Mountain West receives no respect from NCAA Tournament selection committee

For the first time since 2017, the Mountain West is sending just one team—double champion Utah State—to the NCAA Tournament.

The 12-team MWC closed the regular season with an average NCAA NET Ranking of 113.7. According to The Field of 68, no conference has finished with a higher NET average without receiving an at-large bid since 2019.

The Aggies, who were projected to be an eight seed, were downgraded to a No. 9 seed by the selection committee. Utah State (28-6) will open the NCAA Tournament against Villanova (24-8) at 2:10 p.m. Mountain time on Friday at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

Second-year Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun was not pleased with the Aggies’ seeding.

“Really happy with the location for our fans and for our players—obviously San Diego is close—but I think the seed was absolutely atrocious,” Calhoun said on Sunday. “The one thing we don’t have is the (Quad 1) wins, but we’ve got great metrics on both sides of the ball. We’re top 30 in offense, top 50 in defense. I thought for sure a six or a seven (seed), was really hoping for one of those.

“I think we’ve got to look at it like ‘Hey, we’re in the West.’ That’s a huge positive for us, and our fans. But I just don’t think it was very deserving. I thought we should’ve been at least a seven.”

The Aggies are 4-4 in Quad 1 games this season. Villanova is 2-6 in Quad 1 games and lower in the NCAA NET Rankings (Utah State 26, Villanova 35).

Here is a look at each Mountain West member’s NET Rankings metrics on Selection Sunday.

Utah State

NET Ranking: 26

Record: 28-6, 15-5 Q1: 4-4 Q2: 9-1 Q3: 9-1 Q4: 5-0

New Mexico

NET Ranking: 46

Record: 23-10, 13-7 Q1: 2-7 Q2: 6-1 Q3: 4-2 Q4: 10-0

San Diego State

NET Ranking: 47

Record: 22-11, 14-6 Q1: 3-8 Q2: 6-2 Q3: 6-1 Q4: 6-0

Boise State

NET Ranking: 60

Record: 20-12, 12-8 Q1: 2-6 Q2: 6-3 Q3: 8-1 Q4: 3-1

Nevada

NET Ranking: 70

Record: 22-12, 12-8 Q1: 1-6 Q2: 5-4 Q3: 11-0 Q4: 5-2

Grand Canyon

NET Ranking: 71

Record: 20-12, 13-7 Q1: 3-5 Q2: 3-4 Q3: 4-2 Q4: 10-1

Colorado State

NET Ranking: 87

Record: 21-12, 11-9 Q1: 3-5 Q2: 3-5 Q3: 5-1 Q4: 9-1

Wyoming

NET Ranking: 99

Record: 18-14, 9-11 Q1: 1-7 Q2: 1-5 Q3: 3-2 Q4: 12-0

UNLV

NET Ranking: 111

Record: 17-16, 11-9 Q1: 4-5 Q2: 5-4 Q3: 2-4 Q4: 5-3

Fresno State

NET Ranking: 153

Record: 13-19, 7-13 Q1: 0-7 Q2: 0-8 Q3: 5-2 Q4: 7-2

San Jose State

NET Ranking: 244

Record: 9-24, 3-17 Q1: 0-7 Q2: 2-10 Q3: 0-7 Q4: 6-0

Air Force

NET Ranking: 350

Record: 3-29, 0-20 Q1: 0-7 Q2: 0-9 Q3: 0-8 Q4: 3-5