In Utah for the past week preparing for this week's Region 18 men's and women's basketball tournaments, the North Idaho College teams have tried to keep things light on their players.

Whether that be as simple as bowling, or starting a silly-string fight with the mascot of the Utah Jazz, they've remained about as relaxed as possible over the past week.

The North Idaho men's basketball team (22-7) opens the tournament as the third seed, and face tournament host and sixth seed Utah State-Eastern (11-16) today at 1:30 p.m. PST

"I'm really happy with the guys," NIC men's basketball coach Corey Symons said. "They've been playing well. We didn't get out to a good start against Salt Lake, falling behind by 17, but had a chance to win late. It's been a fun trip down here."

NIC's women (18-12) - the fifth-seed - will also play tournament host Utah State-Eastern (19-9), the fourth seed.

"We've been on the road a week today (Wednesday), and I think everything is flowing really well right now," NIC women's coach Chris Carlson said. "We got off to a good start with that last second win last week (at Snow on Thursday), and played Salt Lake really tough (on Saturday), even though we didn't play that good. We've had a few days to get ready for Eastern, but when watching those games, we're only a couple of plays from winning."

NIC has been spending time with practices in the morning and evening, and even went bowling on Sunday to pass the time.

Now about that fight with the mascot.

"We'd tweeted out to a media relations person with the Utah Jazz about going to the game," Symons said. "They gave us some tickets up high in the arena."

Argentines players Lucas Antunez and Braian Angola-Rodas of NIC used a different connection - San Antonio Spurs guards Manu Ginobili - to get them a little closer to the court.

"Manu ended up getting them tickets 12 rows back," Symons said. "They'd knew him from their time in Argentina and ended up getting into a silly string fight with the Jazz mascot. The Jazz were really cool and let everyone sit down around courtside during the second quarter."

A wrong turn down a tunnel during the pregame led to the moment of a lifetime for the women's team.

"We got down on the court and he ended up walking us up the wrong tunnel," Carlson said. "Tim Duncan was trying to get through, and we started grabbing our phones. He was laughing and grabbed Jordan's (Carlson's youngest son) head a couple of times. It was a great game and we had a great time."

NIC's men swept the season series against Utah State-Eastern, winning by 6, 3 and 16 points, with two of the games coming in Coeur d'Alene.

"It's a tough draw playing against the host team right away," Symons said. "But I think we're ready to go with them. They're a tough team, and in no way somebody to look past."

NIC has lost all three to Eastern by 9, 6 and 6.

"Our focus has been really good," Carlson said. "We were able to get into Salt Lake's gym (on Monday) and get some work in and got on the court at Eastern (Tuesday) for a half hour. I like our teams focus right now, and think everyone had a nice release by going to the Jazz game. We're ready to play."

The men's tournament champion will face the winner of Region 1 (Arizona) in a national play-in game on March 7 at the site of the Arizona winner.

"We didn't want to put too much pressure on them," Symons said. "We're playing well and playing with some confidence. There's not too many times we've came down here thinking we can win it. If we can play well, I think we'll be fine."

Salt Lake's women have already clinched a bid to nationals by winning the Scenic West Athletic Conference championship. The runner-up in the women's tournament can also advance to nationals, should it lose to Salt Lake in the championship.

All of NIC's games throughout the tournament will be available via webcast at www.nicathletics.com.

REGION 18 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES

Games at Utah State-Eastern

Price, Utah

Thursday's Games

Game 2 - No. 3 North Idaho (22-7) vs. No. 6 Utah State-Eastern (11-16), 1:30 p.m.

Game 4 - No. 4 Snow (17-13) vs. No. 5 Colorado Northwestern (8-22), 6:30 p.m.

Friday's Games

Game 6 - No. 2 Salt Lake (25-5) vs. Winner Game 1, 11 a.m.

Game 8 - No. 1 Southern Idaho (28-2) vs. Winner Game 3, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 10 - Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 8, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday's Games

Game 1 - No. 3 Snow (20-8) vs. No. 6 Colorado Northwestern (6-19), 11 a.m.

Game 3 - No. 4 Utah State-Eastern (19-9) vs. No. 5 North Idaho (18-12), 4:30 p.m.

Friday's Games

Game 5 - No. 2 Southern Idaho (19-11) vs. Winner Game 1, 11 a.m.

Game 7 - No. 1 Salt Lake (25-5) vs. Winner Game 3, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 9 - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, 4 p.m.