How Utah basketball's loss to Colorado impacts its Big 12 tournament seeding

Several Big 12 matchups on Tuesday, including Utah's loss to Colorado, had major implications on the seeding for the conference tournament.

Regardless of what happens Saturday, the Runnin' Utes (10-20, 2-15 Big 12) will enter next week's Big 12 tournament as the No. 16 seed after their 92-78 defeat at the hands of the Buffaloes, plus Kansas State's narrow victory over West Virginia (Utah needed the Mountaineers to beat the Wildcats for a chance at the No. 15 seed).

Utah will wrap up the regular season Saturday with a road game at Baylor.

When Does Utah Play in the Big 12 Tournament?

Utah tips off the conference tournament at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, with a 1 p.m. MT matchup against the No. 9 on March 10.

Who Will Utah Face in the Big 12 Tournament?

The Utes will know their first round matchup by Sunday morning.

Currently, West Virginia is sitting in position to be the No. 9 seed after its loss to Kansas State and Cincinnati's win over BYU. The Bearcats ascended to the No. 7 spot with the 90-68 victory, while the Mountaineers and Cougars sit in a tie with an 8-9 league record (West Virginia owns the head-to-head tiebreaker). UCF is the No. 8 seed following its 111-104 loss to Oklahoma State.

If West Virginia beats UCF and Cincinnati knocks off TCU on Saturday, then the Mountaineers would claim the No. 8 spot and the Knights would drop to No. 9. BYU can claim the No. 9 seed with an upset over Texas Tech, a UCF victory over West Virginia and a Cincinnati win over TCU.

If the Bearcats and Knights end up in a four-team tie with the Cougars and Mountaineers, then a series of tiebreakers would need to be unraveled to sort out which team would face Utah in the first round. Essentially, the Utes would play either the Bearcats or Knights in that scenario.

Utah's History of Finishing Last in Conference Play

Utah's proud basketball history — highlighted by 29 NCAA Tournament appearances, four Final Four berths and the 1944 national championship — doesn't include many last-place finishes in its record books, even with the program moving around conferences over the past two decades.

In fact, the Utes avoided the basement throughout their Pac-12 (2011-2024) and Mountain West (1999-2011) tenures, with many of those seasons ending with a trip to the big dance. That was especially true during the Rick Majerus era, in which Utah made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances between 1990 and 2003, highlighted by the 1998 national championship game appearance.

Having placed near the top of their conference more often than not, the Utes will at least tie for last place in the league standings just twice since 1960, when they were a part of the Western Athletic Conference. Utah finished last in the old WAC in 1964-65 and 1972-73.

Utah and Kansas State would tie for last in the Big 12 standings if the Utes beat the Bears and the Wildcats lose to Kansas on Saturday. Kansas State owns the tiebreaker over Utah because of its 81-78 head-to-head win in January.