assists and shot 63.2 percent from the field. He also hit five of 11 three-pointers.

Sure, we can quibble about another unspectacular start. We can question a defense that allows 50 percent shooting on its home floor to the worst team in the league. We can even wonder what the hell happened to point guard Luka Drca's free-throw shooting (he has missed his last six straight).

But all of that would be missing the point.

The Utes easily avoided what would have been a crushing loss today, locking down on Air Force after halftime for 74-59 victory that stretched their homecourt winning streak to nine games. And that was the most important thing, because the victory also kept the Utes on top of the Mountain West Conference with just five games to play, and helped stir increasing talk about reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years.

"We've talked about it," forward Shaun Green said. "Coach has said that he has started talking about winning a little bit more. But to get to the NCAA Tournament, we know that we have to take it one game at a time and we have to win ... the games that we're supposed to win. We can't have any more slip-ups, and I think this team is confident and ready to make that next step, to get to the NCAA Tournament."

For a little while, it looked sketchy.

The Utes once again came out with a not-so-great first half, allowing the worst shooting team in the league, riding an 11-game losing streak, to come onto their floor and make four of their first five three-pointers and shoot 56 percent before halftime. "I knew this team was going to come in and be ready to play," coach Jim Boylen said. "I didn't think we did a good job defending the three in the first half."

But as has become practically a tradition lately, the Utes turned everything around after hearing from Boylen at halftime.

"He was kind of intense," Green said. "But we deserved it."

Responded to it, too.

After falling behind by three in the opening moments of the second half, the Utes forced turnovers on six straight Air Force possessions, and guard Lawrence Borha erupted for nine straight points to ignite an 18-1 run that all but sealed the game. Borha finished with a season-high 22 points (including a career-high five three-pointers), while center Luke Nevill added 18 and seven rebounds.

"When you're feeling good, you're feeling good," Borha said.

Coach Boylen did not go so far as to say his Utes had overlooked the Falcons or were not ready to play at the start, but acknowledged that they forgot "to strap it on and play. I thought we were just kind of … tentative. Kind of respectful. Kind of, 'OK, we'll just play, and everything will work out.' We can't be that way."

The Utes made sure it all worked out, however.

They shot an astonishing 71 percent in the second half, and held Air Force to just 12 points in the first 14½ minutes of the second half, by which point they led by 18 and had control.

"Tonight Utah would have beaten a lot of teams shooting 70 percent," Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. "You can pick your poison when you have Nevill, then Borha, then Green. ... I thought early on we controlled the tempo, I think later on they just wore us down."

Some unfortunate news for former coach Rick Majerus, who missed his St. Louis Billikens' game against Rhode Island today after his girlfriend was injured in a car accident.

Majerus said the injury was serious and "I feel compelled to help her at this difficult time."

Without their coach, the Billikens lost 69-61 on the road, and had a four-game winning streak snapped.

While the Utes have been doing their best to avoid overlooking the lowly Air Force Falcons today at the Huntsman Center, we can probably get a good idea how successful they have been within the first few minutes of the game.

How's that?

Well, because teams that are not overlooking the Falcons tend to start blowing them out right away. In their last three games, the Falcons have fallen behind 15-0, 12-2 and 23-10 to New Mexico, San Diego State and Brigham Young, respectively.

Don't expect that to change today, with the Utes a massive 20-point favorite to win their ninth straight home game. Anything less than another whitewash will be stunning, and certainly more than a little disappointing.

We might get an interesting indication today of where the Utes might wind up in the NCAA Tournament, when the NCAA conducts its annual mock selection.

Various media members and representatives from assorted leagues act as "committee members" -- media relations rep Kim Melcher will represent the Mountain West Conference -- and pick the 65-team field the way the real selection committee will next month. It's a running blog, so click the link above to keep track …

Coach Jim Boylen could scarcely stop praising forward Shaun Green last night, for the pivotal role the senior played in helping the Utes beat San Diego State to take over first place in the Mountain West Conference.

Green was everywhere, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, and Boylen noticed.

"It's the best game he has ever played for me, for us, since I've been here," Boylen said. "I give the credit for his play to his work ethic in the summer. We're not allowed to work with our guys in the summer, but he came to the gym by himself, he was in the gym by himself -- him and Borha. He worked on his off-the-dribble game, because I embarrassed the heck out of him last year because he couldn't put the ball on the floor and he couldn't create for anybody and he couldn't make anybody better. Tonight, I thought he made everybody better.

