Postseason drought: Are the Runnin' Utes bound for an NCAA Tournament bid?


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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah had just held Oregon State to 16 first-half points in a road environment that hasn't always been kind to the Runnin' Utes.

The game was far from over on Thursday night, but the Beavers lacked any real offensive threat to challenge the visiting team. It's at that point when the Pac-12 Networks' J.B. Long and Eldridge Recasner, the network's commentators for the game, made the case for Utah as an NCAA Tournament team.

It was a discussion about a team that was projected to finish 10th in the conference who is now challenging for a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas in March. To them, it was a team that had a stellar defense mixed with a veteran group of players that could challenge tournament-caliber teams.

The blowout win over a sub-200 ranked Oregon State team, according to KenPom.com, did little to add value to Utah's postseason resume — outside the fact that Utah swept the school for the first time in the Pac-12 era — but it sparked a conversation about a team now a half game out of first place in the Pac-12 and seemingly hitting its stride.

As Friday morning, Utah ranks No. 40 in KenPom ratings and No. 45 in the official NET ratings, which helps seed the 68-team NCAA Tournament. The team is 11-0 against Quad 3-4 teams (no terrible losses) and is 4-7 record against Quad 1-2 teams. And Utah's biggest resume builder on the season is a blowout win at home against a highly-ranked Arizona team.

It's a good resume, but not one that will automatically get Utah into the Big Dance — the first since the 2015-16 season.

At least not yet.

"Right around this time of year, you see some teams really keep ascending, you see some kind of flatline, and then some teams are ready to be done with, so hopefully we're the team that is eager and hungry to be the very best that we can be," Utah head coach Craig Smith said ahead of the two-game Oregon road trip.

Utah has bounced back from a three-game skid against Oregon, USC and UCLA and has already doubled its conference wins from a season ago, but the road ahead is anything but a guarantee for a team on the bubble.

In the final nine games of the regular season, Utah is scheduled to play five of those against Quad 1 teams — the best the conference has to offer — and two Quad 2 teams. And it all starts with a Quad 1 game in a road contest against an unpredictable Oregon team on Saturday that holds a 10-game win streak against the Utes.

Utah's kryptonite.

Add to that road contests against an Arizona team looking for revenge, Arizona State and Colorado (including a home game against the region travel partner), and a home contest against, arguably, the best team in the conference in UCLA. For good measure, add Quad 2 opponent USC, who dominated Utah at their home two weeks ago.

It's a daunting schedule that gives Utah little wiggle room to secure an at-large bid as a bubble team — assuming Utah doesn't somehow go on a hot streak and win the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas to guarantee a spot into the NCAA Tournament.

There are winnable games in the final nine — five of which are all at home — in a conference that is likely only guaranteed two spots, though the latest ESPN bracketology projections has four teams in with just under 45 days until the tournament begins. Utah is not one of those teams, but it holds a fighting chance on the bubble.

It's a position Smith is happy to be in with his team in his second year as Utah's head coach. The pressure is there, but Smith sees "pressure as a privilege." Pressure means Utah has something to play for down the stretch — unlike last season when Utah hoped to secure a conference win after a winless January.

To Smith, it's not time to worry about the postseason, though.

"We still have two months here. We have a long — I mean, it's winding down, but there's still seven, eight weeks here, so there's a lot of time," Smith said. "Our job is to put our best foot forward and keep looking at different schemes and what's been really good and what personnel allow us to be the very best that we can be."

The chance to break a six-year postseason drought remains a key focus — even if it comes by way of an appearance in the lesser NIT, which remains the most likely scenario barring a strong finish for the Utes.

"I don't worry about that stuff. I'm really old school that way. I don't care; I mean, I care, but — I don't want to be at the bottom of the standings — what's done is done," Smith said. "All that matters is today and tomorrow and the next day, and that's all that really matters. And if we take care of that, then, you know, hopefully good things will happen."

Smith still hopes his team can be in a position to claim an at-large bid, but it's taken a back seat to making sure his team gets better. And by that metric, Utah has already succeeded.

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Josh is the Sports Director for KSL.com and beat writer covering University of Utah athletics — primarily football, men’s and women's basketball and gymnastics. He is also an Associated Press Top 25 voter for college football.

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