March Madness: West Virginia Gov threatens legal action against NCAA

One state representative isn’t happy with the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee leaving their team out. 

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey stood at a lectern during a press conference on Monday with a sign that read “National Corrupt Athletic Association” after the West Virginia Mountaineers didn’t make it into the March Madness bracket. 

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. 

“West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Morrisey said. “This is a miscarriage of justice, and robbery at the highest level.”

Morrisey also announced that he has asked West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey to open an investigation into the NCAA selection committee to see if “backdoor deals” were made. 

The Mountaineers were a fringe tournament team after going 19-13 overall while finishing 10-10 in Big 12 conference play. 

Many believed West Virginia was going to get into the tournament when the Big 12 Tournament began, as they had the team to make a possible run at the title. However, a surprising loss to Colorado, who owned last place in the conference during the regular season, changed all of that. 

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Whether that was the deciding factor in the Mountaineers being left off the bracket wasn’t disclosed by the selection committee, but the word “snub” was quickly thrown around when that happened. 

The bracket results led head coach Darian DeVries, as well as athletic director Wren Baker, to release statements on the matter. DeVries said he was “shocked” his team didn’t have a chance at competing for the national title. 

“Obviously, we are extremely shocked, saddened and disappointed with not being selected for the NCAA Tournament,” the statement reads. “We strongly believe that we have a resume that is worthy of an NCAA Tournament team. I am incredibly proud of this team and what they accomplished. They poured their hearts into this season and put all their collective efforts into making the NCAA Tournament, and I believe they did that.”

Baker added, “I can’t comprehend this team being left out. Our resume was better than several teams in the field and it’s a terrible travesty that we weren’t included.”

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. 

Their three wins over AP top 10 teams is the most in the Big 12 this season. 

So, Morrisey called the dismissal of the Mountaineers “ridiculous” and “outrageous” during an interview with Newsmax.

He also suggested that, while serving as the state’s attorney general, a successful lawsuit against the NCAA in the past could’ve led to the snub. 

“Is this retribution?” he said, referencing the lawsuit he had with the governing body where he challenged transfer rules successfully in 2024. “We’re going to have to get to the bottom of that.”

UNC’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, is also the chair of the selection committee. 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. 

Instead, he deferred to vice chair Keith Gill, who gave an explanation as to how the Tar Heels got in.

“Our policies require the AD of any school to recuse themselves and actually leave the room for those discussions. And they’re not allowed to participate in any vote as well. … We voted in four teams in the field on Saturday night, and we had a contingency vote.

“The contingency vote, that was the last team in the field. And it was based on Memphis-UAB. If Memphis won that game, then that was going to free up a spot in the tournament and that was going to be North Carolina.”

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