NCAA selection chairman denies FBI investigation conspiracy theory

Some of the biggest snubs in this year’s NCAA Tournament had one very noteworthy thing in common — they are all part of the FBI’s investigation into corruption across college basketball. Of course, the NCAA insists that is merely a coincidence.

After bubble teams USC, Oklahoma State and Louisville were all left out of the tournament, a conspiracy theory was launched that the selection committee avoided those schools due to the controversy surrounding them. NCAA selection committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen insists the FBI probe was a total non-factor.

NCAA selection committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen told ESPN that the FBI probe had nothing to do with USC, Oklahoma State or Louisville being omitted. "It never came up in the room," he said.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 12, 2018

As we laid out for you in detail on Sunday, the numbers may tell a different story. All three of the aforementioned schools could have made a case to be included in the dance based on conference play and quality wins, and USC was actually one of the biggest snubs in tournament history based on RPI.

The schools implicated in the FBI investigation included Arizona, Miami, South Carolina, Auburn, Louisville, Oklahoma State and USC. There was no way to exclude the first four, but it sure seems like the NCAA tried to avoid the latter three.