by Kent Rupe

Call me crazy -- call me a homer (I've been called much worse), but I'm calling my shot on the Utah - Air Force game tonight: Utes 66, Falcons 61.

There are few, if any, reasons to believe Utah will be able to hang with what is clearly the Mountain West Conference's best team, but I just have a feeling.

Maybe it's based on the way the Utes played earlier in the season against two of the other top teams on their schedule, Washington State and Virginia.   Utah blew both of those teams out of the water with solid performances on both ends of the floor, so at least we know it's possible.

For Utah to win, Coach Giacoletti has to get above-average games from his big guns, Luke Nevill and Johnnie Bryant.  Shaun Green probably needs to come up with a double-double...and somebody else has to be a pleasant surprise.  Maybe Curtis Eatmon or Luka Drca...or Stevie Weigh or Daniel Deane.

But if the stars align--and I have a hunch they will--the Utes will snap that ugly 6-game losing streak.

For the record, I don't think a win tonight will be the start of anything revolutionary, but a glimpse of the potential this team, and these players, have of becoming decent at some point.