March Madness: Five Biggest Snubs From College Basketball Bracket

There were some men’s college basketball teams expected to get the call to the big dance Sunday night, but their invitation never came.

The Big East came away from Selection Sunday with the biggest gripe as only three squads from the premier conference made it into the 68-team field while the Mountain West Conference received six bids.

But those from the Big East weren’t the only disgruntled parties as a couple of bubble teams that thought it had done enough to make the NCAA Tournament were left out. It certainly didn’t help matters that there were a few Cinderella runs during conference tournament play, including NC State claiming the ACC Tournament title to seize an automatic bid.

Let’s take a look at the five biggest snubs from this season’s NCAA Tournament:

Providence
Count Providence as one of a few Big East teams upset by the selection committee’s decision to leave them on the outside looking in.

The Friars lost star guard Bryce Hopkins to a torn ACL in early January but still put together a respectable 21-13 record. They had no horrible losses and had marquee wins over Marquette and Creighton, who they beat for the second time in the Big East Tournament. That probably had first-year head coach Kim English thinking Providence was in good shape to make the tournament.

But the committee felt otherwise as Providence’s analytics — 58th in NET rating — didn’t match up to some other teams, and that drew the ire of English.

“I think the analytics are (expletive),” English told reporters, per Kevin McNamara. “… When you get into this league, the analytics aren’t going to look very good in-league. You’re playing against some really, really good coaches. We play at Connecticut and I think they shoot 40% from the field. We’re a good defense. They won the game and should be credited for winning the game. I do think there are some flaws in the system.”

Indiana State
Robbie Avila was destined to be a star in the NCAA Tournament. After all, his nickname is Cream Abdul-Jabbar. But the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year isn’t going to get a chance to shine on the big stage.

The Sycamores certainly have a legitimate complaint for not being a part of the field. They finished 28th in NET rating, the highest of any team left out. And it was the first time any team that finished the season in the top 30 in NET ranking — the statistic came into play in 2018 — wasn’t dancing, per USA Today’s Jordan Mendoza.

Seton Hall
The Pirates are one of only three teams to take down the reigning national champion and No. 1 overall seed Connecticut Huskies this season. Seton Hall notched a win over Marquette, too, as part of its 20-12 record, including 13-7 mark in Big East play.

But that wasn’t enough to convince the committee they deserved to be in the tournament.

Hurting the Pirates’ case was their performance at the Big East Tournament. Seton Hall went one-and-done, losing to a St. John’s team they beat twice during the regular season.

Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh rolled into Selection Sunday having won 11 of its last 13 games. Right before that streak started, the Panthers received their biggest résumé booster by going to Cameron Indoor Stadium and upsetting Duke in mid-January.

But the committee saw Pittsburgh’s 22-11 record, including 12-8 ACC mark as just good enough to be one of the first four teams out. It probably won’t sit well with the Panthers that Virginia, a team Pittsburgh beat on the road by double digits in mid-February, got selected over them.

Oklahoma
Two months ago it seemed unfathomable that the Sooners would miss out on the tournament. Oklahoma started 13-1, which included a key win over Iowa State, and were ranked in the top 10 in the country in early January.

But the Sooners stumbled after their hot start, losing 11 of 18 games. And Oklahoma sure didn’t help itself by falling to TCU in its first game of the Big 12 Tournament.