Utes’ Boylen: MWC needs to schedule tougher teams

In two years at Utah, coach Jim Boylen has made an impact on Mountain West Conference basketball in a variety of ways.

Boylen is opinionated. His sideline antics can be entertaining sideshows. He sometimes grabs a microphone and shouts to the home crowd after wins. He has cried in news conferences.

He also guided the Utes to a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season, the highest seed in the conference's 10-year history.

Boylen talks about teaching his players to be fearless and tough, so he schedules the same way -- and he hopes the rest of the league's coaches start to do the same.

"I tell my guys we'll play anybody, anytime, anywhere," he said. "I want them to think like that.

"So many guys are scheduling to win 20 games. It doesn't matter. It's who you play. What are your quality wins?"

If the Mountain West is to be considered an elite conference, Boylen said, its coaches must schedule with less caution and more toughness.

Before the MWC tournament in March, Boylen said, "We set the standard for the league, how you get into the NCAA Tournament, who you have to play and how you should run your program, in my opinion."

Boylen said he's not criticizing other coaches, but he's not backing off that comment, either. "I really feel that way," he said, also explaining that recruits want to play in big-time games.

The Utes beat Gonzaga and Louisiana State last season and lost to California, Oklahoma and Utah State. Next season, Utah is set to play LSU, Oklahoma, Utah State, Illinois, Michigan and Oklahoma State.

But next on Boylen's schedule is the American Cancer Society's Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Classic & Gala, Sunday through June 2, a second-year event hosted by UNLV coach Lon Kruger.

"I've got maybe as strong a relationship with Lon as you can have with a rival," said Boylen, who recently signed a new five-year contract worth $850,000 a year, a figure that could increase to $1 million with bonuses.

Kruger designed arguably the MWC's second-toughest nonconference schedule last season, when the Rebels recorded marquee victories over Louisville and Arizona.

But the MWC got only two teams -- Utah as an automatic qualifier and Brigham Young as an at-large selection -- into the NCAA Tournament, and both lost in the first round.

San Diego State, which lost the conference tournament championship to the Utes, was snubbed because of its weak nonconference schedule. New Mexico and Wyoming also played soft schedules.

Only Utah, BYU and UNLV ventured out of conference and beat elite opponents, and the Cougars' best win was against Utah State.

"Our goal at Utah is to get into the NCAA Tournament before we get to the conference tournament, or be solid enough that if we get one win in the conference tournament, we're in," Boylen said. "We try to (schedule) six kind of big-time games. That's what you have to do."

The Utes ranked No. 12 in the Ratings Percentage Index going into last season's conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Games against Division II opponents don't count in the RPI. Boylen scheduled a D-II opponent last season -- and lost to Southwest Baptist -- and Kruger has one, Pittsburg State, on the schedule next season.

For the MWC to be in better position to get NCAA at-large spots, Boylen said, coaches need to schedule to improve their teams' RPI.

Boylen said he and his staff study all potential opponents by charting returning players and starters, the percentage of offense returning and by projecting teams' records and RPIs based on their schedules. "We're making some educated decisions," he said.

The conference tournament is another example of different philosophies among coaches. It will be at the Thomas & Mack next season, completing a four-year contract. Administrators and coaches at BYU and New Mexico have been outspoken about moving the tournament.

"I think it will stay in Vegas. I've never complained about it being there because I think that's the best place for it," Boylen said.

"So many people complain about the conference tournament being in Vegas, but they go there thinking they need to win three games. Last season, I felt we were in before we even got there."

• NOTES -- California's Mike Montgomery and Kansas State's Frank Martin are among the coaches scheduled to attend the Coaches vs. Cancer events. ... To sign up a foursome for Southern Highlands Golf Club and TPC Las Vegas or to attend the party at the Palms, go to www.events.cancer.org/cvclasvegas or call the American Cancer Society at 800-ACS-2345.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.