What’s at stake for Utah college basketball teams during conference championship week

Neemias Queta and Utah State have won back-to-back Mountain West Conference tournament championships. The Aggies will need another strong week in Las Vegas to bolster their NCAA Tournament chances this season. | John Locher, Associated Press

College basketball’s conference tournament week often carries with it plenty of excitement.

Some teams pull upsets and win their way into an unexpected NCAA Tournament bid.

Other schools see their hard work building an NCAA resume come up agonizingly too short.

For Division I programs from the state of Utah, this week will provide several teams the chance to earn their way to an NCAA Tournament bid. And if the regular season is any indication, this could be one of the more interesting conference tournament weeks for Utah schools in recent memory.

BYU

The Cougars (19-5, 10-3 West Coast Conference) are seen as a lock for the NCAA Tournament with a resume that includes wins over San Diego State (No. 21 in the NET rankings), Utah State (No. 48), St. John’s (No. 68) and two against WCC foe Saint Mary’s (No. 64).

BYU opens the WCC tournament with in a semifinal matchup against Pepperdine late Monday. The Cougars split a pair of back-to-back games with the Waves earlier this season. Pepperdine was the only team outside of Gonzaga to beat BYU in league play this year.

In addition to trying to earn their first conference tournament title in 20 years, the Cougars are playing to improve their seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

WCC men’s basketball tournament

Semifinals

Monday

• No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 Saint Mary’s, 7 p.m. MST (ESPN)
• No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 Pepperdine, 10 p.m. (ESPN2)

Championship

Tuesday

• Semifinal winners, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Utah

The Utes (11-12, 8-11 Pac-12) take one of the most unpredictable teams in the country into Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament.

Utah has proven it can beat the best the conference has to offer, while simultaneously losing to the league’s worst teams. The Utes position in the Pac-12 bracket is a perfect example of that.

The Utes split two games with their first-round opponent, Washington, winning at home to start the year before losing later in Seattle. If the Utes gets past the Huskies in their Pac-12 tournament opener, though, their next opponent would be USC. Utah played the Trojans well in the regular season, losing by two in California before rolling to a victory over ranked USC just over a week ago.

For the Utes to advance in the postseason, they’ll need to win the Pac-12 tournament. Otherwise, it’s season over.

Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament

First round

Wednesday

• No. 8 Arizona State vs. No. 9 Washington State, 2 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• No. 7 Utah vs. No. 10 Washington, 5 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• No. 6 Stanford vs. No. 11 California, 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)

Quarterfinals

Thursday

• No. 1 Oregon vs. Arizona State/Washington State winner, 12:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 5 Oregon State, 3:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• No. 2 USC vs. Utah/Washington winner, 6:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• No. 3 Colorado vs. Stanford/California winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Semifinals

Friday

• Oregon/Arizona State/Washington State winner vs. UCLA/Oregon State winner, 6:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• USC/Utah/Washington winner vs. Colorado/Stanford/California winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Championship

Saturday

• Semifinal winners, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Utah State

The Aggies (18-7, 15-4 Mountain West Conference) have arguably the most important week among Utah schools. Utah State enters MWC tournament week with a good NCAA Tournament resume, but is seen by national pundits on the outside looking in right now.

A run at the league tournament is what USU needs to strengthen whatever’s left of its NCAA at-large case. The Aggies will face the winner of UNLV and Air Force in the MWC quarterfinals. While USU swept the Falcons, the Rebels handed the Aggies a costly loss in January. In the semifinals, Utah State could face Colorado State, which split a competitive series with the Aggies in Logan. The Rams snapped USU’s 11-game win streak at the time.

The Aggies, who have won four straight, can ill afford an early exit at the MWC tournament. Utah State has won the past two MWC tournaments, though, and has flashed enough potential behind stars like Neemias Queta, named the MWC Player of the Year by selected media on Monday, to show why the Aggies have as good of a chance as anyone to earn the MWC tournament championship this week.

