BYU and Utah Utes basketball: Brigham Young, UNLV and UNM among favorites in men's event

Will it be champion BYU, host UNLV, or will another Mountain West team that gets red hot at the right time?

It'll be a roll of the dice in Las Vegas this week.

At stake is the Mountain West's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It all begins on Wednesday when Wyoming and Colorado State stage a play-in game for the right to take on No. 1 seed BYU on Thursday at noon in the Thomas & Mack Center first round of the Mountain West Conference men's tournament.

"A top seed can feel pressure and a lesser seed can come in loose and make a run," Utah coach Jim Boylen told reporters last week.

"It's a time of the year you really look forward to as a coaching staff and players. We won't know for sure who we'll play until Wednesday afternoon, but we'll have to prepare and rely on some mature players," said BYU's Dave Rose.

"This is a unique, separate challenge than the goals of the regular season," said Rose, whose team goes to Las Vegas as the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row.

"This is a three-day event that you have to tackle one day at a time and there's no feeling like a conference tournament where a lot is at stake. Hopefully we'll respond to it."

UNLV (23-7, 12-4) finished as the No. 2 seed, two games back of the Cougars, and will play No. 7 seed TCU (14-15, 6-10) Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Utes (16-13, 7-9), who are seeded No. 6, will take on No. 3 seed New Mexico (24-7, 11-5) Thursday night at 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday play-in game between the No. 8 Cowboys and No. 9 Rams will be seen at noon Pacific time on The mtn.

No. 4 seed San Diego State (19-11, 9-7) battles No. 5 seed Air Force (16-13, 8-8) in the 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal game Thursday on The mtn. The Aztecs are 7-6 in the MWC Tournament and will face off against the Falcons, who are 0-8 in tournament action, for the second time, with both meetings coming in quarterfinal play. San Diego State split the series with Air Force this season and holds a 39-20 lead in the all-time series.

All session and single session tickets for the MWC tournament are on sale at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, online at unlvtickets.com or by calling 1-866-388-3267. The Thomas & Mack Center box office will be open today at 11 a.m.

No. 1 BYU (25-6, 14-2)

Player to watch: Lee Cummard has surfaced as BYU's most consistent performer. He is a steady scorer, rebounder, defender and passer.

Best win: 78-76 over No. 6 Louisville