The West Virginia Mountaineers were a shocking no-show on Selection Sunday, missing out on being selected in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, despite being projected to make the Big Dance by every expert.
Since the news broke, there has been outrage over WVU missing out in favor of UNC, who’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, is the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee chairman.
And in response to this shadiness, it looks like West Virginia is may be considering legal action. Governor Patrick Morrisey announced on Monday morning he’s considering legal against against the NCAA in a post on X.
As ESPN’s Pete Thamel noted on X, Morrisey is the former West Virginia attorney general who successfully challenged the NCAA Transfer rules.
What Did Morrisey Say?
During his press conference, the Governor said, “West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament. This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest of levels. Now who was the last team to get into the Tournament ahead of the Mountaineers? That would be the University of North Carolina. Tell me how their resume stacks up. The Tar Heels went 1-12 in Quad 1 games, and even had a Quad 3 loss.”
The governor added that he has asked his attorney general to launch an investigation into the NCAA Tournament selection committee, “to determine if any back-room deals, corruption, bribes or any nefarious activities occurred during this selection process. I know that the attorney general and I are going to leave no stone unturned during this process.”
West Virginia Basketball’s Season
The Mountaineers finished the year at 19-13 overall and 10-10 overall and were comfortably in the tournament field by every bracketologist.
While the Mountaineers were left out of the field, teams like North Carolina and Texas made it to post-season play with significantly worse resumes and records. The Longhorns snuck into the tournament with a 19-15 overall record and an abysmal 6-12 record in SEC play.
For North Carolina, their record was worthy of a bid, but the issue comes down to their resume. The Tar Heels finished their regular season off at 1-12 against Quad 1 opponents. They were an abysmal 1-8 against Top 25 teams, all of which found their way into the NCAA Tournament.
Meantime, WVU had six Quad 1 wins on the season, while UNC and Xavier had two combined.
Seven Big 12 Teams in March Madness
On Sunday, the March Madness selection committee elected to place seven teams from the Big 12 Conference in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Houston, Texas Tech, Arizona, Iowa State, BYU, Kansas, and Baylor were all selected for the tournament field, with Houston earning a 1-seed as the league’s highest-ranked team. The Big 12 was largely projected to get eight in the NCAA Tournament.
Related: Top 5 Big 12 Takeaways From March Madness Selection Sunday
And while seven Big 12 teams made the Tournament, the SEC got 14 of its 16 teams in, while the Big Ten received eight. Other leagues receiving multiple bids included the Big East which had five, the ACC had four, Mountain West had four and the West Coast had two.
The top-seeded team from the Big 12 Conference was the regular season and tournament champion Houston Cougars, who were awarded the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region. Other teams to earn top four seeds in their respective regions are No. 3 Texas Tech (West), No. 3 Iowa State (South) and No. 4 Arizona (East).
Of the four new members to join the Big 12 in 2024-25, the Arizona Wildcats were the only team to reach the Big Dance, with Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah all missing out on post-season play.
