West Virginia is not messing around here. Their basketball program was snubbed of a spot in the NCAA Tournament when nearly every analyst had them in.
What's more, West Virginia lost out to North Carolina for that final spot in the tournament. I'll let Governor Morrisey break that down for you:
For those who don't know much about a quad-1 win, this is when you defeat a team ranked first through seventy-fifth ... West Virginia had six quad-1 wins. And that was combined with an undefeated record against quad-3 and quad-4 opponents. Three wins against top-10 teams and the 24th toughest schedule in America. West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament. This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels.
Now, who was the last team to get into the tournament ahead of the Mountaineers? That would be the University of North Carolina. Now, let's see how their resume stacks up. The Tar Heels went 1-12 in quad-1 games and even had a quad-3 loss. And we keep hearing about the importance of these quad-1 wins, but UNC couldn't even get more than one. They also had the 25th toughest schedule in America right behind WVU.
Now, here's something you may not know: UNC had representation in the room during the selection process ... Bubba Cunningham is the athletic director for UNC. He also happens to be the head of the tournament selection committee.
Morrisey also notes that Cunningham has incentives to put UNC in the tournament, by way of bonus money received for their NCAA Tournament appearance which increases with each victory.
So West Virginia is coming after the NCAA Selection Committee, and for good reason. West Virginia should've been in, but the season-ending injury to their star player, Tucker DeVries, is being blamed for their exclusion (and it's a good point, honestly).
North Carolina is also one of the most recognizable basketball schools in the nation, so having them in is a great business decision, especially since they'll be playing one of the extra play-in games which could use better ratings.
More commentary:
Important point here: Governor Morrisey was AG when West Virginia successfully challenged the NCAA transfer rule just two years ago, So he's got some experience here.
Governor Morrisey says it's too early for litigation, so we'll keep you updated on where this goes from here.
Things could get pretty spicy out there in West Virginia!
I'll leave you the full press conference:
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