At least one bubble team can breathe a sigh of relief as Utah State, a lock to make the NCAA tournament field of 68, has defeated Boise State 77-69 to win the Western Athletic Conference's automatic bid. This keeps an at-large spot open, keeping the bubble one of the softest in recent memory. The Aggies shot better than 53% from the field and out-rebounded the Broncos by 12 as they won a game that was much closer in reality than it was on the box score. Boise State were in it to the very end, pulling Utah State's lead back to one possession on multiple occasions, but they could never string together enough buckets and stops to take the lead and hold it.

Though the WAC conference tournament isn't one of the most difficult in the country to win, Utah State did themselves a massive service by taking care of business and winning the conference's automatic bid. While they were in the tournament no matter what, this win will almost certainly help their seeding.

For updates on every automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Tournament, keep this StoryStream bookmarked. For bracketology and 2011 NCAA Tournament field projections, be sure to visit SB Nation's Blogging the Bracket.