The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 97 is Utah State basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Utah State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 2
- Sweet 16s: 3
- NCAA wins: 8
- Bids: 26
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 14.7
- Bids per season: 0.21
- AP Polls: 61
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 1
- NBA players drafted & played: 8
- Conference Players of the Year: 9
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 18
- Conference tournament titles: 11
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Utah State basketball
Utah State is, without a doubt, not just a high-end mid-major, but one of the best college basketball programs of all-time, ranking 40th in all-time wins. However, wins aren’t the only category we looked at, which is why the Aggies find themselves in the 90s.
But let’s start with the good – an Aggies program that has made 26 NCAA Tournaments. In fact, they’ve made it in every decade but the 1940s and 1950s, so when you talk about consistency, Utah State is a model of that. And yes, that includes the first-ever NCAA Tournament played in 1939, where Utah State was one of the eight teams that qualified.
The biggest thing holding Utah State back is their performance in March Madness. While they get there often, they’ve only won eight games in 26 tourneys. And of their two Elite 8s, one came in 1939, where the field was only eight teams. The other came in 1970, as Utah State knocked off UTEP and Santa Clara, falling to UCLA in the regional final. And since the tournament expanded to 64-68 teams, the Aggies have yet to make the round of 32.
It has to be frustrating because they really have been a dominant mid-major in that timeframe. Let’s look at their tournament history since 1985:
- 1988: 10 seed, lost to Vanderbilt in round of 64
- 1998: 13 seed, lost to Maryland in round of 64
- 2000: 12 seed, lost to UConn in round of 64
- 2001: 12 seed, defeated Ohio State, then lost to UCLA in round of 32
- 2003: 15 seed, lost to Kansas in round of 64
- 2005: 14 seed, lost to Arizona in round of 64
- 2006: 12 seed, lost to Washington in round of 64
- 2009: 11 seed, lost to Marquette in round of 64
- 2010: 12 seed, lost to Texas A&M in round of 64
- 2011: 12 seed, lost to Kansas State in round of 64
- 2019: 8 seed, lost to Washington in round of 64
- 2021: 11 seed, lost to Texas Tech in round of 64
- 2023: 10 seed, lost to Missouri in round of 64
- 2024: 8 seed, defeated TCU, then lost to Purdue in round of 32
- 2025: 10 seed, lost to UCLA in round of 64
- 2026: 9 seed, defeated Villanova, then lost to Arizona in round of 32
Obviously, when you’re usually a double-digit seed, the odds are stacked against you. But it is head-scratching how such a consistent program hasn’t been able to pull off just a couple of wins.
However, they do seem to be getting closer. Lately, Utah State has had so many great head coaches, but the play hasn’t dropped. Since 2018, Craig Smith, Ryan Odom, Danny Sprinkle, and Jerrod Calhoun have pumped out eight straight winning seasons, with seven of them having at least 20 wins. And now, former Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobsen comes in to try and keep that hot streak going. It’s a great program that doesn’t need the perfect coach right now, because good up-and-coming coaches want to go there.
But if we’re going to talk about legendary Utah State basketball coaches, Stew Morrill has to be included. From 1998-2015, he went 402-156, leading the Aggies to eight NCAA Tournaments. There have been a lot of great coaches for this program, but Morrill is clearly the leader of the pack.
And one last thing on coaches, because this stat is wild. Of the 14 Utah State coaches who spent at least three seasons there, nine had winning records. It’s practically impossible to do bad there.
With all of these great accolades, it’s a little surprising the program hasn’t produced more great pros. Currently, Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta are holding it down in the Association, but the best Aggie of all-time is Nate Williams, who scored almost 8,000 points in his career.
Still, it is a program built on succeeding in college, and at CBB Review, we respect that to the max!