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You could look at Lobos Chad Toppert's statement - "I think we're the team to beat" - in several ways.

It could be bragging. It could be postgame euphoria bubbling out of a happy Lobo's mouth after the University of New Mexico's dramatic 86-85 overtime win at UTEP on Wednesday.

It could just be confidence.

It could be fact.

And it probably will be bulletin board material for teams throughout the Mountain West Conference.

But that also should be no big deal to these Lobos. They have raced out to the best record in the conference and their 13-2 mark surely has turned heads from San Diego to Laramie.

Which is where the Lobos open MWC play Saturday - at Wyoming.

"I think what we have done, winning on the road, has to help our confidence," said Toppert. "We know what we have to do to win."

The MWC race kicks into full gear Saturday with eight teams in action. Brigham Young jumps in on Jan. 12.

Air Force is at Utah, UNLV is at Colorado State and TCU visits San Diego State.

There are four league teams with double-digit wins - UNM, UNLV, BYU and SDSU. There is only one MWC team that has lost more than one game on its home court: UNLV dropped home games to Louisville and Arizona, both Top 20 teams.

A lot of the home wins by these MWC teams have come against cupcakes, but it appears that once again a road win in league play won't be a given.

Wyoming is 4-1 in the Cowboys Arena-Auditorium and the memory of last January's brawl in The Pit likely hasn't been erased from either team's mind.

In fact, the three players ejected from that game and suspended one game - Wyoming's Brad Jones and Lobos Jamaal Smith and Darren Prentice = will be on the court Saturday.

"Yeah, we remember all that stuff," said Lobos senior J.R. Giddens.

The Lobos also need to remember they have lost ten straight games in Laramie. UNM's last win at Wyoming came on Feb. 18, 1995 - by a single point.

The Cowboys are paced by guard Brandon Ewing, who tops the MWC scoring stats with a 17.5 average. He gets good support out front from Jones, who is scoring 13.6 points per game.

Wyoming gets decent inside play from 6-8 Ryan Dermody, 6-8 Joseph Taylor and 6-11 Travis Nelson, who combine to average 27 points per game.

Lobos coach Steve Alford said he agrees with the basic formula coaches throw out to be competitive in a league race: go undefeated at home and split your league road games.

If 13-2 UNM can do that, Alford will end his first regular season at UNM with 25 wins.

And maybe a league title.

After all, they are the team to beat.