An Updated Look On Where Utah Men’s, Women’s Basketball Fall In Bracketology
Feb 19, 2024, 12:23 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – We are about halfway through the final month of regular season play for men’s and women’s basketball and both teams for Utah have a shot to make some noise in March.
For Utah women’s basketball team, the path feels clear cut- barring an absolutely disastrous and unforeseen final few weeks they will be in and are playing for seeding at this point.
For the Utah men, things are a little less flexible, and they will absolutely need to put their best foot forward in the weeks that remain. This includes trying to nail down another road win in the Pac-12 after securing their first this last week against UCLA.
BC called game 😁
UTES WIN‼️ pic.twitter.com/wLMUUnbdxJ
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 19, 2024
To keep things even between the men and the women we’ll specifically look at NET scores, RPI, and where ESPN has both Utah teams to this point in the season. You can also check out our last breakdown here.
Where The Runnin’ Utes Stand In The Bracketology
Despite securing a much-needed road win, Utah men’s basketball team holds an NET rank of No. 50 and an RPI rank of No. 56.
The Runnin’ Utes have recorded some nice wins this season that they have struggled to get in the past. However, the biggest knock on this team is that most of those wins have come at home and they have also had some recent “bad” losses.
Utah currently only has two road wins this season. One is from out-of-conference play and the other in conference play. The Runnin’ Utes are 50/50 in neutral site games (2-2) which have also come from out-of-conference play.
THE DAGGER THAT FELL FOR UTAH!!! 🔥 What a win! @UtahMBB pic.twitter.com/SXEXd5egsY
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 19, 2024
The Utes have five remaining regular season conference games left to play and three of them will be on the road. Utah needs to try and win at least one more of those while maintaining their dominance at home and will likely need to win a game or two in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament in order to make sure they are dancing in March.
As things currently stand according to ESPN, the Utes are sitting on the bubble as the last four in and could potentially be an 11-seed in the Omaha Regional against six-seed Kentucky.
Where Utah Women’s Basketball Stands In The Bracketology
The Utah women are in a much more comfortable place and need to just continue to do what they’ve been doing with no crazy letdowns.
As of today, the Utes sit at No. 6 in the NET rankings and No. 21 in the RPI rankings.
It is important to note that Utah women’s basketball is ranked No. 18 in the country according to the AP Top 25 and have the biggest discrepancy of any team between their NET ranking and AP ranking.
Utah was dealt a tough hand to navigate through to start their season with Issy Palmer being eliminated from play with a medical issue till recently and losing Gianna Kneepkens for the season.
With Palmer back in the mix and a new-found chip on their shoulder, the Utah women have been playing very well outside of two blow-out losses to Oregon State recently.
The dub #goutes pic.twitter.com/FGunzSo5Qe
— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) February 17, 2024
The Utah women have four more regular season games plus the Pac-12 Tournament to play before a final decision is made. As long as they keep up what they’ve been doing both at home and on the road, they should be more than fine heading into Tournament season.
As of today, according to ESPN, Utah women’s basketball still sits as a five-seed but have moved to the Louisville Regional and would be paired with 12-seed Florida Gulf Coast.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on X, Instagram, and Threads: @BodkinKSLsports
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