Land of Enchantment

The New Mexico Lobos have slid next to the BYU Cougars in the Mountain West Conference driver's seat with both teams cruising into the stretch run.

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The Lobos' Saturday night overtime escape at the Huntsman Center gave UNM a 2-0 week on the road, with the win over the Utes preceded by a victory at UNLV--two games that prove New Mexico is a legitimate title contender and potential Big Dance noisemaker.

BYU and UNM have established themselves as the teams to beat in what looks like a two-team title chase, with both squads two games clear of their closest pursuers in the loss column.

Examining the Cougars' and Lobos' remaining games, anything can happen, but it's safe to say that New Mexico has the easier schedule. It's also reasonable to propose that the Lobos' hardest game (on paper) is harder than any of the games remaining on BYU's schedule.

BYU's remaining games:

@ CSU

@ Wyoming

v. SDSU

v. UNM

@ Utah

@ TCU

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New Mexico's remaining games:

v. Wyoming

v. Air Force

@ CSU

@ BYU

v. TCU

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While BYU has hurdles to jump before and after its meeting with New Mexico, all signs point toward the February 27th get-together at the Marriott Center as a winner-take-all affair.

By the way, home fans should anticipate the pregame introduction sequence for that game to be the same big-time intro (white sheets and all) that fired up the crowd for the BYU-Utah game. Suffice it to say that this year's Senior Night will be must-see occasion and a guaranteed sellout.

For that matter, I see no reason BYU's remaining home games shouldn't both sell out--the SDSU and UNM games are as big as any games BYU has played in Provo in recent years.

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Only four teams nationally (Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and Murray State--all with 24) have more wins than the 23 apiece recorded by the Cougars and Lobos.

The MWC is the only conference nationally featuring two team with 23+ wins.

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BYU's 91-48 win over Air Force represents the most points scored by BYU in a Mountain West meeting with the Cadets, and the most scored by BYU against Air Force since a 94-82 win in 1994.

The 43-point setback is the Falcons' worst ever in conference play.

BYU now has two 40-point-plus wins in MWC competition this season; the Cougars beat Colorado State 91-47 last month at the Marriott Center. The MWC record for largest margin of victory in a conference game is 45, set twice (by New Mexico in 2008 and by Air Force (!) in 2007). In both instances, Wyoming was on the receiving end of the 45-point beatdowns.

Of BYU's eight MWC wins, four have been by 20 points or more, and six have been by double digits.

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Since the start of the 2006-07 season (Jonathan Tavernari's freshman season), BYU has won exactly 100 games. As such, Tavernari is the winningest player in BYU Basketball history. JT has played in 96 of those 100 victories, leaving him win shy of the BYU record for having played in the most wins. Lee Cummard played in 97 wins from 2005-06 through 2008-09.

On the record watch, Tavernari has moved into 12th place on BYU's alltime scoring list--91 points behind 11th place holder Kresimir Cosic (1,512). Cummard is 10th alltime with 1,569 points.

Tavernari is also 3rd place on the alltime BYU steals list with 145. Jackson Emery meantime has tied the single-season BYU steals record, with 66--matching the mark set by Marty Haws back in 1990.

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Averaging 10.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in conference play (while shooting 47% from the arc), Tavernari should be a no-brainer pick as Sixth Man of the Year in the MWC.

Tavernari gets some national Sixth Man publicity courtesy of ESPN's Jay Bilas.

Bilas writes:

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"Best Sixth Men: The top sixth men I have seen this season are Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine of Syracuse, Zachery Peacock of Georgia Tech, Taylor King of Villanova, Draymond Green of Michigan State, Jonathan Tavernari of BYU and Gavin Edwards of UConn. All of these players are more than good enough to start, but provide real punch off the bench. It takes a secure player to thrive off the bench, and these guys all do just that."

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Speaking of ESPN, I would hope that the Worldwide Leader is at least considering bringing College Gameday back to Provo on February 27th. If both teams can win their upcoming three games, the BYU/UNM game would be matching two 26-3 teams, both ranked in the Top 15.

Considering ESPN's warm reception for the BYU-TCU football game this past fall (Cosmo's on-set script rip notwithstanding), it's possible the February 27th game would at least be on some kind of short list.

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The two MWC leaders are excelling away from home. New Mexico has typically struggled away from The Pit, but the Lobos have won nine of 11 games away from Albuquerque; BYU has won nine of 12.

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New Mexico gets national kudos from ESPN.com's Andy Katz as the "Team of the Week" in his "Weekly Watch."

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Updated "Plus-Minus" Standings:

A point is gained for a road win, and a point lost for a home loss--no points awarded for home wins or road losses:

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1. UNM +4

2. BYU +2

2. UNLV +2

4. SDSU +1

4. CSU +1

6. Utah -1

7. TCU -1

8. Wyoming -4

9. Air Force -4

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Updated "Slip-up" Standings:

BYU is the only team in the league without at least one "slip-up." My current definition of a slip-up is any home loss in league play, or any road loss to CSU, Utah, TCU, Wyoming or Air Force.

Points are scored as follows:

Road Loss (v. opponents in MWC top four): 0

Road Loss (v. opponents in MWC bottom five): -1

Home Win (top four): +1

Home Win (bottom five): 0

Road Win: (top four): +2

Road Win (bottom five): +1

Home Loss (top four): -1

Home Loss (bottom five): -2

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2010 Slip-up Standings:

1. UNM +7 (1 slip-up)

2. BYU +4 (0 slip-ups)

2. UNLV +4 (2 slip-ups)

4. SDSU +2 (2 slip-ups)

5. CSU +1 (2 slip-ups)

6. Utah -2 (4 slip-ups)

6. TCU -2 (5 slip-ups)

8. Wyoming -8 (6 slip-ups)

8. Air Force -9 (7 slip-ups)

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Note: every MWC team except BYU has at least one home conference loss.

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UNLV has gone 0-2 since beating BYU and vaulting into last week's Top 25. The Rebels are now 7-4, and have finished with at least four conference losses in all 11 seasons of MWC competition.

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