Where does Utah basketball fall in first NET Rankings?

Runnin' Utes are looking up at the rest of the Big 12 in the NET Rankings

Utah Runnin' Utes head coach Alex Jensen went 6-2 through his first eight games at the helm of his alma mater. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Through the first week of November, it looked as if Utah's new-look roster led by a first-year coach with an NBA background would lend itself to an intriguing and high-paced style of play from the Runnin' Utes in the 2025-26 season.

That was true, for the most part. On the flip side, though, Utah was lacking in defensive intensity as it struggled to put away mid-major opponents, leading to an embarrassing loss on its home floor to Cal Poly, followed by a double-digit loss in its first game outside the Jon M. Huntsman Center to Grand Canyon five days later.

Balance some of the electricity on the offensive end of the floor — fueled by a couple of high-scoring guards in Terrence Brown (21.8 ppg) and Don McHenry (17.9 ppg) — with the bad on the other end of the floor, and Utah was looking up at the rest of the Big 12 with a month to go before league play tipped off.

At least, that's how it shaped out for the Runnin' Utes as the first NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings of the season were released on Monday. Utah checked in at No. 175 in the country and No. 16 in the 16-team Big 12, 21 spots behind the next best team in the conference (No. 154 Cincinnati).

The Runnin' Utes were able to help their résumé before Thanksgiving with a 75-74 win over No. 96 Ole Miss in the Acrisure Series finale on Wednesday, thanks in large part to 27 points from McHenry and a pair of free throws from Brown in the final seconds of regulation.

The 92-85 setback to the No. 184 Mustangs on Nov. 20 counterbalanced just about everything good Utah had accomplished through the first month of the season. That loss quantified as a Quad 4 game — the lowest-quality contest a team can play. Utah's 68-58 loss to No. 163 Grand Canyon less than a week later didn't help, either, given it was a Quad 3 game for the Runnin' Utes.

No other Big 12 team suffered both a Quad 3 and 4 loss through Dec. 1. And while the rest of the league had played at least one Quad 1 game (with exception to Colorado), Utah hadn't done so. In fact, the Runnin' Utes played just one team ranked inside the top 80 of the first NET (No. 78 Sam Houston).

However, Utah's narrow win over Ole Miss on a neutral floor was valued more than its 85-79 win over Sam Houston at Jon M. Huntsman Center because of how the NET views the quality of a team's wins and losses (more on that below).

Utah will need to make serious progress with Big 12 play right around the corner. Things will heat up quickly for the Runnin' Utes as they open their 18-game conference slate with four straight top 50 NET teams, starting with an opener against No. 6 Arizona on Jan. 3. They'll then travel to Boulder, Colorado, to face the No. 46 Buffaloes (Jan. 7) before heading back home to face No. 13 BYU (Jan. 10). That high-profiled matchup with freshman phenom AJ Dybansta and the Cougars will be followed by a big-time game against the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, JT Toppin, and Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas (Jan. 14).

NET Rankings Explained

The NET rankings serve as the primary sorting tool for Division I men's basketball and play an important role in establishing a team's résumé for NCAA Tournament seeding purposes.

Taking into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, and net offensive and defensive efficiency, the quality of a team's wins and losses are sorted into a quadrant system.

Quadrant 1 games are considered the highest-quality and occur when a team plays against an opponent ranked from Nos. 1-30 at home; Nos. 1-50 on neutral site courts; Nos. 1-75 on the road. Quad 2, 3 and 4 games work in a similar manner.

• Quad 2: Home vs. Nos. 31-75, neutral vs. Nos. 51-100, away vs. Nos. 76-135
• Quad 3: Home vs. Nos. 76-160, neutral vs. Nos. 101-200, away vs. Nos. 135-240
• Quad 4: Home vs. 161-353, neutral vs. Nos. 201-353, away vs. Nos. 241-353

Big 12 Through the lens of the NET

Team	NET Ranking	Quad 1 record	Quad 2 record	Quad 3 record	Quad 4 record	Overall record
Arizona	No. 6	2-0	1-0	0-0	4-0	7-0
Iowa State	No. 7	1-0	1-0	2-0	3-0	7-0
BYU	No. 13	1-1	3-0	0-0	2-0	6-1
Kansas	No. 17	1-2	2-0	0-0	3-0	6-2
Houston	No. 18	1-1	2-0	2-0	2-0	7-1
Texas Tech	No. 37	0-2	2-0	1-0	3-0	6-2
Colorado	No. 46	0-0	1-0	3-0	3-0	7-0
Oklahoma State	No. 53	1-0	0-0	2-0	4-0	7-0
TCU	No. 54	1-1	1-0	1-0	2-1	5-2
Kansas State	No. 55	1-2	1-0	1-0	2-0	5-2
UCF	No. 58	0-1	1-0	4-0	2-0	7-1
Baylor	No. 67	0-1	1-0	3-0	1-0	5-1
Arizona State	No. 100	0-2	2-0	0-0	4-0	6-2
West Virginia	No. 103	0-1	0-0	1-1	5-0	6-2
Cincinnati	No. 154	0-1	0-0	1-0	4-1	5-2
Utah	No. 175	0-0	1-0	1-1	4-1	6-2