It's far harder for me to get as excited for March Madness when the Utes aren't dancin'. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to watch the upsets, near-upsets and race to the championship. But there is a lot of jealousy attached to it. 

Which a freshman at Arizona will be experiencing for the first time in his life. The Wildcats missed the tournament for the first time in over two decades. 

Then you have both North Carolina & UCLA - two of the greatest programs in the history of this sport. They, like Utah, will have to watch the action from home. 

So at least we're not alone.

I'm excited to see how well the Mountain West does. We're supposed to be a good basketball conference this year, however, I don't think that's fully been proven yet. If New Mexico, UNLV, SDSU and...uh...BYU make some noise early, it will solidify my opinion that they are. However, if they don't, it will reinforce my doubt they aren't. 

Regardless, it should be a fun today. Some good games (BYU and Florida tipoff at 10:20 a.m. Salt Lake time) and hopefully a lot of action.