Most years on Selection Sunday, the discussion around some of the snubs and surprising exclusions mostly comes down to nitpicking. Teams with similar resumes are compared, and some fans value certain metrics while the committee values others. That is not the case with West Virginia basketball in 2025.
The Mountaineers were essentially a lock to make the field heading into Selection Sunday according to just about everyone. Darian DeVries and company finished the season 10-8 in a very difficult Big 12 conference and picked up a pair of very good wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis against Gonzaga and Arizona at the beginning of the season.
However, that wasn’t enough in the eyes of the committee. When the bracket came out, West Virginia was on the outside looking in as the first team out. After the shocking decision, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark released a statement backing the Mountaineers, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
“I was surprised and disappointed to see West Virginia not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament,” Yormark said, per Thamel. “In addition to their six Quad 1 wins, the Mountaineers won 10 conference games in one of the toughest leagues in the country.
“West Virginia deserved a spot, and fans across the country agree. Coach DeVries and his team did an incredible job fighting adversity and winning big games all season. Regardless of this disappointing outcome, I’m incredibly proud of how they represented the Big 12 all season.”
West Virginia should be in even without Tucker DeVries
When asked about some of the reasons for excluding West Virginia from the NCAA Tournament, NCAA Tournament selection committee chairman Bubba Cunningham cited the injury to star guard Tucker DeVries as one reason why the Mountaineers slid down the bubble.
Cunningham said that player availability factors into the evaluation of teams. However, that doesn’t even come close to answering the question of why the Mountaineers were left out. West Virginia picked up both of its key non-conference wins, against Gonzaga and Arizona, with DeVries in the lineup, but he was injured in December and has been out ever since.
Without DeVries, West Virginia still finished with a winning record in the Big 12 and won four Quad 1 games. Javon Small blossomed into one of the best players in the country, and those victories should have been more than enough for West Virginia to sneak in the field.
Were the Mountaineers playing their best basketball at the end of the season? No. However, they still picked up a Quad 1 win against Utah on March 4 and their overall body of work should have been more than enough to help West Virginia get in. It’s truly a travesty that DeVries and his squad will not be in the postseason.
The post Big 12 commish sounds off on West Virginia’s March Madness exclusion appeared first on ClutchPoints.
