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Utah State faces yet another team called the ‘Aggies’ after facing the New Mexico State Aggies several times during the WAC season.  I’ve had this play circled in silver Sharpie ink since the opening round lines were posted.  Utah State lost the WAC tourney to the aforementioned NMSU Aggies but fortunately got the at large bid they deserved.  Utah State finished 27-7 SU this year, while Texas A&M finished 23-9 overall and fourth in the Big 12.  These teams will go at it at 1:55 Pacific/4:55 Eastern.

UTAH STATE VS. TEXAS A&M:

Most of the early round plays involve a favorite or higher seed that we want to go against for some reason or another.  This isn’t one of those and in a different set of circumstances we might be looking to play on Texas A&M.  They’re a good team that plays a physical brand of basketball that gives a lot of teams trouble.  Unfortunately, Utah State doesn’t look to be one of those teams.  USU is one of the best defensive teams in the country, adept in both man to man and zone coverage.  Where they’ve got a significant edge on Texas A&M is on the offensive end of the court.  They shoot the lights out, hit their free throws, take care of the ball, can bury the three and generally do all of the little things necessary to win.  Texas A&M doesn’t have anywhere near as good of a shooting percentage and particularly from the foul line.  So in this case we’ve got the team that plays better team defense, shoots the ball better *and* is getting points.  Aggies–the Logan, Utah variety–win this one outright.

PLAY UTAH STATE +3 OVER TEXAS A&M