Utah Utes have seen scarier teams than the Wildcats

An expectant yet surprised whoop went up at the Huntsman Center, not unlike what happens during July fireworks. That's possible, you know.

Oooooh! Aaaaaah! Wheeeee!

Bigger than they imagined. Prettier than they hoped.

The crowd of athletic personnel, friends and players would have cheered had the Utes been playing Backwater State in Fargo. That's why people hold Selection Sunday parties.

Still, the announcement that Utah is a No. 5 seed and will play No. 12 Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament seemed to catch the Utes by happy surprise. At that point they figured they could definitely win that game.

The Wildcats are a fifth-place team from the Pac-10 with a 19-13 overall record. Yes, they won a national championship a dozen years ago. They're a much-respected basketball program, to be sure.

Should the Utes be frightened?

As if.

It's not like they've been cowering in the corner the last four months. They planned for this all along, having already played several better teams.

"This schedule has given us some adversity, but it has also given us some great confidence that we can play with, really, anybody," said coach Jim Boylen.

This has been a serendipitous year for the Utes. Picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West, they tied for first place and won the conference tournament. Most of that can be attributed to the latent emergence of Luke Nevill at center. Which can be largely attributed to Boylen's coaching and scheduling savvy.

As they say in the motivational seminars, if you want to be the best, you need to play a terrific schedule. Or something like that.

So they tried. They faced Gonzaga (ranked No. 12, last week), Oklahoma (No. 6), LSU (No. 20), BYU (No. 25), Utah State and Weber (among others receiving votes). From the Pac-10, they also played Cal, which finished ahead of Arizona, and Oregon, which didn't.

They beat Gonzaga, Mississippi, Weber, Oregon and LSU, lost to USU and Oklahoma, and split with BYU.

It made them tough; gave them that Steve McQueen stare.