Utes look to keep creeping up the standings

After losing at home to Wyoming late last month, the Utah basketball team found itself in danger of playing in the dreaded “play-in game” at the Mountain West Conference tournament. They were 2-4 with two road games and a tough home game against league-leading UNLV coming up.
However, after winning all three games, the Utes have shot up to fifth place and with a win Saturday against San Diego State, the Utes can jump into fourth place. If New Mexico is upset by TCU Saturday (possible, but not likely), the Utes could even find themselves in third place.
When asked about looking at the league standings, Ute coach Jim Boylen gave a refreshingly honest answer. Of course, 99 percent of coaches would say, “We take ‘em one game at a time and don’t worry about the standings,” Boylen said this:
“We talk about it. We talked about getting to .500 three weeks ago, we talk about getting to fourth place, getting to third place. (The players) have to understand what’s at stake. We do take them one game at a time, but that one game determines where we’re at.”
Boylen also says he checks out the games of fellow league members every Tuesday and Wednesday night as well as on Saturday night.
“This is a fun time of the year. This is what league play is all about. A big win here, a big loss there, an upset that shouldn’t happen. The standings change every Tuesday night and Wednesday night and Saturday night. It’s kind of fun.”
So after his game ends Saturday will Boylen hunker down and root for UNLV to beat BYU in Provo?
He’ll be watching the game, but isn’t saying who he’ll root for.
“I’ve never gotten into rooting for somebody to lose or win,” he said. “I think I got that from Rudy Tomjanovich. He used to say, ‘hey if you want to get into worrying about who’s winning or losing, you have no control and you’re going to drive yourself nuts.’ So I try not to do that. I’m just concerned about how we’re doing and how we’re playing.”