It’s amazing how even when the tournament field is expanded to include 68 teams, you still find schools complaining about not getting in. Bottom line, if you haven’t convinced people beyond a doubt to include you in a field that large then you don’t belong in the tournament. But that still won’t stop us from pointing out the teams that were the biggest snubs from the field of 68.
Colorado: The Buffs were 21-13 and 8-8 in Big 12 play. They lost non-conference games to Georgia, San Francisco, Harvard, and New Mexico, all of whom won 20 games except San Francisco which went 10-4 in conference. Colorado’s biggest claims were beating Kansas State three times and Missouri once (when the Tigers were ranked 9th). Kansas State was good enough to be a five seed. Colorado beat ’em three times, yet they’re not in. Doesn’t make much sense.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies went 21-11 and 9-7 in the ACC and are one of just four teams to beat Duke. They lost non-conference games to Kansas St., UNLV, and Purdue, all of whom are in the dance. Their other losses came in conference play, with losses to Georgia Tech and two each to Virginia and Boston College hurting them the most. The Duke win was easily their biggest accomplishment, and their two wins over Florida State (including one on this bad call) also helped their case.
Harvard: The Crimson went 23-6 and 12-2 in the Ivy League. They lost an automatic bid on a last-second shot by Princeton that beat them 63-62 — their second loss to the Tigers. Their other losses were to George Mason, Michigan, UConn, and Yale, all of whom are tournament teams except Yale. Their notable wins were Colorado, Boston College (which finished 6th in the ACC), and Boston U. (another tourney team). Though Harvard had a good year, it seems obvious the NCAA didn’t want two Ivy League teams in the dance.
Other Notable Snubs Include Alabama, Boston College, and St. Mary’s.
Alabama: The Tide rolled to a 21-11 record including a 12-4 mark in the SEC, good enough to finish first in the SEC West. Six non-conference losses crippled their resume, including ugly losses to 13-18 Seton Hall, 15-17 Providence, and 11-20 Iowa. Their biggest accomplishment was a win over four-seed Kentucky and two wins over 10-seed Georgia. It’s hard to have much sympathy for the Tide — they beat up on weak SEC West competition and can only blame themselves for the poor start to the season.
Boston College: BC was 20-12 and 9-7 in conference. They beat Texas A&M non-conference but lost to Yale, Wisconsin, Harvard, and Rhode Island. Going out in the second round of the conference tourney and not having any notable conference wins hurt their chances of making the dance. They were only a middle of the road ACC team.
St. Mary’s: The Gaels were 25-8 and went 11-3 in the WCC, tying with Gonzaga for first. Their non-conference schedule was extremely weak, but they did beat Harvard and Mississippi State. Losing to 6-24 USD was ugly, but the reality is if they had beaten Gonzaga one more time (they were 1-2 against the Zags), they would probably be the 11-seed. They also had opportunities to help themselves with games against San Diego State, BYU, and Utah State, but they lost all of them.
