Utah State senior Tai Wesley said it best when he heard the Aggies were going to be a 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
"It's a slap in the face," he said.
I couldn't agree more.
The Aggies won 30 games this year. Only Kansas, Ohio State and San Diego State won more. I realize Utah State shouldn't be a #1 or #2 seed like those teams, but they certainly deserved better than a 12. I actually thought they could be as high as a 7, but no worse than a 9. I mean, how can a team ranked 19th in the country be a 12-seed?
With this "slap in the face," the NCAA Tournament committee sent a strong message to the Aggies -- play a stronger schedule. That's fine, even though Utah State did play BYU close and hung with Georgetown for a while.
I actually agree with the committee. USU head coach Stew Morrill needs to loosen his policy about only playing home-and-home series with top level teams, especially since the WAC, which is already weak, is about to get a whole lot weaker. But to get penalized this much is ridiculous. It now appears that if Utah State didn't win the WAC tournament, they probably would not have even been invited to the dance.
I suppose the best thing Utah State can do is win. They haven't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2001. Despite having strong records, BYU continued to get lower seeds until they finally won a game last year. If the Aggies can upset Kansas State Thursday, you can be sure if they win 30 games again, they'll be higher than a 12-seed. And with a senior-laden group led by Wesley, the Aggies definitely have the ability to knock off the Wildcats.
History does count when it comes to seeding. It's time for Utah State to make some history of its own.
