BYU represents Mountain West in Tournament

Steve Addy

Monday, March 12, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

National Invitation Tournament at a glance

First Round

Tuesday

Seton Hall (16-14) at Alabama (21-10), 4 p.m.

Memphis (17-14) at Utah (19-11), 7 p.m.

South Carolina (15-14) at Connecticut (19-11), 4:30 p.m.

Villanova (18-12) at Minnesota (17-13), 6:30 p.m.

Baylor (19-11) at New Mexico (19-12), 9 p.m.

Detroit (22-10) at Bradley (19-11), TBA

N.C.-Wilmington (19-10) at Dayton (19-12), TBA

Illinois State (21-8) at Purdue (15-14), TBA

Miami (16-12) at Auburn (17-13), TBA

UC Irvine (25-4) at Tulsa (21-11), TBA

St. Bonaventure (18-11) at Pittsburgh (18-13), TBA

Southern Mississippi (22-8) at Mississippi State (16-12), TBA

Pepperdine (21-8) at Wyoming (20-9), TBA

McNeese State (22-8) at Texas-El Paso (22-8), TBA

South Alabama (22-10) at Toledo (21-10), TBA

West Virginia (17-11) at Richmond (21-6), TBA

Regardless of the success of the Mountain West tournament over the weekend, conference officials knew the good news had a brief shelf life.

They were right.

By edging New Mexico 69-65 in Saturday's MWC championship game at the Thomas & Mack Center, BYU gained entry to the NCAA Tournament via the automatic bid.

But the Cougars (24-8) were the only Mountain West team to crash the NCAA field of 65. On Sunday, they were given the 12th seed in the West Regional and will meet Cincinnati (23-9) Thursday night at Cox Arena in San Diego.

As expected, none of the other MWC contenders -- Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico -- received an at-large berth. They were relegated to the NIT, though each will host a first-round game.

In Provo, BYU's players and coaches gathered in the basement of coach Steve Cleveland's home to watch the NCAA pairings show on CBS.

"As excited as we are, we're not just happy to be (in the tournament)," Cleveland told the Salt Lake Tribune. "These players feel they can win. We're playing better than we have all year, so I don't think we will be overwhelmed. We'll be relaxed. I would be surprised if we don't play well down there."

However, the Cougars are seeded lower than the lowest-seeded at-large teams, which shows that the NCAA selection committee wasn't especially fond of BYU or the rest of the MWC.

"It's pretty obvious if we didn't win (Saturday), we weren't in," Cleveland admitted. "As a conference, we didn't do what we needed to do in the (nonconference games). That's why the power conferences are dominating the seedings as well as the at-large picks."

In the NIT, Utah (19-11) will host Memphis (17-14) on Tuesday, while New Mexico (19-12) will play Baylor (19-11) and Wyoming (20-9) will play Pepperdine (21-8) on Wednesday.

Poor RPI rankings and lack of quality nonconference wins came back to haunt the Mountain West. Utah finished 50th in RPI, New Mexico 52nd and Wyoming 58th. Three of Utah's wins were against non-Division I competition.

"I expect us to be very excited (to play Memphis)," Utes interim coach Dick Hunsaker said. "It's a challenge and a test of maturity. This is not a collection of guys who should be long-faced that they're not in the NCAA Tournament."

Commissioner Craig Thompson had feared only one MWC team would make the NCAA Tournament, especially after upsets in other conference tournaments boosted lesser teams into the field.

For instance, had Fresno State won the WAC, it would've been the only participant from that conference. But when the Bulldogs (25-6) were upset in the WAC semifinals and Hawaii went on to win the event, that gave the WAC two NCAA teams. That especially hurt the MWC.

"Maybe there was too much parity in our league," Thompson said. "We had a lot of teams that were very equal. New Mexico beat four teams that are in the (NCAA) tournament, and Utah played very well in January and February."

New Mexico beat NCAA qualifiers George Mason, Western Kentucky, Gonzaga and Georgia State.

Including the women's games, 10,000 more tickets were sold than last year.

"Without UNLV playing, we had some concern originally," Thompson said. "But I think it was a real success."

Though the Pepsi Center in Denver has bid for the MWC tournament, the event is locked into the Thomas & Mack for next year, and Thompson said talks have begun for an option in 2003.

"We would like it to be here six out of every eight years, or seven out of every 10 or whatever," he said. "That way, everybody gets a chance to host."