After Falling to SDSU in MW Final, Does USU still have a shot at the Big Dance?

With 2:41 left to play, Utah State trailed San Diego State by six, holding just a sliver of momentum and hope for victory.

Junior Justin Bean dribbled up the court and passed it in the direction of junior Marco Anthony, but it was turned over by Aztec senior Trey Pulliam. Desperate to avenge himself, Bean dove after the ball. It was all for naught. He finished the play defeated on the ground, while Pulliam finished it triumphantly in the air, getting the easy layup.

Claiming the Mountain West tournament championship over the Aggies 68 to 57, San Diego State finished the game standing high up on a ladder, cutting down the net.

Utah State — which turned the ball over 16 times on the afternoon — finished the game in the locker room, “Very disappointed and quiet,” according to head coach Craig Smith.

They battled hard all season long, just to fall one game short of the goal — their third straight Mountain West tournament title.

“It’s tough,” Smith said. “You put in this much time, this much investment, and everything that goes into it from all the way back to the summer to now then you had the rigors of the protocols and all the testing.”

But depending on what happens on Selection Sunday, the Aggies still have a chance to turn around the end of their season, by earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament in Indiana.

“We had too many turnovers, so now we’re in the waiting game,” Smith said. “Everything’s out of our control, we did everything we possibly could, in one of the hardest seasons you could possibly imagine just for obvious reasons with COVID and everything.”

So here is what the selection committee will consider on Sunday:

The Aggies, who entered the SDSU game No. 37 in the NET rankings, finished the season 20-8, 17-5 against conference foes. Overall, they are 8-0 in quad four games, 7-2 in quad three games, 2-1 in quad two games, and 2-4 in quad one games.

They have two bad losses — falling to quad three schools South Dakota State (No. 124), and UNLV (No. 183).

Their best wins of the season are back-to-back quad-one wins at home over San Diego State (No. 21), and a pair of quad-two wins over Colorado State (No. 51.) A win over Northern Iowa and a sweep of Nevada are also a good look on the resume.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi put USU in the last four in just after Saturday’s final, despite losing the championship game. Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report has the Aggies in his last four in as well, putting them up against Drake in a play-in game. Bracketologist Jerry Palm of CBS Sports didn’t update his mock bracket after the game, but wrote in a story earlier that morning, “The Aggies still have a chance to get selected with a loss.”

However, it’s not these talking heads that decide the 68-team field, it’s a ten-man committee consisting of athletic directors and conference commissioners. Lucky for USU, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson is on the committee, maybe he’ll put in the good word.

Smith expressed frustration postgame about the selection process and explained why it’s a struggle to be a mid-major and earn an at-large bid.

“We’ve been on the bubble for three straight years. That’s where we’re at. It’s hard for us to get certain games, it’s hard for us to get teams to come to play in Logan,” Smith said. “You do what you can, every game matters at our level. We’re obviously not a (Power 5) school where you can finish in the middle of the pack and still possibly NCAA birth.”

Smith thinks so.

“This team can compete with anybody,” he said. “We’re good enough to make it.”