March Madness Snubs in the Eyes of the People

Hey everyone, Matthew Ryan and Rob Mailley here! During March, we will be responding to takes posted on the @tfrontoffice Instagram story, so head over to the page to drop your opinions, then come back to the blog and see what we have to say! Today we are responding to people’s snubs from this year’s March Madness.

Saint Louis University (14-6)

The Billikens were one of the most controversial snubs in this year’s bracket, but I’m not really sure why. Because they were in covid purgatory for the greater part of January, they missed most of their conference games. Even in the ones they could play, they didn’t do anything particularly impressive. They went 6-4, and lost to most of the more formidable A-10 teams. Getting swept by Dayton and losing to VCU didn’t do wonders for their NET rankings. 

Verdict: Disagree

Colorado State University (18-6)

Colorado State definitely could have gotten into the tournament, and I would have put them in way before Saint Louis. My main gripe against them is that they Split their series against the MWC’s best opponents. If they had swept one of these (Utah state, Boise, or even better SDSU), then the selection committee should have put them in. They could have gone either way, and to be honest, and not biased at all, I would have put them in instead of Syracuse.

Verdict: Agree

University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) (16-11)

I have a hard time with Ole Miss. They had some impressive wins: a season sweep of Mizzou and a home win against Tennessee, but they also lost to Vanderbelt and were swept by Georgia – Who only went 3-7 against quad 1 opponents. As much fun as I had watching the Rebs and Devontae Shuler stick it to Auburn, they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be this March — the NIT.

Verdict: Disagree

Duke University (13-11)

It obviously sucks that Duke’s season had to end the way it did, but they did not do enough to get an at-large bid in the games they played. Going 2-5 in quad one games fine, but 13-11 is a sub-par record for a tourney team, and going on three different three game losing streaks really hurts. Advancing to the quarterfinals in the ACC Tournament definitely helped, and a win over Florida State could have got them in, but we can’t just assume they would have kept rolling and pencil them in.

Verdict: Disagree

University of Louisville (13-7)

This is a tough one. Louisville is 13-7 overall but only 1-6 in quad one games. One bright spot for the Cardinals is that they only lost two games to teams that didn’t make the tourney, but one of those losses came in their first game of the ACC tournament to Duke by 14. As hard as this is, I’m fine with Louisville watching from their couches this March.

Verdict: Disagree

Marshall University (15-7)

Haha, good one. 15-7 overall and just 9-5 in the CUSA is not going to cut it. Oh, and they got bounced in the first game of their conference tournament. Yeah, it’s cool that their coach is Mike D’Antoni’s older brother, but I would be surprised if the selection committee even mentioned Marshall’s name while talking about bubble teams.

Verdict: Disagree