How the West Has Lost: Utah State is 19 Games Below .500 in NCAA Tourney

Amid failure of Pac-12 Conference entrants in this year's NCAA Tournament and Boise State still winless after nine playoff outings, the West remains the worst. Such a viewpoint shouldn't be a surprise unless you put stock in creepy porn lawyer #Avenaughty as a #Dimorat presidential candidate, hideous Hunter's laptop is Russian disinformation or always believe contrived comments from Muslim Brotherhood apologist/former CIA chief John "NBC News' Snoopy" Brennan. Brigham Young, New Mexico State and Utah State - more games below .500 than any institutions in NCAA playoff history - promptly bowing out of the NCAA playoffs is almost a tradition. Also weighing heavily out West, Wyoming is the only former national champion (1943) to compile an all-time NCAA playoff record more than five games below .500 (9-21).

Everett Shelton, coach of Wyoming's titlist, is the only championship team bench boss to finish with a non-winning playoff record (4-12 from 1941 through 1958) and was more games under .500 in NCAA Division I Tournament competition than any coach in history until supplanted by Fran Dunphy (3-17 with Penn and Temple from 1993 through 2019). Also, Shelton is the only coach to lose three consecutive regional final games (1947, 1948 and 1949).

Joining Dunphy and Shelton among the eight coaches more than six games under .500 in NCAA playoff play are Rick Byrd (1-8 with Belmont from 2006 through 2019), Pete Carril (4-11 with Princeton from 1969 through 1996), Don Corbett (0-7 with North Carolina A&T from 1982 through 1988), Hugh Greer (1-8 with Connecticut from 1951 through 1960), Stew Morrill (1-9 with Montana and Utah State from 1991 through 2011) and Mike Vining (0-7 with Louisiana-Monroe from 1982 through 1996).

More than half of the following 11 schools more than 10 games below .500 in NCAA tourney competition are from west of the Mississippi River:

School	Playoff Record	Games Below .500 Mark	Summary of Tournament Tumult
Utah State	6-25	minus 19	lost 19 of last 20 games with only victory in that span in OT against Ohio State in 2001
Brigham Young	15-33	minus 18	only one of victories was by fewer than six points
New Mexico State	11-28	minus 17	lost 12 straight games until ending streak this year after winning seven of 11 contests from 1968 through 1970
Princeton	15-30	minus 15	lost eight of first nine games from 1952 through 1963 and five straight contests since 1998 until reaching 2023 Sweet 16
Iona	1-16	minus 15	15 straight setbacks with first four of them by fewer than four points from 1980 through 1998
Miami (Ohio)	6-19	minus 13	only victory in 10-game span from 1969 through 1992 was in OT against defending NCAA champion Marquette in 1978
Murray State	5-18	minus 13	lost 11 games in a row from 1988 through 2006
Penn	13-26	minus 13	lost last 10 games and 15 of last 16 after entering 1979 Final Four with winning playoff record (11-9)
Wyoming	9-21	minus 12	1943 NCAA titlist before losing 12 of 13 games from 1947 through 1967
Montana	2-13	minus 11	won inaugural game in 1975 but lost last four contests since 2012 by an average of 26 points
Weber State	6-17	minus 11	seven of last nine defeats since 1979 were by fewer than 12 points