Utah and BYU may both be in the Top 25 and safe bets to make the 64-team NCAA Tournament, but Weber State is unquestionably the hottest college team from the state entering the conference tournaments this weekend.

The Wildcats were a mediocre 5-4 in the Big Sky Conference a month ago, but finished the season with five straight wins to tie for second place in the league, just one game behind regular season champion Idaho. The 'Cats downed the Vandals on the road by 12 points on March 1 during their hot streak.Despite tying Boise State for second in the league with a 10-4 mark, Weber will be the third seed in the tourney because the Broncos won both regular season head-to-head games. The difference between the second and third seeds in the Big Sky Tournament is significant, as the top two seeds in the six-team tourney receive first-round byes and are automatically in the semifinals.

The Wildcats open the tourney Thursday in Moscow, Idaho, against sixth-seeded Montana State. Weber beat the Bobcats in both previous meetings this year. Should the Wildcats win, they would face second-seeded Boise State in a semifinal game Friday. The finals will be Saturday night.

Weber has been led all season by senior forwards Stan Rose, who leads the Big Sky in scoring (23.8 points per game) and is averaging eight rebounds per outing, and Al Hamilton, who averages 20 points and just under seven boards. Weber's Johnnie Moore leads the conference in rebounding, averaging nine per game.

Montana State is led by forward Art Menefee, who had a 16-point average. Boise State's top gun is former Bonneville High star center Tanoka Beard, who scores nearly 21 points and pulls down eight boards per outing on average.

In Thursday's other first-round game, fourth-seeded Montana will play No. 5 Idaho State.

The Big Sky tourney is not bracketed like most other conference tournaments. Top-seeded Idaho will automatically play the lowest seeded team remaining in the semifinals. In other words, if Montana State upsets Weber, the Vandals would draw the Bobcats in the second round because it has the sixth and lowest seed in the tourney. But if Weber wins, Idaho will face the winner of the Montana/Idaho State game because both teams have lower seeds than the Wildcats.

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