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1996-97 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary

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Record: 269-203, .570 W-L% (7th of 31) (Schedule and Results)
*Record does not reflect forfeits or vacated games.
SRS: 4.64 (9th of 31) ▪ SOS: 3.54 (9th of 31)

Regular Season Champion: Utah (Mountain), Fresno State (Pacific) and Hawaii (Pacific)
Tournament Champion: Utah

NCAA Tournament: 3 (New Mexico, Tulsa and Utah)

Ranked in Preseason AP Poll: 3 (Fresno State, New Mexico and Utah)
Ranked in Final AP Poll: 2 (New Mexico and Utah)

Standings

Conference Overall PTS/G SRS
Rk Mountain W L W-L% W L W-L% Own Opp SRS SOS
1 Utah* RT 15 1 .938 29 4 .879 74.2 62.0 17.6 5.4
2 Tulsa*  12 4 .750 24 10 .706 72.4 63.0 15.0 5.5
3 New Mexico*  11 5 .688 25 8 .758 74.8 63.8 14.7 3.7
4 Texas Christian  7 9 .438 22 13 .629 83.7 77.4 10.3 4.0
5 Southern Methodist  7 9 .438 16 12 .571 67.4 66.8 2.4 1.7
6 Rice  6 10 .375 12 15 .444 65.1 66.9 2.0 3.8
7 Texas-El Paso  6 10 .375 13 13 .500 65.2 68.1 2.4 5.3
8 Brigham Young  0 16 .000 1 25 .038 59.5 79.3 -13.3 6.5
Rk Pacific W L W-L% W L W-L% Own Opp SRS SOS
1 Fresno State R 12 4 .750 20 12 .625 81.3 77.7 6.9 3.3
2 Hawaii R 12 4 .750 21 8 .724 75.0 69.0 8.7 2.8
3 Nevada-Las Vegas  11 5 .688 22 10 .688 73.1 68.8 7.7 3.4
4 Colorado State  10 6 .625 20 9 .690 74.5 71.1 5.1 1.7
5 Wyoming  8 8 .500 12 16 .429 71.9 72.4 2.1 2.7
6 San Jose State  5 11 .313 13 14 .481 67.6 72.1 -0.3 4.2
7 San Diego State  4 12 .250 12 15 .444 75.2 79.0 -2.1 1.6
8 Air Force  2 14 .125 7 19 .269 67.0 73.0 -4.9 1.2

AP Poll Summary

School Pre 11/19 11/26 12/3 12/10 12/17 12/24 12/31 1/7 1/14 1/21 1/28 2/4 2/11 2/18 2/25 3/4 Final
Utah 6 4 4 3 9 9 8 7 9 9 5 4 5 5 5 4 3 2
New Mexico 17 18 19 11 15 15 14 16 18 12 15 13 9 13 10 11 14 11
Fresno State 14 14 15 13 16 21                        
Tulsa     22 21             24 21 22          

NCAA Tournament

First Round
New Mexico won (59-55) versus Old Dominion (East Regional)
Tulsa won (81-52) versus Boston University (Midwest Regional)
Utah won (75-61) versus Navy (West Regional)

Second Round
New Mexico lost (64-63) versus Louisville (East Regional)
Tulsa lost (65-59) versus Clemson (Midwest Regional)
Utah won (77-58) versus Charlotte (West Regional)

Regional Semifinal
Utah won (82-77) versus Stanford (West Regional)

Regional Final
Utah lost (72-59) versus Kentucky (West Regional)