LAS VEGAS - The status rewards a team for its regular-season success, and conceivably provides an easier path to the championship game.
But being the No. 1 seed in a conference tournament doesn’t guarantee raising the trophy and cutting down the nets when it’s over.
Battling an opponent’s sense of urgency and fighting their own complacency, more than a few favorites have been sent home early.
The 24th-ranked Brigham Young men’s basketball team is the top seed again in the Mountain West Conference tournament, and opens play this afternoon against No. 9 Colorado State in the quarterfinals at the Thomas & Mack Center.
CSU (7-24) defeated No. 8 Wyoming 68-63 victory on Wednesday to snap a 17-game losing streak despite playing without 7-foot center Stuart Creason (foot).
If BYU needed an extra cautionary reminder about the madness of March, the top-seeded Utah women provided it Wednesday. Winners of 22 straight games, the Utes were upset by a Colorado State team that entered the tournament on a 20-game slide.
The Cougars earned the top tournament billing last year and reached the title game before falling to UNLV on its home floor.
Only two No. 1 seeds in the previous seven years of the men’s tournament have won the title, but BYU (25-6) believes it has enough motivation to defy the odds.

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