Utah State saw its name drawn for the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, earning a seven seed in the Midwest section of the bracket and a matchup with 10-seed UCLA set for Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky. It’s the Aggies’ third straight appearance in the tournament — each under a different head coach — and is the fifth time in the previous six NCAA Tournaments they’ve been included. There was no guarantee that Utah State would be picked in the tournament, even though every single bracketologist on record had the Aggies in the field of 68. And there was some nervousness building in the room of USU’s watch party as the South and East sections of the brackets were revealed. But as the Midwest section was unfurled on TV, head coach Jerrod Calhoun provided some encouragement and a prediction. “It’s always scary when it gets down to the last couple brackets,” USU guard Mason Falslev said of watching the selection show. “But Coach [Calhoun] came and he was just like, ‘I think we’re going to be 7-10.’” Calhoun turned out to be exactly right as the Aggies were soon after shown on the screen. The scene from Utah State’s watch party

LAS VEGAS — As the Mountain West tournament semifinal game between Utah State and Colorado State crossed under seven minutes to play, the HURD began a mid-game edition of its popular “I believe” chant. At the time, the Aggies were trailing the Rams big, having faced a deficit as large as 28 points. Whether out of misguided hope, or an attempt to manifest something in a game that had gone horribly wrong, the Spectrum on Wheels was trying to get its team to salvage something in the Thomas & Mack Center. The win, to the dismay of the hopeful fans, did not materialize. Colorado State would claim an 83-72 victory and a spot in the title game against Boise State. But in the defeat, the Aggies still salvaged some of their pride by cutting the nearly 30-point hole down to seven points in the final minutes of the game. Runs of 16-1 and 9-1 had the Aggie fans believing, it just didn’t end up being enough. “Every huddle, we just said, ‘We can do it, we got plenty of time,’” USU point guard Jordy Barnes said. “We were just trying to fight back and play as hard as we could, and