Utah State opens WAC play tonight

LOGAN — Usually by the time Western Athletic Conference play begins, several teams have already separated themselves as a contender for the league championship.

Last year four teams — Nevada, Utah State, Fresno State and New Mexico State — had 10 wins or more at this point, and those four proved to be the cream of the WAC crop.

Nevada won the regular-season crown and New Mexico State won the tournament championship. Both earned berths into the NCAA Tournament, while Utah State and Fresno State were National Invitation Tournament participants.

As league play opens tonight for six teams including, Utah State, which hosts Hawaii at 7 p.m. (KJZZ) at the Smith Spectrum, the Aggies are the only team in the league with 10 wins. Boise State has nine and Nevada has eight.

Boise State, San Jose State, New Mexico State, which has played the toughest schedule in the conference to date, and Idaho opened league play Wednesday evening.

Nevada opens Saturday when it hosts Utah State.

Prior to league play, the conference teams has a combined preseason record of 56-58 (last year 63-49).

"Boise appears to be strong with their record and their win over BYU — a top-25 team at the time and Nevada is extremely athletic and Hawaii is a lot better than their record," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said.

Hawaii (4-8), Idaho (3-8), Louisiana Tech (3-9) New Mexico State (6-9) have losing records.

San Jose State (6-5) and Fresno State (7-6) are one game above .500.

"The teams in our league tried to schedule up a little bit, us included and we're all paying the price," Morrill told ESPN.com.

Boise State coach Greg Graham agreed.

"We've all had a lot of games on the road, but it's because we've made an effort as a conference to upgrade our schedules, which means more and tougher games on the road," Graham told ESPN.com. "We've taken our share of losses, but I think this league will get better as it goes. The only thing I worry about is that we cut each other up come league play."

So, who is the league favorite? It's anyone's guess, but expect the usual suspects to rise to the occasion.

Utah State has won five straight games, and Nevada has won six of its last seven and that loss was to No. 1 North Carolina.