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For Larry Scott's first men's basketball game at the Huntsman Center, the product was less riveting than he might have hoped.

Looking back at the 44-10 mark on the scoreboard, the commissioner of the Pac-12 raised his eyebrows.

"Not as close as I thought it might be," he said. "As most of our games have been this season."

Scott, otherwise, has reason to be pleased with the competitiveness of his league. Many bracket projections have 6-8 Pac-12 teams in the NCAA Tournament field, and with the conference tournament two weeks away, Scott is hopeful that more nail-biters come along.

For his money, it's as good a year as the Pac-12 has had, one that figures to continue its entertaining duels Saturday when No. 9 Arizona comes to visit No. 22 Utah in an ESPN-televised game. While the regular-season conference title looks like a three-horse race between Oregon, Arizona and Utah, the upper half of the league's strength could make for an eventful tournament.

"We're in the strongest position we've been in since I've been here," Scott said. "And the way it's being built, we're on the right trajectory."

Scott faces other challenges. He came to Salt Lake City as a part of a Pac-12 campus tour to listen in on student athletes, coaches and administrators on the issue of student time demands, which figures to be the Power 5 conference's biggest issue in the coming year. The autonomy group passed on meaningful policy changes in January, seeking more information for comprehensive reform.

Scott also acknowledged some negative feedback related to the Pac-12's increasingly localized programming that leaves some subscribers with more reruns and less access to live broadcasts. Scott said the Pac-12 provides all of its feeds — national and regional — to distributors it deals with (notably not DirecTV) and what the distributors provide is up to them. But the conference is working with their distributors to offer better options to viewers if possible.

Chapman chips in

Leading Utah with 15 points was sophomore forward Brekkott Chapman, whose second season as a Ute has had a few more rocky paths than expected.

Chapman's 15 points was a season high, only the third time he's been in double figures this year. He was 5 for 10 from the field, and fell only one rebound shy of his first double-double. While he's settled into his supporting role as first man off the bench behind fellow sophomore Kyle Kuzma, he acknowledge both starters and reserves will be critical on Saturday.

"It was definitely good for us to get some burn tonight and keep the starters off for a little bit," he said. "This Arizona game is gonna be huge, especially for the support players on our team to come in when our starters need a bit of a break or need someone to step up."

Briefly

The Sun Devils suffered their 10th straight loss at the Huntsman Center and haven't won there against Utah since 1975. … Sophomore Jakob Poeltl's double-digit scoring streak ended at 11 games after he scored seven points.

kgoon@sltrib.com Twitter: @kylegoon