College basketball analyst and commentator Jay Bilas is speaking out about the ongoing debate over who deserved the last spot in men’s March Madness. North Carolina got in over West Virginia, who is launching an investigation into the selection committee.
West Virginia’s governor Patrick Morrisey directed his attorney general to investigate the committee. As of Tuesday, no lawsuit had been filed against the NCAA.
“I wish I were the judge in that thing,” Bilas said, per Sports Illustrated. “Because one of the questions I would ask the plaintiff is, ‘How many games did you play?’ and ‘How many of those games did you win?’ Well, if you don’t want to be at the end of the line and the committee decide that, maybe you should think about winning more. Case dismissed.”
Bilas was surprised though that North Carolina got in over West Virginia, and some other bubble teams.
“I expected that they were going to be right there at the bubble, it may be a difficult decision, but I figured teams like Texas or West Virginia, Ohio State or Indiana would at least go in first,” Bilas said on X, formerly Twitter. “North Carolina played a hellacious schedule, but they just didn’t win enough against it relative to other teams that were at the end of the line.”
March Madness games begin Tuesday, with the First Four in Dayton.
West Virginia wants answers about the March Madness selection process
West Virginia governor Morrisey is on a fast break to get answers from the NCAA about the selection process for the tournament. Morrisey was criticized for the investigation by ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, but the governor was adamant that WVU deserved to be in.
“West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA tournament,” Morrisey said, per Yahoo Sports. “This is a miscarriage of justice, and robbery at the highest level.”
Morrisey helped lead a lawsuit against the NCAA in 2023, on behalf of West Virginia basketball. The governor says the NCAA may have been dwelling on that when making the March Madness decision.
“Is this retribution? We’re gonna have to get to the bottom of that,” Morrisey said.
North Carolina had a better NET ranking than West Virginia, but the school had only one Quad 1 win on the season. West Virginia had six Quad 1 victories, despite losing star Tucker DeVries to injury during the season.
North Carolina plays San Diego State on Tuesday in the First Four. West Virginia’s season ended after the school refused to play in another postseason tournament.
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