Standing in front of a wooden dais with a teal blue sign attached to the front with the acronym “NCAA” — in this case standing for “National Corrupt Athletic Association” — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Attorney General JB McCuskey announced at a joint press conference Monday they will launch an investigation into the NCAA Tournament selection committee after the Mountaineers were snubbed from the 68-team field on Sunday.
“Nearly every single sports fan, pundit and Bracketologist had WVU as a shoo-in for the tournament,” Gov. Morrisey said, less than a day after the Mountaineers were the first team left out of the field. “This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels.”
Gov. Morrisey took particular issue with West Virginia’s omission combined with North Carolina’s inclusion and cited the potential conflict of interest in the decision-making with UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham serving as selection committee chair. He went on to discuss the merits of their respective resumes, discussing performance in various quadrants and strength of schedule.
“Now, who was the last team to get into the tournament ahead of the Mountaineers?” Gov. Morrisey asked hypothetically. “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 one 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,” he continued. “Now, here’s something you may not know: UNC had representation in the room during the selection process. Let me repeat that. 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.”
Gov. Morrisey then asked for JB McCuskey to launch an investigation into the selection committee to “determine if any backroom deals, corruption, bribes or any nefarious activity” took place during the selection process.
Pressed for details on the investigation, Gov. Morrisey said it’s unclear if he plans to bring legal action to the fight and emphasized he first wants to see “objective criteria” for tournament inclusion.
West Virginia was the first team out of the 68-team field revealed on Selection Sunday, while North Carolina was the last team to make the field.
UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham had to recuse himself for any conversations related to UNC’s NCAA Tournament inclusion. But the puzzling decision to put UNC in over West Virginia warranted further inspection Sunday, and it did not withstand scrutiny.
In particular, the committee said the availability of Tucker DeVries — who hadn’t played since December for West Virginia — was a factor discussed, as was UNC’s T-Rank (a metric from Bart Torvik measuring efficiency) and standing in WAB (Wins Above Bubble).
“It is incumbent upon me to work with the governor to ensure that this process is fair,” McCuskey said. “We earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. You can’t really make an argument any other way.”
