1. A method of automatically selecting MR data for image reconstruction comprising the steps of: acquiring an image data set from each of a plurality of receiver coils; determining an index gauge for each image data set; the index gauge representing a spatial relationship between a given receiver coil and a desired FOV; comparing the index gauges; removing any image data set having an index gauge demonstrating a spatial relationship between the given receiver coil and the desired FOV that is less than optimal based on the comparison; and reconstructing an image from a remaining imaging data sets.