As the Utah men's basketball team opens the Pac-12 schedule Thursday night at Arizona State, the projections are rather bleak.
The Utes don't appear capable of exploiting a down cycle for the conference, with no teams ranked in the Top 25. With three freshman starters, a lack of defensive ability and a schedule that allows them to play two other struggling teams (Stanford and California) only once each, the Utes (6-6) seem to be in a rough season. Utah was picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12. That looks ambitious at the moment. The analytics of kenpom.