Six teams have at least two losses in the Mountain West Conference men's basketball race, and coaches for weeks have been pumping up the balance and competitiveness in the league as the best in its 10-year history.
But when it comes to getting teams in the NCAA Tournament, is that necessarily a good thing?
UNLV coach Lon Kruger isn't sure.
"That's a good question," Kruger said. "Are we better off having the balance, or having a couple of teams kind of emerge? As it relates to postseason opportunity, there could be an argument for a team or two breaking away and solidifying themselves."
So, the debate rages: Is the MWC a two-bid league this year or three?
And is it better to have balance or a couple dominant teams, like Utah and TCU were in football?
Kruger says for the health of the league, it is probably better to have six above-average teams, than two or three excellent teams. He said it also is important the league has more than half of its teams in the top 100 of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
Prior to Wednesday night's games, Utah's RPI was 16th, BYU was 38th, UNLV was 46th, San Diego State was 57th, TCU was 82nd, New Mexico was 86th and Wyoming was 94th, according to realtimerpi.com.
"That helps everyone," Kruger said. "The more teams we can have with better RPIs, the better everyone in the league is."
Prior to the four midweek games, most NCAA Tournament experts were saying that UNLV and BYU are in the bracket right now, with Utah, San Diego State and TCU very close.
Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com, in his weekly bracketology feature, had TCU getting the league's automatic bid (but just a No. 13 seed). He had UNLV and BYU among the "Last Four In," with the Rebels getting an 11 seed and BYU a 12. Utah was among the "First Four Out" -- but will likely swap places with BYU in next Monday's segment after it beat the Cougars 94-88 in overtime on Tuesday night.
Lobos not so low
All that said, coaches in the MWC conference call on Monday sang the praises of New Mexico. The Lobos drilled TCU 69-52 at Fort Worth on Saturday and played Colorado State on Wednesday night.
" I am not so sure that they are not the best team in the league, in a lot of ways," CSU coach Tim Miles said before Wednesday's game. "You look at their balance, and their versatility, with different guys able to score at different times. It's a great group."
Said UNM coach Steve Alford : "I don't think you talk about championships five games in. As each week goes by, you would like to be in the mix. And we are definitely in the mix. The one thing we do talk about … is taking care of home, and getting road wins. We have been on the road three times and we have gotten one."
Apology in order?
After San Diego State's Richie Williams made a steal against BYU on Saturday, but was called for a backcourt violation, coach Steve Fisher told referee Bobby McRoy that after watching the tape he was either going to call McRoy and yell at him or apologize.
Monday, after viewing the replay, Fisher said he would have to do the latter.
"I am going to get Bobby McRoy on speed dial," he said. "It was a good call. … I am going to call and say, 'I apologize. You made the correct call.'"
