Las Vegas Bowl: Arizona vs. No. 17 BYU

Brian Kimball: I’m not even really sure what to do about this game. On one hand, the Cougars crushed the Wildcats last September and BYU is probably better this season. On the other hand, Arizona is a much different – and much better – team than the 2007 edition. That said, BYU is still the better all-around team on paper this year. Also, it’s probably safe to say the Cougars players won’t be as “”actively involved”” in the Las Vegas nightlife as the UA players. All that should mean another Cougar win.

BYU 41, Arizona 38

Ari Wasserman: Well, you have to hand it to Arizona head coach Mike Stoops. He finally broke the Arizona football team’s bowlless streak of a decade and is taking the Wildcats to Las Vegas. What a wonderful city to have a bowl game – but against a familiar foe in BYU, which shut down Arizona’s offense in Sonny Dykes’ first game with the program. This will be the perfect time to gauge Arizona’s offensive growth, and more importantly, the growth of the entire program. Look for Arizona fans to finally smile about something, and not just the big jugs on the Las Vegas strip.

Arizona 34, BYU 27

Bryan Roy:Saturday’s scene on the sidelines showed coaches and players spending a real-time 20 minutes celebrating while the referees reviewed a play for an absurdly long time at the 3-minute mark. Theÿ31-10 win over ASU prompted a sense of relief with a Super Bowl-esque celebration – and well deserved. Finally, the monkey is off Mike Stoops’ back; but how will the team react to a game involving relatively less pressure? It would certainly be anti-climactic to end a positive season on a negative note.

Arizona 32, BYU 24

Men’s Basketball: Arizona at UNLV

Brian Kimball: Let me get this straight. One team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season and the Elite Eight two years ago. The other has a pair of first-round losses. One has a head coach who has been at the helm for five seasons. The other has an interim head coach for the second straight year. The Wildcats might have won by three last year in Las Vegas, but this isn’t last year. Needless to say, Arizona’s program is down this year and UNLV’s is seemingly still on the rise. It’s that simple.

UNLV 88, Arizona 60

Ari Wasserman: I will admit that I have been one of the biggest downers in terms of how I think the basketball team will turn out this season, but I will also admit that I was extremely impressed with how the Wildcats played at Texas A&M. Despite the fact that they blew the lead and lost, I think we all saw a dimension we didn’t think existed. If Arizona plays with that intensity for the entire 40 minutes, expect the Wildcats to score not only on the court, but also in Las Vegas hotel rooms after the game.

Arizona 74, UNLV 60

Bryan Roy:Friday’s difficult one-point loss to Texas A&M served as a hybrid between a moral loss and season measuring stick. The trip to College Station, Texas, served as an initial determinant of how Arizona would react to a hostile environment and power conference opponent. They were unfazed, based on the fact that the outcome was the same as the Alabama-Birmingham game. UNLV brings the same talent level, but can Arizona execute during the last-second crunch?

UNLV 72, Arizona 69