Utah Utes basketball: Let the madness begin

LAS VEGAS — It might be tough for the Utah basketball team to be as motivated as usual for the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament.

The Utes play their first game tonight at 7 p.m. MDT against TCU at the Thomas & Mack Center.

However, it may be difficult getting up to play the same team you beat twice this year, including a game five days earlier, which is what the Utes must do against Horned Frogs. Also because the Utes are all but assured of a berth in next week's NCAA Tournament, they may not be as motivated as if they were still fighting for a berth.

Still, the Utes are acting as if it's business as usual as they prepare for what could be three games in three days.

"We're very confident going into the tournament, but we also know everyone's record is 0-0," said Shaun Green. "We beat TCU twice, but it's hard to beat a team three times, so we need to go in there with great focus and just play our game. We want to go in there and win the tournament, and that's what our goal is."

"We want to keep on winning," said Luke Nevill. "We shared the title, but we want to win the tournament outright and show everybody who's on top."

In every expert's mock bracket, the Utes are listed as already in the NCAA Tournament, usually as a No. 7 or No. 8 seed. If the Utes lose today, their seed would likely drop, but they should still get in as a No. 9 or 10 seed.

Who knows what to expect from the Frogs? They've lost 10 of 11 games after jumping out to an early lead in the MWC race. However, they also know all it takes is three wins to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

TCU is led by senior forward Kevin Langford (14.2 ppg), who was named to the all-MWC second team earlier this week. Junior center Zvonko Buljan, who was named MWC newcomer of the year, contributes 12.0 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Two other starters, Edvinas Ruzgas and Ronnie Moss, both average 10 points a game.

Besides Nevill and Green, the Utes have a veteran team, including seniors Lawrence Borha and Tyler Kepkay, junior Kim Tillie and sophomore Carlon Brown.

The Utes are expected to have point guard Luka Drca back at full strength after he missed practice earlier this week with a sore back. Drca got hurt in last Saturday's game against TCU with a displaced rib and sat out most of the second half with back spasms.