MWC men’s basketball tournament

First round

Wednesday

• No. 8 Wyoming vs. No. 9 San Jose State, Noon (Mountain West Network)
• No. 7 UNLV vs. No. 10 Air Force, 2:30 p.m. (Mountain West Network)
• No. 6 Fresno State vs. No. 11 New Mexico, 5 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Quarterfinals

Thursday

• No. 1 San Diego State vs. Wyoming/San Jose State winner, 1 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
• No. 4 Boise State vs. No. 5 Nevada, 3:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
• No. 2 Utah State vs. UNLV/Air Force winner, 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
• No. 3 Colorado State vs. Fresno State/New Mexico winner, 9:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Semifinals

Friday

• San Diego State/Wyoming/San Jose State winner vs. Boise State/Nevada winner, 7:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
• Utah State/UNLV/Air Force winner vs. Colorado State/Fresno State/New Mexico winner, 10 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Championship

Saturday

Semifinal winners, 4 p.m. (CBS)

Southern Utah, Weber State

The T-Birds (19-3, 12-2 Big Sky) and Wildcats (17-5, 12-3) are two of the best teams in the Big Sky and could meet in the league’s tournament championship game, as they sit on opposite sides of the bracket.

Top seed Southern Utah won its first regular-season conference championship in 20 years and is the hot team in the Big Sky — the T-Birds have won nine straight. Because of the pandemic, SUU may be seeing multiple teams in the tournament it hasn’t played this season. Of the four teams the T-Birds could potentially play in either the quarterfinals or semifinals, Southern Utah had games canceled against three of those four teams (Northern Colorado, Idaho State and Montana State), while sweeping Sacramento State.

It could be argued Weber State has the more difficult path. The third-seeded Wildcats will play either Montana or Idaho in the quarterfinals; the Grizzlies handed Weber State one of its three regular-season conference losses earlier this year. In the semifinals, Weber State could face No. 2 seed Eastern Washington. The Eagles had the inside track to win the regular-season championship before having their nine-game winning streak snapped last week.

Of course, in a one-bid league like the Big Sky, the path to the NCAA Tournament goes through winning the conference tournament championship. And this year in Boise, Idaho, SUU and Weber State have as good a chance as any other team to win it.

Big Sky men’s basketball tournament

First round

Wednesday

• No. 8 Northern Colorado vs. No. 9 Sacramento State, 9 a.m. (Pluto TV)
• No. 7 Portland State vs. No. 10 Northern Arizona, noon (Pluto TV)
• No. 6 Montana vs. No. 11 Idaho, 3 p.m. (Pluto TV)

Quarterfinals

Thursday

• No. 1 Southern Utah vs. Northern Colorado/Sacramento State winner, 11 a.m. (Pluto TV)
• No. 4 Idaho State vs. No. 5 Montana State, 2 p.m. (Pluto TV)
• No. 2 Eastern Washington vs. Portland State/Northern Arizona winner, 5 p.m. (Pluto TV)
• No. 3 Weber State vs. Montana/Idaho winner, 8 p.m. (Pluto TV)

Semifinals

Friday

• Southern Utah/Northern Colorado/Sacramento State winner vs. Idaho State/Montana State winner, 5 p.m. (Pluto TV)
• Eastern Washington/Portland State/Northern Arizona winner vs. Weber State/Montana/Idaho winner, 8 p.m. (Pluto TV)

Championship

Saturday

• Semifinal winners, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)

Utah Valley

Much like Southern Utah and Weber State, the Wolverines (11-10, 9-4 Western Athletic Conference) go into their conference tournament with some momentum.

To earn its first NCAA Tournament bid, though, UVU may well have to beat three-time defending WAC regular-season champ New Mexico State in the semifinals and top seed Grand Canyon in the championship. The Wolverines split with both teams this year — UVU’s win at Grand Canyon last week in the opener of a two-game series ensured the Wolverines a share of the WAC regular-season title.

The ’Lopes, in particular, have been a significant stumbling block for UVU in Las Vegas recently. Grand Canyon eliminated the Wolverines in back-to-back years in the WAC tournament semifinals in 2017-18 and 2018-19, Mark Pope’s last two years at UVU.

This will be second-year coach Mark Madsen’s first attempt to win the WAC tournament, after last year’s event was canceled at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

WAC men’s basketball tournament

Quarterfinals

Thursday

• No. 4 Cal Baptist vs. No. 5 Seattle, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
• No. 3 New Mexico State vs. No. 6 UT Rio Grande Valley, 9 p.m. (ESPN+)

Semifinals

Friday

• No. 1 Grand Canyon vs. Cal Baptist/Seattle winner, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
• No. 2 Utah Valley vs. New Mexico State/UT Rio Grande Valley winner, 9 p.m. (ESPN+)

Championship

Saturday

• Semifinal winners, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)

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