"His development as a player is unbelievable," Boylen added, from "where he's come from."

Say hello to the NCAA Tournament.

The Utes are surely destined to wind up there, now, after that important victory over San Diego State last night. They're 17-7 and riding a five-game winning streak, and seem all but certain to win at least three of their last six games. At that rate, they would wind up 20-10 heading into the Mountain West Conference tournament with a top 20 ranking in the Ratings Percentage Index.

And that would be as good as having a key to the ballroom -- even if they don't win the league tournament next month, and the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament that comes with it.

But after watching the Utes once again apply some serious defense in the second half, the guess here is that the Utes might even win five of their last six games -- with the visit to rival Brigham Young looking like the most difficult to claim.

Otherwise, beating Air Force and Colorado State in their next two games ought to be a relative cakewalk -- we don't have to "take them one game at a time" like coaches and players insist they must -- along with TCU in the regular-season finale. Even the UNLV game at home might be easier than usual, considering the Rebels seem to be missing something this season and have mostly struggled on the road in league play.

That leaves the Cougars and New Mexico on the road, three days apart, the toughest stretch remaining. Win either one of those, and the Utes will really help their tournament seeding. But they won't even need it, if they just keep playing the way they have lately.

Just hours now until the big showdown for first place in the Mountain West Conference, in which both the Utes and the Aztecs will fight for the inside track to the regular-season championship -- something that has never failed to deliver an NCAA Tournament berth along with it.

And you'd have to favor the Utes.

Certainly, the oddsmakers do, making the Utes 5-point favorites tonight at the Huntsman Center. That makes sense, given that the Aztecs are just 1-24 in the last 25 meetings with the Utes on the road, and could be shorthanded tonight.

Forward Lorrenzo Wade and guard Tim Shelton -- both normally starters -- have been battling various ailments. Wade has been sick for nearly two weeks, while Shelton has been bothered by the left knee he had surgically repaired during the offseason.

Even more than that, though, the Utes have been rolling, having won 10 of their last 12 games and building a confidence that they have seldom enjoyed in recent years. They also have the motivation of having been beaten pretty soundly in their visit to the Aztecs last month. And if they win tonight, they would figure to rather easily reach 19-7 by the time they start their four-game finishing stretch against the rest of the good teams in the league.

And that, no doubt, would put them in great position to dance.

Odd development at practice today, when the Utes advised media members to attend in order to hear coach Jim Boylen address an unspecified issue after the workout.

Turns out, it was a parking ticket.

Center Luke Nevill was issued a citation for allegedly trying to drive away as his car was being impounded for parking in front of a driveway near the school. Boylen called it a "minor issue" and said his 7-foot-2 senior will play against San Diego State on Wednesday night. Asked if it was a distraction, Boylen said it wasn't, "because it wasn't a big deal."

No kidding.

But a university representative said the Utes wanted to avoid allowing potential speculation about the incident to swirl unchecked to the point that they would have to address it piecemeal later, anyway.

Coach Jim Boylen had high praise for San Diego State's Richie Williams the other day, comparing the point guard whom his Utes will face at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night to the Jazz's John Stockton.

"He's all over the place," Boylen said. "He leaves his man, he's random, he roams. He has a knack. If you spin, he's there. If you go by him, he's going to pursue. Again, I told my staff, he's like John Stockton, he used to play the same way. He would double on [Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon] out of nowhere. He's like a ghost, man. He would just show up, and be in Dream's lap."

The Aztecs lead the league in steals -- the Utes are just ever-so-slightly out of last place, in that department -- in large part because of Williams. He makes about 2.3 steals per game, to contribute to the 8.55 the Aztecs make, on average.

Uh-oh, looks like one of the Utes' top recruits has found some trouble.

Shooting guard Marshall Henderson has been suspended for the rest of the regular season for his L.D. Bell High School team, according to the Dallas Morning News, for violating an undisclosed school and district policy. His father and coach made the announcement today.

Henderson had missed the last three games because of the suspension, and will miss the final three games before being allowed to return for the playoffs later this month. His team already has clinched a playoff berth.

