March Madness 2021: 5 biggest winners from Selection Sunday seeds
Utah State Aggies
The bubble during Championship Week was hectic, to say the least and many teams took rough hits to make their resume worse before going in front of the Selection Committee. But based on who got in, it looks as if they valued big wins more than anything. That would explain Utah State, whose claim to fame was a pair of victories over San Diego State in the regular season.
The Aggies lost to them in the Mountain West Tournament finals, but unlike other bubble teams this past week, that loss wasn’t bad at all. What proved even more important was the semifinal win over Colorado State, which considering what we know now with the Rams just being left out via bid thieves, as a real “bubble elimination” game.
This team started out the season 1-3, including losses to BYU and South Dakota State. Despite having a quality big man in Neemias Queta, their backcourt needed time to gel and improve before being ready to win games. That’s what happened in league play, including those pivotal wins over San Diego State.
Even more surprising is that Utah State avoided the “First Four”, going straight to an 11 seed against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have Final Four talent but are very reliant on leading scorer Mac McClung to provide a good portion of the offense. And Queta will definitely have a size advantage over 6’8 starting center Marcus Santos-Silva of Texas Tech, with little size behind him.
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After former Utah State star Sam Merrill’s game-winning shot over San Diego State in last year’s Mountain West Tournament finals, it looked as if this team wasn’t going to be able to make it back to the Big Dance this time around. But in a year where many teams are losing games they shouldn’t, the Aggies won their most important game in Championship Week and earned themselves a spot in 2021, with a shot to make even more noise this weekend.