The BYU basketball team will, more than likely, earn a spot in the 64-team NCAA Tournament. After all, the Cougars are 22-8, ranked 33rd in the selection committee's computer (RPI rating) and have quality wins over the likes of Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Louisville, Utah and UTEP.

But the Cougs don't want to take any chances. Last year at this time they thought they deserved to be in the NCAA tourney, too, but they were left out and had to settle for the NIT."You never know what will happen (with the selection committee)," Cougar coach Roger Reid said. "Last year we found that out the hard way. Our goal is to win the WAC Tournament - then we'll know we're in."

The Cougars, the second seed, will open the WAC Tournament in Albuquerque at 3 p.m. Thursday. Their opponent will be No. 7 seed Colorado State if the Rams are able to beat Air Force Wednesday night. If the Rams lose to the Falcons, however, the Cougars will play the winner of Wednesday's Fresno State/San Diego State game.

"Colorado State has played us well this year," said Reid, whose team is 1-1 against the Rams in '95, "but then again, a lot of teams in the WAC have played us well this year."

The Cougars have struggled of late, losing three of their last five games, including an 87-79 setback to Utah Saturday. If there was one positive to come out of the loss to the Utes, however, it is that the Cougars are now in a different bracket than New Mexico, a team that has played well down the stretch and is especially tough in the Pit.

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"I've said all along that I feel sorry for the teams that have to play New Mexico (in the WAC tourney)," Reid said. "It is a bright spot for us that the only way we could meet them is in the championship."

Should BYU get past its WAC tourney first-round foe, it would face the winner of Thursday's UTEP/Hawaii game. The Cougars' potential semifinal will be Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Reid hopes both of his all-WAC players - center Kenneth Roberts and forward Russell Larson - have good games at the same time. Prior to the Utah contest, Larson had scored 97 points in his previous four outings, but he was held to just four against the Utes. Roberts, meanwhile, went four consecutive games without scoring in double figures before playing the Utes, but Saturday night he broke out for a career-high 34 points.

COUGAR NOTES: KSL Channel 5 will broadcast Thursday afternoon's first-round game and the 6:30 p.m. semifinal Friday if BYU advances. The WAC tourney championship game will be broadcast live by ESPN at 7:30 p.m. Saturday . . . Reserve guard Craig Wilcox has posted season-high scoring totals in each of his last two games. He had 17 points - making four clutch 3-pointers - against Utah . . . The Cougars are 6-1 in tournament games this season. They went 2-1 in the Great Alaska Shootout, 2-0 to win the Cougar Classic and 2-0 to win the Cable Car Classic.

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