The 6-foot-2 Henderson had been averaging 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists, and made 94 three-pointers. He and fellow recruit Shawn Glover of Cedar Hill High School -- both in suburban Dallas -- attended the Utes' victory at TCU last week.

The latest version of ESPN's Bracketology is out, and the Utes holding steady after their road sweep, projected to earn a No. 9 seed and play Davidson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Utes among four Mountain West Conference teams in the tournament, which would be a record for the league – though none of the teams has a higher seed than the Utes.

And bit by bit, the Utes also are getting some attention in the national polls.

The Utes received nine points in the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, and four in the AP Top 25. You'd have to think that if they can knock off San Diego State on Wednesday night and then take care of business against Air Force and CSU, they should start getting close to their first actual ranking in nearly four years.

"We're thankful to be in the hunt," coach Jim Boylen said.

It has been a long time since the Utes have played a game as important and fascinating as the one they will play against San Diego State at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday, with sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference on the line.

But there's even more intrigue than that.

San Diego State's Lorrenzo Wade did not play in a 65-34 shredding of Air Force late Saturday night, having battled flu symptoms for more than a week. Guard Tim Shelton sat out, too, with soreness in his surgically repaired knee.

Coach Steve Fisher said he expects Wade to play against the Utes. But questions remain about how ready the team's second-leading scorer (who had 11 points and six rebounds in a win over the Utes in San Diego last month) will be for such a big game. Shelton's prognosis is even more uncertain; the freshman has missed the last two games.

Certainly, the good news is that the Utes remain in first place in the Mountain West Conference and play host to a big game against San Diego State on Wednesday.

But those free throws are getting worrisome.

The Utes did it again against Wyoming on Saturday, hitting only 7 of 12 foul shots -- including two of four in the final minute, with the misses both coming on the front end of one-and-one opportunities.

Obviously, it's a testament to the Utes that they can win games while shooting poorly from the line down the stretch. (They hit only three of their last eight at TCU, and missed four of seven in a two-minute stretch late against Brigham Young.) But it also makes you wonder whether these guys aren't puckering up under pressure in a way that could come back to really hurt them at a horrible time.

"What happened to our whole team's free-throw shooting?" coach Jim Boylen said.

The coach said that in response to a question about point guard Luka Drca, who has exemplified the problems.

No sooner did Drca finally take enough foul shots to qualify to rank among the nation's top 15 free-throw shooters at about 85 percent than he seemed to come apart. He was 3-for-6 in the final 1:04 at TCU, and then 0-for-3 against the Cowboys (including one that barely glanced the front of the rim). Similarly, the Utes made just 18 of 29 free throws against TCU and Wyoming for 62 percent, after nearly leading the nation by hitting 79 percent until then.

"I will get better," Drca promised.

Yet Drca was at a loss to explain his sudden turnaround. "Probably, it's a mental thing," he said. "I don't feel, like, pressure when I'm on the free-throw line. I guess it just happens in [this] period of the year. I hope it ends ... right now."

While the Utes prepare for their big game against San Diego State, their counterparts on the women's team will try to keep rolling today when they meet Wyoming at 3 in the Huntsman Center, in a "Power of Pink" game to raise breast-cancer awareness and mark National Women and Girls in Sports Day.

Fans who wear pink can get into the game for free, and pink handkerchiefs will be distributed to fans while cancer survivors will be recognized at halftime. The Utes also will hold a post-game basketball clinic and autograph session -- which certainly could double as a victory party if they extend their winning streak to 12 games and remain unbeaten in the Mountain West Conference.

So, what is it about these second halves all of the sudden?

In both games of their longest road trip of the season, the Utes have exploded after halftime to earn important victories at TCU and Wyoming. The surge against the Cowboys today resulted in an 80-70 victory that snapped their 11-game home winning streak at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie (though the Cowboys have played a pathetic home schedule, for which they should be ashamed).

"I'm just proud of the way my team shared the ball," coach Jim Boylen said. "We trusted in that second half, and the ball moved. And when the ball moves, we're a good basketball team."

Certainly looked like it.

The Utes made 16 of 27 shots in the second half against Wyoming, after hitting 13 of 18 in the second half of the victory at TCU. Combined, that's an amazing 64.4 percent. What's more, the Utes also killed each of their opponents on the glass in the second half, grabbing 35 rebounds combined while allowing just 23 to get away.

