Utah State Aggies
Utah State’s resume took a major hit right before the Mountain West Tournament, losing to New Mexico in the regular-season finale. It was a Quad 3 loss that took them from just inside the projected field to the outside or Last 4 in. So had the Aggies not won the event, they would’ve been sweating for an entire seven days, hoping to avoid multiple bid stealers elsewhere.
Instead, Utah State became bid thieves themselves, upsetting the San Diego State Aztecs in the MWC finals to secure the automatic bid. Sam Merrill was the star of the show, scoring a game-high 27 points and hit the deep game-winning three-point to lift the Aggies out of an early hole and beat the top-seeded Aztecs.
Utah State will be a 10 or 11 seed that most teams aren’t going to want to deal with, now that big man Neemias Queta is as healthy as he’s been all season. Merrill is a former Player of the Year who can carry a team to victory in any game. They were the preseason favorites and ranked to start the season so this isn’t a major surprise but the Aggies’ comeback in the second half of the year has been impressive.
Don’t cry for San Diego State though. They likely won’t be a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with this loss but they’ll now be in the West Region as a 2 seed, which arguably is better for them and their fans overall than being No. 1 out east. So both teams got what they truly wanted out of this game.