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‘Reeks of corruption’: West Virginia governor on March Madness snub
The first four teams left out of the 68-team NCAA field were revealed Sunday, including 24-win Boise State, Indiana West Virginia and fellow Big Ten team Ohio State.
The first four teams left out of the 68-team NCAA field were revealed Sunday, including 24-win Boise State, Indiana West Virginia and fellow Big Ten team Ohio State.
And the decision is not being taken lightly in West Virginia.
On Monday, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he has asked his attorney general to investigate and work closely with the NCAA to ensure that the tournament selection process is transparent and fair.
“West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA tournament,” Morrisey said, standing at a lectern with a sign reading National Corrupt Athletic Association. “This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels.”
West Virginia (19-13) had six Quad I wins this season, but lost its opening game in the Big 12 tournament to last-place Colorado. That kept the Mountaineers from being that league’s eighth team to make the NCAA field.
“Obviously, we are extremely shocked, saddened and disappointed with not being selected for the NCAA Tournament,” first-year Mountaineers coach Darian DeVries said. “We strongly believe that we have a resume that is worthy of an NCAA Tournament team.”
The Mountaineers played much of the season without the coach’s son, six-foot-seven Tucker DeVries, who averaged 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in his eight starts before an upper-body injury that required surgery. The father-son duo came from Drake, where Tucker DeVries was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference player of the year.
“This stinks at the highest level. This doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Morrisey. “Any way you slice it, this thing reeks of corruption.”
After Indiana won five of its last seven games in the regular season to get in the mix, the bubble burst after losing to Oregon in its only Big Ten Tournament game.
Their 66-year-old coach Mike Woodson, who has been under fire most of the past two years, announced in February that he was stepping down at his alma mater at the end of the season. The Hoosiers missed the NCAAs last season after making it in his first two seasons, then ending their first stretch of four missed NCAAs in a row since 1968-72.
Boise State (24-10) made it to the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game, but wasn’t one of the league’s four teams that moved on to the NCAA Tournament. Colorado State got the league’s automatic berth with 69-56 win over the Broncos in the title game.
The Broncos had been to the NCAA Tournament the past three seasons, and 15th-season coach Leon Rice spoke after the MWC title game about his team’s continued aggressive scheduling and “great wins” this season over Clemson and Saint Mary’s. He also lamented how the selection committee might look at a single loss in November at the end of an early-season tournament.
“So because, on the third day of a tournament, Boston College hits a step-back three to beat us, does that mean we’re not tournament-worthy? I mean when you’re breaking it down, ‘Well, they’ve got this one (bad loss).’ That happened in November with a different team basically than what we are now,” Rice said. “So when you’re on the bubble … it’s a fine line that you’re on, and one shot can say you’re good enough to be in it, or you’re not good enough to be in it.”
Bubba Cunningham, the North Carolina athletic director who is chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, referenced DeVries’ injury when talking about the first four teams left out.
“The last four teams that were out for, it was a tough call. The next team out was West Virginia and they had an outstanding year and unfortunately knowing Tucker DeVries was hurt, player availability is something that we talk about quite a bit,” Cunningham said during the Selection Show. “Indiana was close, Ohio State was close, Boise was close.”
Ohio State had six Quad I wins like West Virginia, but the Buckeyes lost five of their last seven games and missed the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. The last time they did that was 2003-05.
Wake Forest (21-11) turned down playing in the 32-team National Invitation Tournament after recently marking the 25th anniversary of its 2000 NIT championship.
The Demon Deacons haven’t made the NCAA field since 2017, but athletic director John Currie touted their 13-7 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference for a fourth-place finish that was their best since 2009. He also noted their 86 wins over the past four seasons, after averaging only 12 wins the previous 11 years.
“I deeply respect how difficult it is for the members of the NCAA Tournament selection committee to choose from 332 teams for just 37 at-large spots,” Currie said. “The embedded principles which enabled six teams who finished at below .500 in their conferences to take 16 per cent of those at-large spots don’t make sense to me.”
–with files from Sportsnet
