This is a story you probably didn't want to read again: BYU advances to the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game and gets out to a nice lead, only to get beat by the home team.

It's true.

Maybe playing in the Thomas & Mack Center was the biggest factor in UNLV winning its second straight MWC tournament title -- I have a hard time imagining BYU blows an 11-point lead in the Marriott Center or on a truly neutral court -- but you also have to recognize some cold, hard facts about the Cougars' 76-61 loss on Saturday.

MWC co-MVP Lee Cummard was a no-show offensively in the second half. Trent Plaisted was a no-show in the first. UNLV completely took BYU's best players out of the game for long periods of time, partly because of foul trouble and partly because they're really good at manhandling Cummard when he's trying to come off screens. Plaisted, they simply forced him to guard a much quicker player and he picked up some tough fouls. If not for freshman Jimmer Fredette (17 points), BYU would have probably not been in the game as long as it was. The Rebels had much more energy in the second half.

And UNLV's Wink Adams was drop-dead amazing.

Adams is a guy who seemed to be up and down most of the season but found his groove at the tournament, averaging 24 points per game. Against BYU, he had 23, including 14 straight points late to help his team pull away. BYU has nobody on its roster that can guard him.

Dude is built like a fullback, but he plays like an NBA star when he goes against the Cougs in the conference tournament.

It was another intense night in the Thomas & Mack: More UNLV fans than BYU fans, but not by much. It was "Viva Las Vegas" versus "When the Saints Come Marching In."

And a great game to watch, at least for about 32 minutes. The Cougars jumped out to that 11-point first half lead and looked to be in control. UNLV fought back and looked to put the game away, but the Cougars kept it close. There just wasn't enough in the tank for BYU to take out the home team, which has played in five of the past six MWC tournament title games that have been played in Las Vegas.

Both of these teams are worthy of a nice seed in the NCAA tournament, but here's where it gets interesting: Does the NCAA committee give a higher seed to BYU, which won the MWC regular-season title by two games and finished 27-7 or to UNLV, which is 26-7 and won the last three games of the season on their home court in a three-day tournament?

Let me throw out a guess: All things being somewhat equal, UNLV will get the higher seed based on last year's Sweet 16 berth and a better overall basketball reputation. Based on previous NCAA seedings for BYU, look for a tough seed in a far-away location.

But it really doesn't matter if BYU is a No. 5 seed (not bloody likely) or a No. 8 seed (probably). The Cougars have to figure out a way to win an NCAA tournament game, no matter what the seeding or the location. That breakthrough is critical to Dave Rose's program.

A lot of good teams have lost in their conference tournaments, including No. 7 Duke, No. 12 Xavier and No. 19 Michigan State. BYU needs to forget about Vegas and concentrate on the the next game that matters.

But one thing they know for certain: They won't face a tougher environment in the NCAA tournament than the one they took on Saturday.

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it