Former league of BYU, Utah, future league of USU is tops in country

So once again, it should come down to a battle between the Grizzlies and Wildcats in the Big Sky finals to determine the league’s NCAA berth.

REST OF STATE: Win or lose against Gonzaga this week, BYU will likely finish third in the WCC and play in the quarterfinals Thursday, March 7. A win there gives the Cougs a matchup with St. Mary’s in the semifinals.

Utah State will finish fourth or fifth in the WAC as it is currently tied with Texas-Arlington for fourth place at 9-5. That means those two schools will get first-round byes and likely meet up in the final game of the second day in Las Vegas on March 14.

Utah is pretty much locked into one of the bottom three spots for the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament, also in Las Vegas, with its 3-11 league record, fighting with Oregon State (3-12) and Washington State (2-13) to stay out of the cellar.

Southern Utah, in its first year in the Big Sky, stands in fourth place in the Big Sky and if the T-Birds hold on, they will make the conference playoffs, which takes the top seven teams, instead of six this year.