"Our whole season, we've been a better second-half team," said forward Shaun Green, who scored his 1,000th point as a Ute, "because I feel like we make really good in-game adjustments at halftime. And we come out and we execute those adjustments, and it just helps us compete a lot better in the second half. We've done that the whole year, so far."

You could probably argue the particulars, considering the Utes are just 3-6 when trailing at halftime.

But broadly speaking, he's right -- and the fact that the Utes were so able to dominate on the road makes their victories against two of the weaker teams in the Mountain West Conference more valuable than they might otherwise appear. After all, the Utes were just 2-7 in league road games under Boylen -- including losses to both TCU and Wyoming last season -- until winning three of their last four. Dominating anything was not even in the discussion, but now the Utes perhaps can use their confidence to conquer the larger challenges that await them.

How did all that change?

"We've realized that we can do this the whole game," center Luke Nevill explained. "It's just in the first half, sometimes when we don't play as well as we can, we kind of hold ourselves accountable. It's, like, our fault. It's our fault we weren't playing as well as we can play. It has nothing to do with coaches or anything like that. It's us, as individuals. So come second half, everybody was more determined, and we went out there to prove something."

They proved it to Wyoming's Heath Schroyer, all right.

"They are an NCAA Tournament team," the coach said.

Having avenged half of their worst road trip of last season, the Utes today try to finish the job against the Wyoming Cowboys and set up a potential showdown for sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference next week.

"It's a must-win," forward Carlon Brown said.

Today's game is the first between the teams at the Arena-Auditorium since coaches Jim Boylen and Heath Schroyer engaged in a post-game shouting match over Wyoming's last-second alley-oop dunk against the Utes there last year -- the Utes are about 6 1/2-point favorites -- but that's no longer much of an issue for the Utes. Halfway through the conference season, they're much more concerned with at least maintaining their first-place tie with San Diego State in advance of their upcoming meeting with the Aztecs.

"We have to get road wins to stay at the top of the ladder," center Luke Nevill said. "These are must-wins for us, and it would be great to sweep teams, win both games, and Wyoming is our first opportunity to go at it. We're just going to go in there and play our game."

The Utes are riding a three-game winning streak after dispatching TCU three days ago, something they were unable to do when they had to make the same TCU-Wyoming road swing last season. Amid aggravating travel problems, they also lost to the Cowboys -- a defeat they partially avenged with a 91-67 beatdown at the Huntsman Center last month.

"They're going to come at us," Nevill said. "They got bounced, up at our home court. We blew them out. It wasn't really a game. So they're going to look for revenge. They're going to go at us, try and kind of get payback for what happened."

The odds appear much better at home, too.

Though the Cowboys are coming off an 86-57 loss at New Mexico and have lost all five of their road games in the first half of the league season -- by an average of 19 points, no less -- they remain unbeaten in 10 games at home. But even there, they have played suspect defense, allowing a league-worst 76.5 points per game.

"That's been the most disappoint thing for me all year," Schroyer said. "We prepare them real well, we work on it a long time and for whatever reason we go out in a game and it's not carrying over. Until that does carry over, we are not going to beat people on the road, and it's going to be hard to beat people at home if that's not shored up."

The Cowboys are counting on forward Tyson Johnson to get off to a hot start and find his rhythm early, unlike the last two games.

If they win, the Utes can get ready to meet San Diego State in what probably would become the biggest game of the year at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night. The Aztecs are likely to beat a weak Air Force team riding an eight-game losing streak today at home.

"It's a huge one," Boylen said.

Boy, the Utes are really getting quite a bit of love from the Worldwide Leader these days.

In addition to the previously mentioned column by ESPN's Mark Schlabach, the Utes enjoyed some praise from ESPN's Andy Katz in his column today, in which he explains coach Jim Boylen's tough schedule and concludes that “Utah could be a difficult matchup in the first round” of the NCAA Tournament.

“The Utes certainly fit the profile” of a team that can earn an at-large berth to the tournament, should they fail to win the league tournament, Katz wrote, “barring a complete collapse. … [If] the Utes can stay in the top three in the MWC, with its non-conference slate and high RPI, they may just get a bid.”

