Posted at 1:45 PM EST odds are subject to change.

Pinnacle +3½ -103  BET365  +3½ -110 Sportsinteraction +3½ -110 888Sport +3½ -110

Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV

Streaming ESPN+

Southern Utah +3½ over Utah Valley

11:00 PM EST. The Wolverines of Utah Valley come into this Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament with the weight of the world on their shoulders. We do not envy Utah Valley, as it appears to be in a no-win situation. The #2 seeded Wolverines are “on the bubble” (and even as high as a #13 seed on ESPN’s Bracketology) based on their 25-7 season (15-3 in the WAC), but if they do not have a good showing here in the WAC tourney, that is going to be the easiest case to make against them when it comes to excluding the Wolverines from the Big Dance. Utah Valley is not a blue-blood program that the selection committee is going to give the benefit of the doubt.

Meanwhile, #3 seeded Southern Utah’s path to the NCAA Tournament is straightforward, and it will only come with the cutting of the nets in the WAC championship game. While both of these schools have one game under their belt, we prefer that Thunderbirds had to fight a scratch for a 76-75 win over Utah Tech as a 5-point favorite, rather than Utah Valley’s 72-58 snoozer over Tarleton State, in which the Wolverines went gate to wire and covered easily as a 6½-point favorite.

On a neutral site, this game could and should be a coin flip, but it is not, which presents us with the opportunity to take back nearly three possessions with a team we wouldn’t be backing if we didn’t see great value in its ability to win. The point-spread is usually the great equalizer, but in this case, it swings the value greatly in Southern Utah’s favor.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------