Well, they don’t call it “March Tranquility.”
College basketball’s annual crown jewel showcase — the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, more commonly referred to as “March Madness” — begins today with the “First Four” play-ins (the actual first round begins Thursday), and one of those early play-in teams has sparked mass controversy before a single second of the tournament has even played yet.
The University of North Carolina Tar Heels, vying for the 11-seed when it plays the San Diego State Aztecs tonight, has created so much outrage with its inclusion in the tournament that the U.S. government could be looking into it.
Seriously.
The reason for this seemingly disproportionate response is simple: Fans, viewers and pundits alike feel that something is (seriously) amiss with UNC’s inclusion over the West Virginia Mountaineers.
“The Mountaineers were one of the teams on the bubble, and while some believed that they had a strong case to be among the 68 teams selected, the committee thought otherwise in the end,” Fox News reported.
WVU certainly seems to have a case.
Fox added: “One of the main statistical backings for a team is Quadrant 1 wins, which the selection committee determines as a game against a team that is ranked in the top 30 of the NET (the NCAA’s evaluation tool) at home, against a team ranked 1-50 on a neutral court, and 1-75 in away contests.
“West Virginia had six wins in Quad 1 games, while North Carolina, a team many had issues with making the tournament, went 1-12 in those games. The Mountaineers also had wins over four ranked teams this season, including at-the-time No. 2 Iowa State, No. 3 Gonzaga (on a neutral court) and No. 7 Kansas.
Do you think the selection committee got this one wrong?
“Their three wins over AP top 10 teams is the most in the Big 12 this season.”
Conversely, for what it’s worth, WVU also hurt its chances by losing to lowly Colorado early in the Big 12 tournament.
Due to all of the above — and in spite of that Colorado loss — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey is demanding that West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey launch an investigation into what he is calling the “National Corrupt Athletic Association” and WVU’s exclusion from this year’s March Madness.
Gov. Morrisey and Attorney General JB McCuskey Announce Actions against NCAA Selection Committee https://t.co/ABnaIu6M5H
— Governor Patrick Morrisey (@wvgovernor) March 17, 2025
(NCAA obviously stands for National Collegiate Athletic Association.)
“West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Morrisey told the media in a video shared to X. “This is a miscarriage of justice, and robbery at the highest level.”
Now, Morrisey and those supporting WVU may have a genuine gripe, even apart from any NET ratings or Quad 1’s. One particularly big issue?
“UNC’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, is also the chair of the selection committee,” Fox noted. “He said Sunday, after the bracket had been announced, that he wasn’t in the room for the decision to let the Tar Heels in as the final team in the field.”
Morrisey also suggested that, due to a successful lawsuit against the NCAA that he proctored while he was the state attorney general, WVU’s “snub” from March Madness could be retaliatory.
Whether or not Morrisey’s quest to investigate the NCAA yields anything of success, the plight of WVU certainly has captured national attention.
The inclusion of North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament despite a weak resume (1-12 in Quad 1 games) exposes a major conflict of interest in the selection process. While UNC’s Athletic Director, who chaired the committee, claims he recused himself, his very role still exerted…
— Jay Shakuri-Rad, DO, FACOS (@DrShakuriRad) March 17, 2025
“The system needs reform,” one X user posted.
And posts like the above are not that hard to find outside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
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