The Utah Utes dropped three of their last five games to close out the regular season and seemed to be doing everything within their power to let the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2009 slip through their fingers. The Utes are probably in a position to be invited into the March festivities based on the strength of their regular-season record, where they produced 23 wins and seven losses, but a quick one-and-done performance in the Pac-12 Tournament could put their postseason hopes in jeopardy.

Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak told the media that his team “lost some pride” toward the end of the season and began to believe they “were a lot better than we really are”. Utah was only able to grab a single win against a ranked opponent in five tries this season, but the lone victory was against then No.8 Wichita St. Let’s take a closer look at Utah’s national title odds with predictions and analysis.

2015 Utah Utes National Title Odds Story Lines

Utah got the lucky end of the draw in the Pac-12 Tournament and ended up on the other side of the bracket from Arizona and will not have to face the basketball powerhouse until the conference final. The Utes will more than likely end up playing a tough Oregon squad in the semifinals and advancing that far should be enough to earn Utah a NCAA Tournament berth and end the team’s five year postseason drought.

Utah currently employs one of the better offensive teams in the nation and is led by three double-digit scorers in Delon Wright, Brandon Taylor and Jordan Loveridge, who averaged 14.7, 10.4 and 10.2 points per game this season. Utah turned into one of the best passing teams in all of college basketball, averaging nearly 15 assists per game, which led to countless open looks at the basket and a stellar field goal shooting percentage that end up being ranked ninth in the nation.

2015 Utah Utes National Title Odds and ATS Stats

Utah is currently receiving +3500 national title and +280 Pac-12 Tournament odds at Sportsbook.ag. The Utes produced one of the best ATS records in the nation with an 18-10-1 overall mark and were just as spectacular at home with an 11-5 record as well. Yet they struggled during the month of February and produced a mediocre 5-5 ATS mark and failed to cover three straight matchups to end the season.

2015 Utah Utes National Title Odds and Predictions

Utah has not made any noise in the NCAA Tournament since 1998, when the team earned a Championship Game appearance but ended up being outmatched by Kentucky. Outside of that fantastic run, the team has more postseason losses than wins over the last 17 years and seven tournament appearances. 2015’s NCAA Tournament has one transcendent team in Kentucky and a group of very good to outstanding teams that can make a deep run—unfortunately, Utah is not on that list. At only +3500 odds, there are a few other squads with much more value and potential to make a Cinderella-type run. Skip the Utes du ring this year’s tournament.

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Read more articles by George Monroy