Utah State basketball: New Mexico State upsets USU in WAC title game

"We missed some shots going down the stretch that we really needed," Quayle said.

As a result, the Aggies are now playing a game they are quite familiar with but had no interest in being a participant.

With relatively few strong candidates left on the bubble, many national bracket predictions still have USU in the field of 65. The loss, however, will have a big impact on Utah State's seeding and first-round matchup.

Still, Morrill is hopeful that he'll get some good news today at 4 p.m. when the brackets are revealed.

"If we don't get in, it makes it really tough on mid-major leagues," he said. "I mean, what do you need to do to get in?"

The WAC is currently the No. 10-rated conference according to RPI rankings.

That, Morrill said, should be a plus on USU's resume.

"For schools like us to win 17 games in a row, win the league outright by three games, lose in the final to a good team, our RPI is better than a lot of schools being talked about ..." he said. "I mean, is our league a one-bid league no matter what?"

The answer to that question will come at 4 p.m.

e-mail: jeborn@desnews.com