Off and Running

I should have gone with this visitor-home strategy all season. As it is, Brigham Young began my week with a win Tuesday, thus setting the stage for three more home Mountain West Conference basketball teams covering the spread tonight.

        Today’s games:

        AIR FORCE (plus-10.5) at TEXAS CHRISTIAN: Do you know how to tell when a team is really struggling? When the head coach refuses to make an opening statement on a weekly conference call with reporters and goes straight to questions. Air Force is so bad, Jeff Reynolds might completely give up just and stop calling in.
        My pick: TCU.

        UTAH (minus-8) at COLORADO STATE: So much has been talked about Utah’s three games following this one — home to UNLV, at BYU, at New Mexico — that you wonder if the first-place Utes realize they have to show up and play in Fort Collins.
        My pick: CSU.
       
        UNLV (minus-7) at WYOMING: The Cowboys are 10-1 in Laramie, where it is a toasty 29 degrees and snowing today. UNLV won’t be able to press Wyoming guards as it did those from TCU last week, given the Cowboys have players who can actually dribble without looking at the ball.
        My pick: Wyoming.
       

        OVERALL RECORDS
        Me: 17-27.
        Guest celebrities:
        Matt Youmans, UNLV basketball beat writer for the R-J: 1-2.
        Bridget Graney, my 7-year old daughter: 3-1.
        Coin flip: 1-3.
        Ellie May, the family dog: 2-2.
        Adam Hill, UFC beat writer for the R-J and assistant coach to the Irish Rookies of NJB Northwest: 2-2.