March Madness 2025: What the NCAA tournament selection committee got right and wrong

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A basketball fan has roughly a 1 in 120.2 billion chance of filling out a perfect NCAA tournament bracket.

Those are about the same odds the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee has to unveil a new bracket without any nitpicking.

This year’s committee got off to a good start, correctly identifying which teams belonged on the No. 1 seed line. From there, it’s safe to say there will be plenty of complaints, some louder than others. Here’s a closer look at what the committee got right and wrong.

What the committee got wrong: Selecting North Carolina over West Virginia

Turns out that North Carolina’s ACC semifinal against Duke last Friday night wasn’t a must-win game. The Tar Heels snared the final at-large spot in the field two days later despite going 1-12 in Quadrant 1 games and only defeating one at-large-caliber NCAA tournament team.

It wasn’t a great look for the selection process that Sunday’s most controversial decision happened to benefit the committee chairman’s school. North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham went to great lengths during the selection show that “all the policies and procedures were followed” and that he “was not in the room” for any discussion of the Tar Heels.

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Even if North Carolina’s inclusion in the field probably wasn’t the product of a conspiracy, that doesn’t mean it was the correct choice. Surprise bubble omission West Virginia had the much stronger résumé despite its dreadful loss to last-place Colorado in its opening game of last week’s Big 12 tournament.

West Virginia had six Quadrant 1 wins. North Carolina had one.

West Virginia defeated Gonzaga and Arizona in non-league play, opened the Big 12 season with a win at Allen Fieldhouse and then took down Iowa State a few weeks later. UCLA is the only win of note that North Carolina notched all season. The Tar Heels’…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball/article/2025-march-madness-what-the-ncaa-tournament-selection-committee-got-right-and-wrong-011405682.html

Author : Jeff Eisenberg

Publish date : 2025-03-17 01:14:00

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