20. Utah State (27-6)
Any way you slice it; this has been an exceptional season at Utah State. Nothing remained from last season for new coach Danny Sprinkle; he built this team from the ground up. Utah State was expected to finish near the bottom of the conference, and instead won the regular season title in an MWC that might send six teams to the NCAA Tournament.
The MWC Tournament didn’t exactly go as expected for the Aggies, who struggled in the quarterfinals, hanging on for an 87-75 win in overtime over Fresno State. Great Osobor had another marvelous performance with 29 points and 17 rebounds in the win. Friday’s semifinal was less successful as the Aggies built a big lead earlier but faltered against San Diego State, losing 86-70 to the Aztecs. Osobor added 19 points and 5 rebounds though the top-seeded Aggies failed to reach the MWC finals.
Nothing has changed for Utah State even with that disappointing performance in Las Vegas. This team can make certain noise in the NCAA Tournament and will have a pretty attractive seed. Few thought this was possible for a program really redefining itself yet again, but the Aggies have exceeded everyone’s expectations. Can they be the MWC team to make the most noise in the postseason?