(The Center Square) – West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey wants the NCAA to answer for its decision to leave the state’s largest public university out of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
West Virginia, 19-13, was the first team out, said the selection committee. Indiana, Ohio State and Boise State were behind them. The Mountaineers were 19-13, won six against Quad 1 teams, and lost to last-place Colorado in its Big 12 Tournament opener.
In a letter to NCAA General Counsel Scott Bearby on Monday, McCuskey said the snub was difficult to understand and wanted the NCAA to explain precisely how it selected teams – both objectively and subjectively.
“Given the major event that the tournament has become, all fans deserve to know how the selection committee makes its choices,” McCuskey said in the letter. “Just for the teams, those criteria affect scheduling, lineup choices, and more. And as we look ahead to another season, these student-athletes deserve to know the rules of the game and what they might be up against.”
McCuskey pointed out the Mountaineers had as many “Quad 1” wins as the four bubble teams to make the field combined.
He also questioned Committee Chairman and North Carolina Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham’s comments regarding an injury to West Virginia star Tucker DeVries. However, according to McCuskey, DeVries only played in eight games during the year and had not played since December.
North Carolina, with a 22-13 record and a 36 net ranking by the committee, was the last team to make the tournament. The committee gave West Virginia a net ranking of 51.
The letter said in part, “Athletic directors with teams under active consideration (and on the bubble) also participate as members of the selection committee. There is a public perception, as noted by Fran Frischilla, that these kinds of decisions are driven by personalities instead of data.”
