It happens every year. A team is “snubbed” from the NCAA Tournament and either the university, fan base or state government threatens legal action. This year, it’s happening in West Virginia, where Governor Patrick Morrisey has scheduled a press conference Monday afternoon to announce he is pursuing legal action against the Division I men’s basketball committee.
Morrisey has already taken on the NCAA once before when, as state attorney general in 2023, he successfully sued the organization over its transfer policy.
West Virginia was one of the first teams left out of the field of 68, which the committee revealed Sunday evening. North Carolina was the last team into the field, even though its results-based metrics are clearly a level below the Mountaineers.
The Tar Heels went 1-12 against Quadrant 1 opponents, while the Mountaineers went 6-10. North Carolina had a Quad 3 loss and West Virginia was undefeated outside of the first two quadrants. UNC beat two NCAA Tournament teams and one of them was 16 seed American, while West Virginia beat four tournament teams.
Even more baffling, committee chair Bubba Cunningham cited player availability as a factor in keeping West Virginia out of the tournament. The Mountaineers have been without Tucker DeVries for all but eight games early in the season; the vast majority of their resume was compiled without him anyway.
On the other hand, North Carolina generally performed better in the predictive and advanced metrics, which are also part of the committee’s decision-making. UNC has the edge on West Virginia in strength of record, wins above bubble and in BPI and KenPom. There’s a case to be made for Carolina, but it’s not a strong one.
Men’s basketball committee chair Bubba Cunningham comes under fire from West Virginia, Indiana fans for potential bias
North Carolina shockingly making the at-large field with West Virginia and Indiana left on the outside looking in has fans fired up — even outside of the governor’s office. Making it worse: Cunningham is also the North Carolina athletic director.
To be clear, Cunningham had to leave the room whenever his team was discussed and was only allowed to answer fact-based questions about the Tar Heels (think player availability in questionable losses, etc). But could Cunningham have exerted some sort of influence over the rest of the committee to include North Carolina? Perhaps. We don’t know what discussions happened over dinner and drinks outside the room or what he may have said against other teams.
Regardless, it’s more than enough to feed the skeptics and Morrisey has latched onto it.
“The National Corrupt Athletic Association is continuing its shady activities against WVU,” he wrote on Monday via X. “There’s clearly some home cookin’ going on in North Carolina.”
Oh, and Cunningham got a $68,000 bonus for the Tar Heels making the tournament. Do with that what you will.
The post West Virginia governor wants legal action against selection committee for tourney snub appeared first on ClutchPoints.
