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After his team throttled Arizona State in epic fashion and made those questions about overlooking the Sun Devils seem silly, Utah guard Delon Wright joined the rest of the world in looking ahead to the atmosphere of Saturday's game with No. 7 Arizona in a sold-out Huntsman Center.

"I can only imagine," Wright said.

Who could have pictured any of this? Technicalities aside, with another week remaining in the regular season, this is a conference championship game. By beating Arizona for the first time in their four years of Pac-12 membership, the Utes can tie the Wildcats for first place.

College basketball is a postseason sport. Teams are remembered for how far they advance in the NCAA Tournament, and what happens in March tends to marginalize everything up until then.

In Utah's case, though, a conference championship is highly meaningful. Winning a Pac-12 title wouldn't complete coach Larry Krystkowiak's work in four seasons, but it would be a huge achievement for his program and the entire athletic department.

The Utes want to be genuine players in the Pac-12, and here's their biggest opportunity outside of gymnastics to do something extraordinary in this league. Never mind that the conference's depth and talent is less than overwhelming in 2014-15. Just credit the Utes with good timing. Krystkowiak has developed a contending team, while fulfilling the goal he outlined in his introductory news conference.

He never referenced conference championships, NCAA Tournaments or national rankings that, instead speaking simply of wanting to "get the pride back" in Utah basketball.

The tents being erected late Thursday night in the line for student admission to Saturday's game are among the symbols of Krystkowiak's success. The Utes' following has grown steadily from the nights when the MUSS numbered maybe a dozen members, and the environment for Arizona's visit will be "a little bit crazy," Krystkowiak said approvingly.

As for what happens on the court, there's considerable intrigue. None of the previous eight Pac-12 visitors this season has remotely threatened Utah. They've all lost by 15-plus points with some ridiculous results, including the 83-41 embarrassment of Arizona State on Thursday.

The Utes' only regret about that game might be the schedule. They may wish they could have played Arizona, with the incentive of righting the wrongs of their loss at Oregon. In advance of ASU's visit, Krystkowiak became so convinced about the way the Utes would respond that he told someone, "I wouldn't want to be the team that had to play us."

The Sun Devils found out what he meant, trailing 41-9 at halftime. Now, the Utes can only hope to give Arizona their best shot.

Krystkowiak is almost always good-natured and accommodating in interviews, but he's tired of questions about one subject: Utah's offense. The reality is that a No. 19 efficiency ranking in the trusted KenPom.com analysis becomes much more meaningful only if the Utes can thrive against Arizona.

In advance of Utah's 69-51 loss at Arizona last month, I had targeted Wright and freshman center Jakob Poeltl as critical components. There was enough blame to go around afterward, but they were nothing special in that game. So I'll frame this game the same way: The Utes need Wright to play at a Wooden Award level and Poeltl to look like a (someday) first-round pick in the NBA.

Poeltl blocked five shots in the first half Thursday. If Wright had played more than 21 minutes, he could have posted some stunning numbers — beyond his 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals.

As it is, he'll be well rested for Senior Night. Wright made an unconventional choice of Utah out of junior college in 2013, after the Utes slowly climbed from 3-15 to 5-13 in Pac-12 play. They've gone 9-9 and 12-3 in his two seasons. If they can get to 15-3, they will have flipped the script, with a banner to show for it.

Twitter: @tribkurt