What Utah basketball’s final two games mean for its Big 12 Tournament seed

Looking at potential seeding scenarios and conference tournament matchups for the Utes

The Utah Runnin' Utes could be the No. 15 or No. 16 seed in the Big 12 tournament. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The next few days will determine a lot about the path the Utah men's basketball team takes through the Big 12 tournament.

The Runnin' Utes (10-19, 2-14 Big 12) have two more regular season games against Colorado (Tuesday, 7 p.m MT) and at Baylor (Saturday, 3 p.m. MT) before heading off to Kansas City, Missouri, for the conference tournament in the second week of March.

How Alex Jensen's group finishes league play will impact where it's seeded and its opponent for the first round of the tournament, as well as how the teams sitting near the Utes in the standings perform down the stretch of the regular season.

Utah's Potential Big 12 Seeding, Matchups

Utah will be the No. 15 seed if...

• The Utes beat either the Buffaloes or Bears AND Kansas State loses both its games against West Virginia (Tuesday) and at Kansas (Saturday).

Utah will be the No. 16 seed if...

• The Utes lose both remaining games OR finishes the regular season with the same record as Kansas State

Potential First Round Matchups

If Utah stays put as the No. 16 seed, it'll face the No. 9 seed in the conference tournament on Tuesday at 1p.m. MT (ESPN+). Currently, BYU (20-9, 8-8 Big 12) is the No. 9 team in the standings, though Cincinnati (16-13, 8-8 Big 12) and West Virginia (17-12, 8-8 Big 12) have the same amount of wins in league play as the Cougars and could wind up being the No. 9 depending on how the final week plays out.

If the Cougars, Bearcats and Mountaineers all end the regular season with the same amount of wins, West Virginia would be the No. 8 seed because it would have the collective head-to-head win advantage over both BYU and Cincinnati. Obviously, if one team finishes with a better league record than the other two, it'll be the No. 8 seed.

Coincidentally, the Cougars and Bearcats face off Tuesday night in a pivotal matchup for seeding purposes. BYU currently holds the tiebreaker over Cincinnati but not over West Virginia because it lost once to the Mountaineers, while the Bearcats dropped both regular season games to West Virginia. And because Tuesday will be the one and only meeting between BYU and Cincinnati in the regular season, the Cougars can strengthen their grip on the No. 9 seed with a win.

The same scenarios are relevant for Utah's potential matchup as the No. 15 seed as well, especially if the Utes knock off Colorado at home. The Buffaloes are currently two games back of Cincinnati for the No. 10 seed. A Buffaloes loss and Bearcats win Tuesday would widen that gap.

Collectively, Utah went 1-3 against the three teams tied for the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament (BYU, Cincinnati and West Virginia) during the regular season. The Utes' lone victory against those three came in a 61-56 triumph over the Mountaineers in Morgantown on Feb. 18.

When is the Big 12 Tournament?

The 2026 Big 12 men's basketball tournament from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, is set for March 10-14. The first round tips off with a matchup between the No. 12 and No. 13 seeds from March 10 at 10:30 a.m. MT on ESPN+.

The top four seeds earn a bye to the quarterfinal round, set for March 12, while seeds 5-8 bypass the first round with an automatic berth into the second round (March 11).

Big 12 Standings

1. Arizona (15-2)
2. Texas Tech (12-4)
3. Houston (12-4)
4. Kansas (11-5)
5. Iowa State (11-6)
6. UCF (9-7)
7. TCU (9-7)
8. West Virginia (8-8)
9. BYU (8-8)
10. Cincinnati (8-8)
11. Colorado (6-10)
12. Arizona State (6-10)
13. Baylor (5-11)
14. Oklahoma State (5-11)
15. Kansas State (2-14)
16. Utah (2-14)