The 5 Biggest Snubs NCAA Tournament Snubs

Scott Morris | March 18, 2024

After the revealing of the 2024 March Madness bracket, the discussions immediately begin. This team should have been a higher seed. That team shouldn’t have made the tournament. Sleepers, Cinderellas, and, of course, the teams that got left out dominate the conversations.

That is our topic here. Each year, a few teams think they performed well enough to be selected at-large to the NCAA Tournament, but they eventually don’t get the call. That shadowy side was emphasized more than usual this year.

NC State, Oregon, New Mexico, Duquesne, and UAB are five teams that stole bids by making unexpected runs to win their respective conference tournaments.That effectively reduced the size of the at-large pool by five spots in a strong bubble year.

Here are five schools that could have been in this year’s NCAA tournament but fell victim to bid stealing.

OKLAHOMA

This one is a little surprising because, going into Championship Week, Oklahoma wasn’t really considered a bubble team. It seemed like the Sooners were playing for seeding and settled in comfortably.

But, then things changed with the Sooners loss to TCU in its first Big 12 tournament game. Still, OU was one of just six teams that went unbeaten against Quad 2-4 teams. All of its losses were to Quad 1 teams. At 20-12, Oklahoma ranked 43rd in KenPom and 46th in NET.

The Sooners played in the toughest conference in the nation, but it’s 4-12 record against Quad 1 opponents was too much of a red flag for the selection committee.

INDIANA STATE

The ghost of Larry Bird wasn’t powerful enough. Indiana State had only six losses all year and was ranked in the top 25 at one point in early February. Of the Sycamores five losses, four were road defeats to tournament teams: Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship game, Michigan State, Alabama, and Drake on the road.

The Sycamores were ranked inside the top 30 in the NET rankings and won every game they were expected to win, with the exception of losses to Southern Illinois and Illinois State. Ultimately, Indiana State’s strength of schedule probably did them. With many power conference teams not wanting to schedule good mid-majors, that was out the Sycamores’ control. Now, ISU is headed to the NIT.

ST JOHN’S

In an interesting twist, Richard Pitino, son of St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino, stole the Red Storm’s NCAA tournament bid. After St. John’s defeated Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals, most thought the elder Pitino and his team were in the Big Dance..

However, the younger Pitino stole a bid by winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament. New Mexico beat San Diego State 68-61 in the MWC title game. The Lobos received a No. 11 seed and will face No. 6 Clemson in the first round of the tournament. San Diego State is a No. 5 seed.

St. John’s went 20-13 in Pitino’s first season as head coach. They went 4-10 in Quad 1 games and 6-2 against Quad 2 teams. Pitino’s team was ranked 25th by KenPom and was 32nd in the NET rankings.

After receiving a bid to the NIT, Pitino and the Red Storm declined the invitation.

SETON HALL

Here’s another resume that, at first glance, looks like it belongs to a tournament squad. The Pirates finished 13-7 in the Big East after victories over UConn and Marquette. The Hall is still not dancing despite 13 victories in a conference that was largely considered to be among the top three or top four in the country.

The reason the Pirates were left out must be that the computers didn’t like Seton Hall, as evidenced by its rankings of 67 and 62 in the NET and KenPom, respectively. The Pirates went 20-12 on the season. Despite the wins over UConn and Marquette, Seton Hall did go just 5-8 in Quad 1 games. Most of those, however, were in the Big East. Those computer rankings were probably the downfall of the Pirates.

PITT

Pitt (22-11) is a prime illustration of how a team’s nonconference schedule strength can cost them a tournament bid. The Panthers played a soft schedule that gave them few opportunities to earn quality victories. They also suffered a very disappointing loss to Missouri back in November.

But from January onward, this team appeared to be a top-30 team from an aesthetic standpoint. The Panthers started poorly in ACC play, but won at Duke, finished 12-8 in the conference, and advanced to the ACC tournament semifinals, and ultimately fell short against North Carolina in a close game.

Pitt is another casualty of a stolen bid. NC State won the ACC tournament by upsetting North Carolina. The Panthers swept the Wolfpack this season. Unfortunately, that didn’t make up for a strength of schedule that ranked 317th in the country.