How Did Top College Basketball Voices React to West Virginia Missing March Madness?
It may be one of the biggest snubs in NCAA Tournament history. West Virginia was projected by every major bracketologist to be in the Big Dance, but missed out on Selection Sunday. The news sent shockwaves across the sport.
Here’s how media across college basketball reacted to the news.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo from Sirius XM went ballistic in one of the best rants you will hear on the issue on Sunday night, focusing his ire on Bubba Cunningham, UNC AD, who also happened to be the NCAA Tournament committee chair.
Jon Rothstein on CBS Sports also went off on the committee’s decision.
Then, over on ESPN, here’s what was said by some of their top talking heads.
Of course, Jay Bilas had to go in the other direction on this one. Maybe somewhat surprising for a Duke guy.
The Mountaineers finished the year at 19-13 overall and 10-10 overall and were comfortably in the tournament field by bracketology experts everywhere.
While the Mountaineers were left out of the field, teams like North Carolina and Texas made it to post-season play with significantly worse resumes and records. The Longhorns snuck into the tournament with a 19-15 overall record and an abysmal 6-12 record in conference play.
For North Carolina, their record was worthy of a bid, but the issue comes down to their resume. The Tar Heels finished their regular season off at 1-12 against Quad 1 opponents. They were an abysmal 1-8 against Top 25 teams, all of which found their way into the NCAA Tournament.