Indeed, the Utes are projected to land a No. 10 seed and play West Virginia in the first round of the tournament in Dayton, according to Jerry Palm's latest prediction on CBSSports.com, where the Utes somehow slipped a spot from the previous projection last month. Meanwhile, over on FoxSports.com, columnist Frank Burlison has the Utes ticketed to play Dayton, as an eighth seed in Greensboro, N.C.

We don't need anybody to tell us that the Utes are on pace to reach the NCAA Tournament again for the first time in four years. But it's always nice to feel validated.

So here's a bit from ESPN's Mark Schlabach, summarizing the situation for his national audience.

"It's hard to believe a team that opened the season by losing to Division II Southwest Baptist was able to beat Gonzaga and BYU," he wrote. "The Utes also have a 30-point victory over LSU and an 11-point win over Ole Miss. Utah is one of five teams in contention in the suddenly deep Mountain West Conference, and given its strong computer rankings, should secure an at-large bid with a strong finish."

The Utes are filed under the "work left to do" category, along with Brigham Young, San Diego State and UNLV -- all the teams with which the Utes are fighting for the league championship.

Schlabach notes that the Cougars have only two victories over teams ranked in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index, with 10 of their 17 wins coming against teams outside the top 100. The Aztecs "probably wouldn't be an at-large candidate" if they weren't tied for first place with the Utes, and the Rebels might benefit from the resonance of their marquee win at Louisville, "especially with the MWC race so up in the air."

Quick little update on Alex Dragicevich, the 6-foot-6 junior from Glenbrook East High School in the Chicago area whom the Utes are recruiting.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Dragicevich "is averaging 22 points and has attracted scholarship offers from Utah, Colorado and Rhode Island. Michigan is closely pursuing him and could soon make an offer."

When coach Jim Boylen first took over the Utes, he reminded me an awful lot of former football coach Urban Meyer, with the way he ran almost torturous practices, demanded so much from his players and called them out for not being tough enough.

It struck me again last night.

Much as Meyer used to do, Boylen this week has talked a lot about the challenges in the Mountain West Conference about which most of the country does not know, because of the league's relative obscurity. While Meyer used to go on, for example, about how the Utah-BYU rivalry was just as passionate and heated as Ohio State-Michigan -- acknowledging that even he had not been aware of that until he arrived at Utah -- Boylen this week has focused on the difficulty of traveling around the league, with the Utes heading straight to Wyoming for their game Saturday after beating TCU in Fort Worth last night.

"I don't think people understand the travel in this league, how far it really is from here to there," he said.

And when we asked him after the TCU game about Wyoming -- since we won't see the Utes again until game-day -- Boylen offered another tidbit that sounded a lot like Meyer. "The Wyoming-Utah rivalry is a very good rivalry," he said. "I don't know if people around the country understand that, how it is."

Of course, sounding similar to one of the best coaches the university is mostly just interesting, especially with the way Boylen appears to be doing a similar job taking the Utes to another level.

While Meyer did his best work during his second season, Boylen has the Utes contending -- in his own second season -- not only for a berth in the NCAA Tournament, but also a Mountain West Conference championship. Winning their next two games will put the Utes all alone in first place, heading down the stretch.

Whatever the reason the Utes came out sluggishly in the first half of their victory at TCU last night, forward Carlon Brown said the recollection of losing to the Horned Frogs last season propelled them in the second.

"We didn't want to come out of here with another loss like we did last year," Brown said. "We played the first half last year good, and lost the second half. So we made a key effort to stop [Keith] Langford as much as we could and try to keep the other guys from penetration, and I think we did a good job of that."

Langford scored 22 points to lead the Horned Frogs, including two big three-pointers, but coach Jim Boylen said the Utes were willing to live with that -- after all, Langford had been only 3-for-10 from three-point range -- so long as they shut down others, such as TCU's Zvonko Buljan and Edvinas Ruzgas. Those two combined for just 12 points, on 3-for-8 shooting.

"My team responded," Boylen said.

For a minute there, it looked as if the Utes were going to fall apart on the road again against TCU tonight, they way they did at crucial moments of their games at UNLV and San Diego State.

But this time, they weren't having it.

After committing 10 turnovers in the first half and allowing the Horned Frogs to shoot 52 percent after not hitting better than 37.5 percent in either of their last two games, the Utes changed everything after halftime while charging to a 62-54 victory at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum that kept them tied with San Diego State for first place in the Mountain West Conference.

