Although the Utah men’s basketball team has reached the magic win number at 20-7 and are owners of the highest RPI ranking in the conference (21, a formula heavily considered by the NCAA Tournament selection committee), coach Rick Majerus contests the assumption of hoops analysts that the Utes already have a spot locked up in the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t know that. The press can say whatever they want because they have no accountability,” Majerus said. “I don’t believe that myself.”
Furthermore, Majerus thinks neither his No. 2 seed Utes, nor the No. 1 seed Wyoming Cowboys, are the favorites in the postseason extravaganza this weekend in Las Vegas.
“I would favor [UNLV], because home is where you want to be at tournament time,” Majerus said. “This is not a tournament for Vegas, it’s home games.”
UNLV opens up the MWC Tournament with a nationally televised game on ESPN against New Mexico at 9:00 p.m. PST.
Brit Gets More Hardware
Although both Britton Johnsen and Majerus were skeptical of Johnsen’s selection as MWC Player of the Year, the honors didn’t cease for the junior forward.
Johnsen was named the United State Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District VIII Player of the Year yesterday. Johnsen has scored in double figures in 25 of 27 games this year and shot 50.2 percent from the field.
The award comes just days after Johnsen’s naming as the best player in his conference, despite ranking 13th in the MWC in points (13.2 ppg) scored and seventh in rebounding (6.5 rpg).
Altogether, four Utes garnered MWC honors, but Britton felt there needed to be more love for his teammates.
“Nick [Jacobson] and Jeff [Johnsen] deserved more. And so did [Travis] Spivey,” Britton said.
Jacobson and Jeff Johnsen both were third-teamers, and Spivey was named honorable mention.
Although the accolades were nice, Jacobson said it wasn’t his primary focus.
“It means a lot, but my goals are more team-oriented,” said the sophomore guard, who averages 13.2 points and ranks second in the MWC in three point shooting. “But it’s nice to be seen in that respect by the coaches in the league.”