Would you rather play BYU or Utah in MWC semis?

SAN DIEGO — Assuming UNLV can win its quarterfinal rematch with San Diego State on Thursday afternoon at 2:30, and assuming BYU knocks off Air Force as expected tonight in Provo, tonight’s UNLV-San Diego State game here at Cox Arena will decide the No. 1 seed as well as the No. 4 seed for the MWC Tourney.

The winner of the Rebel-Aztec game will be the No. 4 seed and the home team Thursday. The loser is locked into the No. 5 seed.

But a lot of eyes in Utah will be focused on the outcome. If UNLV wins, Utah will get the No. 1 seed in the tourney by virtue of its regular-season split with the Rebels while BYU was swept by UNLV. If San Diego State wins tonight, BYU will be the No. 1 seed by virtue of its sweep of the Aztecs during the regular season while Utah split with the Aztecs.

Barring an upset, the No. 1 seed will play the 4-5 winner at 6 p.m. on Friday night.

So Rebel fans, would you rather have a semifinal game against Utah or BYU?

I’d say Utah because that would mean UNLV will have won tonight’s game and taken a step closer to an NCAA at-large bid. And I’d rather go into the tourney off a good road win than off a loss.

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Injury Update: San Diego State’s Billy White, who has missed the past three games after hyper-extending his knee at New Mexico, warmed up with the Aztecs tonight. It will be interesting to see if he plays, though, because he still appeared to have trouble bending the knee during pre-game stretching.