"My team responded to our halftime adjustments and our talk at halftime," coach Jim Boylen said. "We came out and played team basketball."

Specifically, the Utes focused on navigating screens, pressuring the ball and "playing with force," as Boylen put it. And boy, did it work. The Utes tied the game within five minutes, then sprinted away from the Horned Frogs for their third win in a row, holding TCU to 5-for-22 shooting in the final 15 minutes.

"We had to break through on the road," Boylen said. "We've been talking about it the whole time. At Vegas, we started well, and didn't finish well -- didn't trust. At San Diego State, we didn't trust to start the game. Didn't share the ball. Today, defensively in the first half, we weren't what we thought we should be. Second half, we played defense and we trusted."

The Utes didn't even really need center Luke Nevill, who was held to a modest 12 points and five rebounds by a TCU defense intent on making it hard for him. (Finally, a coach who recognizes that you just can't defend the 7-foot-2 senior one-on-one.) Rather, forward Carlon Brown broke out of a modest slump, leading the Utes with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds and another spectacular dunk just before halftime that gave the Utes a spark.

"The last three games, I haven't been playing so well," he said. "But tonight, I just wanted to get back on track and focus on being aggressive and attacking. That's what I did."

One blemish, however, was the free-throw shooting late.

The Utes rank among the best free-throw shooting teams in the country, hitting nearly 80 percent as a team. Yet just like late in the Brigham Young game, put themselves at risk by seemingly seizing up under pressure. The Utes missed five of their last eight free throws -- they had been 8 of 9, until then -- including the front end of two one-and-one opportunities. It would have been three, but a lane violation gave point guard Luka Drca another chance.

Drca missed half of his six free throws in the final 64 seconds, in fact, after finally getting enough shots to lead the league by hitting almost 90 percent for the season. So it was a good thing the defense held the Horned Frogs scoreless in the last 2:18, and without a basket in the final 6:14 of the game.

"If you give a good team an opportunity like that to make a run at you, they're going to make a run," TCU coach Jim Christian said. "We did a bad job getting back on defense. We let the ball be driven into the paint like it was going out of style. ... The second half, we gave them confidence just by lack of effort."

And by the way … didn't the biggest game of the year just become the meeting with San Diego State at the Huntsman Center next Wednesday night?

The banged-up Aztecs stunned UNLV in overtime at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas last night, moving all alone into first place in the Mountain West Conference (at least, momentarily) and snapping the Rebels' 27-game home winning streak against league opponents.

Looks like the Aztecs might just have all the pieces this season, and could be the team the Utes must beat at home if they want to win the regular-season championship.

Maybe the Utes won't have quite as tough a time playing at TCU tonight as they did last season, when they lost as part of a late-season swoon that they certainly hope to avoid now.

After all, while point guard Luka Drca continues to enjoy a strong season as one of the guys who makes the Utes run, his counterparts with the Horned Frogs have not been so fortunate. Guard Keion Mitchem is part of TCU's recent shooting slump that has brought them back to earth since an impressive stretch.

Mitchem has not made a basket in two games, while forward Edvinas Ruzgas has scored only 20 points in the last three, after averaging about 12 points for most of the season.

In all, the Frogs haven't shot better than 37.5 percent in their last two against New Mexico and San Diego State, and made only 14.3 percent and 23.5 percent from three-point range in those games -- all of which has contributed to the Utes being made about 4 1/2-point favorites at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum tonight.

"We need to come back to being who we were earlier," new TCU coach Jim Christian said. "Have the same mentality, the same commitment and same focus level, and we need everybody on board trying to win a championship."

Meanwhile, the Utes figure they will see incoming recruits Marshall Henderson and Shawn Glover at the game tonight. Both live and play nearby -- coach Jim Boylen and assistant Jeff Smith split up to go see each one play last night -- and both are expected to attend, even though the Utes are not allowed to leave tickets for them.

Coach Jim Boylen offered another of his periodic statistical updates the other day, showing again how much better the Utes have been at getting to the free-throw line than they were last year.

The Utes have attempted 145 more free throws than they had at this point last season -- that's a difference of nearly seven per game '' and made 131 more, which has given them more than six extra points per game. That's a big difference when you play games as close as the home victories over Brigham Young and New Mexico turned out to be, and it certainly has helped that the Utes rank as the best foul shooting team in the Mountain West Conference at 79 percent.

