FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS (25-9)

vs. UTAH UTES (26-8)

Pepsi Center – Denver, CO
Tip-off: Thursday, 7:27 p.m. ET
Line: Utah -8.5

No. 3 Utah and No. 14 Fresno State stay out West for Thursday's Round of 64 matchup in Denver.

Both Utah and Fresno State enter the tournament with sterling records on the season, so the question is, how did the Mountain West Conference fall so far as to have only one team, a 14 seed, in the Big Dance? For the MWC, which had five teams receive tournament bids as recently as 2013, it's the league's first year as a single-bid conference since 2001. But the Bulldogs did the best with the schedule they were given, finishing 16-5 in conference play (14-7 ATS) and 9-4 out of conference (4-4). They've already had a couple cracks at top-tier Pac-12 opponents this season, losing at now-No. 1 seed Oregon 78-73 (Oregon -11.5) and at Arizona by an 85-72 score (Arizona -12.5). They're entering the tournament red hot, having won nine in a row (8-1 ATS) in a stretch that includes a Mountain West championship. The team began the tournament as a No. 2 seed before toppling No. 1 San Diego State 68-63 (SDSU -4.0) in the title game. Utah had also won nine in a row (7-2 ATS) up until Sunday, when it was completely dismantled by Oregon 88-57 in the Pac-12 championship game (Oregon -2.5), the biggest blowout of the entire tournament. Utah's season-long in-conference resume speaks for itself, though, as the Utes went 15-6 (12-9 ATS) in a Pac-12 that earned seven NCAA Tournament bids, the most ever in the league's history. While they lost all three of their matchups against Oregon (0-3 ATS), they went 7-1 (6-2 ATS) in games against Arizona, Cal, Colorado and USC, the conference's next-highest finishers after the Ducks and the Utes. Utah went 11-2 (but only 4-6-1 ATS) against non-conference foes. It was 5-3 in neutral-site games this season (4-4 ATS), while Fresno State was 2-0 both SU and ATS. Utah's games went OVER 56.3 percent of the time, and Fresno State’s did so 57.1 percent of the time. The winner of this one gets either No. 6 Seton Hall or No. 11 Gonzaga on Saturday.

For Utah, everything starts in the middle with 7-foot-1 C Jakob Poeltl (17.6 PPG, 9 RPG, 1.6 BPG). Some were surprised when the prospective lottery pick returned for his sophomore season in Salt Lake City, but it's to the surprise of no one that the sophomore has dominated this year. Eighth in the country with a field goal percentage of 65.6, the towering center is one of the biggest names in this year's tournament. Thanks to his height advantage, Poeltl has had spells this season where he's barely missed; one four-game stretch in February saw him shoot 40-for-48 from the floor (83.3 percent). No one on Fresno State stands taller than 6-foot-9, so he should have plenty of opportunities to get to work inside on Thursday. He does have games where he seems to disappear, although that can mean any number of things. When he scored 14 points on only seven shots in the Utes' 80-72 first-round Pac-12 Tournament victory win over USC, he was passing well and opening up opportunities for other scorers. But when he scored 13 points on six shots two days later in the blowout loss to Oregon, the numbers didn't lie: The Ducks completely limited his effectiveness. That game was an outlier all around for the Utes, as they’re good for 77.6 points per game (66th in NCAA) and couldn’t buy a bucket. Their defense, too, is typically much better, although at 69.1 points allowed per game (11-th in NCAA), it's not as good as their offense. Poeltl's supporting cast is headlined by senior G Brandon Taylor (9.6 PPG, 3.8 APG, 1.6 SPG) and senior F Jordan Loveridge (11.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG). Keep an eye on sophomore F Kyle Kuzma (10.8 PPG, 5.9 RPG), who's liable to drop 20 or go scoreless, depending on the night. Utah is 10-2 SU in games in which he's scored 15 points or more.

Fresno State is led by a veritable star in senior G Marvelle Harris (20.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 4.4 APG), who has seen his scoring and assists numbers grow in each of his four seasons as a Bulldog. The Mountain West Player of the Year, he was third in the conference in points per game and 22nd in the country, and first in the conference in assists per game. He shoots nearly six three-pointers per game but makes less than two, putting him at a 32.1 percent clip from deep on the season. If he happens to be hitting from outside, it could be a long day for the Utes. Harris is, however, a consistent perimeter threat on the other end of the floor, where he's averaging 2.2 steals per game. After Harris, star power is thin for the Bulldogs, for whom Harris was the only player to make any of the three All-Mountain West teams. (For comparison, five Mountain West teams had multiple all-conference honorees.) That means Utah's defensive attention will be focused intensely on Harris, and others will need to step up for Fresno State to pull the upset. Unfortunately, second-leading scorer F Torren Jones (10.5 PPG, 7.9 RPG) has missed the team's last 13 games for reasons that aren't entirely clear, and there's no word out of Fresno that indicates he'll be playing on Thursday. Clearly the Bulldogs have been just fine without Jones, but he's their biggest interior defender and probably the one with the best chance of holding Poeltl in check. Junior F Karachi Edo (9.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG) has stepped up in some regards in Jones' absence, averaging 11.4 PPG but only 4.7 RPG since Jones went out. On the outside, senior G Julien Lewis (8.6 PPG) is shooting 42.9 percent from deep on 1.9 3PA. He may need to hoist up a few more than that—and make them—if Fresno State wants to shock Utah.