Ute streak takes detour

Just when it was looking like the Utah basketball team might be looking like the 1985-86 or 2000-01 Ute teams, which both made dramatic February turnarounds, the Utes took a step backward Wednesday night, losing to a 1-9 Colorado State team.

The Utes were hoping to finish out the rest of the regular season with victories after consecutive wins over BYU and San Diego State, but laid an egg at home on Wednesday.

In the aforementioned seasons, the Utes produced unbeaten months in February to turn mediocre seasons into pretty good ones.

In 1986, the Utes were languishing at 12-8 and had just come off a crushing road loss to Notre Dame when they suddenly caught fire and won eight straight games, tied for the WAC title and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Then in 2001, the Utes were in the midst of a tough year in which coach Rick Majerus took a "sabbatical" after the first game.

Dick Hunsaker had taken over and suffered some early losses at home to Weber State and Southern Utah. By the time February rolled around, the Utes were 11-9 in the middle of the MWC pack. However in February, Utah won all seven games and ended up tying for the MWC championship and making the NIT.

Utah can still can finish off with four victories before the tournament in Denver, but the next two games are tough, at home against 20-5 Air Force and on the road against second-place UNLV.

LIKE 1991-92: While we're comparing seasons, this one has a few things in common with the 1991-92 season, which was Majerus' second full season.

That was the year after the Utes had made it to the Sweet 16, like last year's team. Like this year's team, the '91-92 Utes lost twice to Colorado State and lost three league games at home. Actually those losses were by larger margins than this year's team as CSU beat the Utes by 19 at the Huntsman Center, BYU won by 14 and Wyoming by 13. This year's home league losses were by 12, 5 and 8 in overtime.

Utah tied for fourth in the WAC that year at 9-7 and thanks to a 10-2 preseason had enough wins to get invited to the NIT, where it got hot and won four of five games to finish third.

This year's team would have to win its final four games to get to 9-7 and also to get enough wins to make the NIT and perhaps make a run like the '91-92 team.