It's "awesome, for basically the same group of guys," Boylen said. "I'm really proud of team on that."

Point guard Tyler Kepkay said the Utes are approaching their upcoming games at TCU and Wyoming as "two road games we can definitely get," which would be important in their attempt to win the Mountain West Conference regular-season title.

Coach Jim Boylen said again at his weekly press conference that he believes a 12-4 or even 11-5 record might win the league, and that means the Utes (5-2 in the league so far) cannot afford to lose to teams like the Horned Frogs and Cowboys that they will be expected to beat. After all, the only thing they did by beating Brigham Young and New Mexico at home was "hold serve."

"Obviously, we'd like to win the rest of our games and not have to worry about that," Boylen said. "But I think you look at it, it's shaping up to be a home loss is a crusher. You can recover from it, but you have to win on the road to do that. Again, we held serve. … Now, we have to go play better on the road than we have."

The Utes have lost two of their last three road games, against San Diego State and UNLV -- the victory came against lowly Air Force -- because of sub-standard stretches, so "we have to play a complete game on the road."

The Utes are leaving today for their longest road trip of the year -- until the Mountain West Conference tournament, anyway -- and hoping it goes a lot better than it did last season.

When the Utes traveled to play TCU and Wyoming last season, they chartered a plane for the TCU game but endured long delays and unexpected refueling stops both on the way to Texas and back, resulting in much later arrivals than expected. Then, after deciding to bus to Laramie to meet the Cowboys, the Utes got stuck in a snowstorm on the drive home, and had to backtrack to find rooms at the Little America before finally getting home the next day.

To make matters worse, the Utes lost both games.

"It was just one of those trips," coach Jim Boylen said.

The Utes have elected not to charter to TCU today, but to fly commercial instead. Then, they plan to practice in Fort Worth the morning after the Wednesday game, before traveling directly to Laramie in advance of their game against the Cowboys on Saturday. The schedule will allow them to abide league rules that prohibit teams from staying in another city more than 36 hours after a game there, or from arriving in another city more than 48 hours in advance of a game there.

"We learned from it, changed it," Boylen said. "This is a very difficult league to travel in. The amount of distance you have to cover and the time change and all those things. It's a tough league. Tough league. I don't know if people who aren't in the league realize that. I did not realize it before I got here, so it's something I had to learn."

Can't make it to the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas?

No worries. Not only will The Mtn. and its partner networks broadcast all of the men's games (and most of the women's), but the network announced that all of them will be shown in high-definition. The Mtn. will have the men's first-round game March 11 and all four quarterfinal games on March 12, before actions shifts to CBS College Sports for the semifinals on March 13 and Versus for the championship on March 14.

The latest version of ESPN's Bracketology is out, and the Utes are doing just what we expected after big home victories over Brigham Young and New Mexico -- moving up.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi is projecting the Utes will be a 10th seed in the NCAA Tournament, playing Southern California in the first round in Dayton, Ohio. In a competing tournament projection, you might recall, Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com has the Utes as an eighth seed in the tournament, playing Minnesota in Kansas City, with a potential second-round rematch with Oklahoma looming.

Keep in mind, though, Palm aspires to predict what actually will happen come March, while Lunardi's projection is based on conditions right now. Also, Palm's version has not been updated -- perhaps, it doesn't need to be, given its nature -- since the Utes beat New Mexico.

In related news, the Utes also are starting to get just the slightest bit of love in the national rankings. They received two votes in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll today, for the first time all season. The Utes had received a strange lone vote in the AP Top 25 following a loss earlier this season, but that quickly evaporated.

Not that anybody should be surprised, but center Luke Nevill was named the Mountain West Conference player of the week … again.

It's the fourth honor of the season for the 7-foot-2 senior -- he shared it, this time, with San Diego State's Lorrenzo Wade -- and certainly justified. Nevill went off for 32 points in the win over Brigham Young, then accepted an supporting role and did just about everything else in a victory over New Mexico. For the week, he averaged 21.5 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two assists while shooting 60 percent from the field and 86.4 percent from the line.

Nevill ranks second in the league by scoring 17.6 points per game and shooting 60.9 percent, and leads it by averaging 8.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots.