Mark Johnson/The Daily Herald via AP

University of New Mexico guard Dairese Gary shoots over Brigham Young's Ben Murdock at Provo, Utah. The hot-shooting Cougars whipped the Lobos 83-66 on Saturday, the same day the cold-shooting UNM women lost 41-38 at home to BYU.

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It's difficult to look back upon the devastation and the embarrassment and decide which University of New Mexico basketball team took it on the chin the hardest.

Steve Alford's Lobos fell behind by 34 to Brigham Young in Provo, Utah and lost 83-66 — a gap reduced only because of the Cougars' generosity in playing the scrubs early.

Don Flanagan's women's team lost 41-38 to BYU in The Pit, a humiliation accented by two huge facts:

• BYU had lost its previous two games by a combined 54 points.

• The Lobos scored one field goal in the final 13:33 and no field goals in the final 6:49.

If you have to declare a winner — or is it a loser? — in this depressing duel of disaster, we give the nod to Flanagan.

He should not have lost in The Pit to this struggling BYU team. And Flanagan's program is in its 13th year. Alford is a first-year Lobo. He was expected to lose at Provo. Just not so badly.

If you are a Lobos fan trying to massage some sort of comfort out of these gloomy defeats, we can toss out two wormy carrots:

1. The NIT isn't so bad.

2. There is always the Mountain West tournament.

As it stands, both Alford's men and Flanagan's women have no chance to slide into the NCAA's postseason dance with an at-large bid.

The women's record is mediocre and unlikely to improve much.

The men's schedule is mediocre with no impressive wins to boast about.

At best, the Mountain West looks like a two-team conference in both men and women NCAA hoops — the tournament champ gets a spot, plus an obligatory at-large bid.

Wyoming and Utah have good shots on the women's side.

BYU and UNLV have the edge on the men's side.

Alford and Flanagan have to win the MWC tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., to go NCAA dancing.

Could it happen?

Flanagan's Lobos virtually own the league tournament. The Lobos fans turn it into a home away from home for UNM. The Lobos have won four of the past five tournaments.

The big question this year: Are they good enough?

The answer appears to be a resounding "no." Flanagan's Lobos are 10-9 and 2-4 and can't seem to find the basket. The most games UNM has lost in the past six seasons is 10. The most conference games UNM has lost in that span is five.

UNM should fall well below both those figures. Heck, the Lobos are 0-3 in The Pit this season. How can they expect to get on a three-game roll in Vegas without the advantage of a good seed?

Alford's Lobos probably aren't good enough, either. The loss at BYU was telling. The first-year coach has time to make his Lobos better, but there is only so much he can do with the limited talent and the lack of size on the roster.

But here's a carrot to chew on:

Alford's teams have won five postseason conference tournaments in 17 seasons. His record in conference tournaments is 26-10.

So, there is still an outside chance that Flanagan and Alford will go to Vegas and find a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.