2025 March Madness: Here are the 5 biggest NCAA tournament snubs
It’s the most predictable part of Selection Sunday.
Every year, there are more teams convinced they deserve an NCAA men’s tournament bid than there is room in the 68-team bracket.
Three years ago, Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams distributed a nine-page manifesto arguing the Aggies were wronged and the selection process needs an overhaul. Last year, the Big East called itself “understandably very disappointed” over the conference’s historically low number of teams selected. This March, the bubble teams passed over in favor of North Carolina had the most reason to be fuming after the unveiling of the bracket Sunday evening.
Many amateur bracketologists projected the Tar Heels to narrowly miss the field of 68 since they went 1-12 in Quadrant 1 games and beat only one projected NCAA tournament team all year. The committee apparently felt otherwise, awarding one of the final at-large bids to the Tar Heels (22-13) by virtue of their top-40 metrics and strong strength of schedule.
While North Carolina experienced the relief of hearing its name called, other bubble teams weren’t so lucky. Here are this year’s biggest NCAA tournament snubs:
1. West Virginia (19-13)
KenPom: 53 | NET: 51 | Q1: 6-10 | Q2: 4-3 | Q3: 4-0 | Q4: 5-0
West Virginia paid a heavy price for its dreadful loss to last-place Colorado in its opening game of the Big 12 tournament. The Mountaineers went from comfortably avoiding the First Four in most bracket projections to missing the NCAA tournament altogether.
The omission of West Virginia was a big surprise. This is a Mountaineers team that defeated Gonzaga and Arizona in November, weathered the loss of standout guard Tucker DeVries and then went .500 in the rugged Big 12. West Virginia left itself vulnerable by not doing much of note since wins over Kansas and Iowa State early in conference play. The Mountaineers went 6-9 during the second half of the season and did not beat a single NCAA tournament-caliber team during that stretch.
2. Indiana Hoosiers (19-13)
KenPom: 48 | NET: 54 | Q1: 4-13 | Q2: 5-0 | Q3: 6-0 | Q4: 5-0
With “Fire Woodson” chants raining down at Assembly Hall and pressure increasing from the media and his administration, Indiana head coach Mike Woodson announced in early February that he would step down at the end of the season. Only after that did the Hoosiers start to perform more like a preseason top 25 team. They improbably won at Big Ten champion Michigan State. They took down Purdue and fellow bubble team Ohio State. They came within a bucket or two against Michigan and UCLA.
It was a respectable finish and it nearly got Woodson into the NCAA tournament for a third time in four seasons, but it wasn’t quite enough to make up for a midseason stretch of seven losses in eight games. The Hoosiers’ predictive and resume-based metrics were both fairly low. They had four Quadrant 1 victories but needed a ton of opportunities to get those. They finished four games below .500 against the top two quadrants.
3. Boise State (24-10)
KenPom: 50 | NET: 43 | Q1: 3-6 | Q2: 5-2 | Q3: 5-1 | Q4: 10-1
Boise State had good reason to think it had done enough to earn an NCAA tournament bid entering Selection Sunday. The Broncos scheduled aggressively in non-league play, toppling Clemson and Saint Mary’s. They won 14 games in the Mountain West regular season and advanced to the title game of the Mountain West tournament, ousting two of the conference’s best teams along the way.
Why then did the committee leave Boise State out? It certainly didn’t help that the Broncos are one of the only bubble teams with a blemish in Quadrant 4, a 63-61 loss to 19-loss Boston College in the title game of the Cayman Islands Classic back in November.
“Because, on the third day of a tournament, Boston College hits a step-back 3 to beat us, does that mean we’re not tournament-worthy?” Boise State coach Leon Rice asked incredulously on Saturday night when speaking to reporters about his team’s NCAA tournament case.
Apparently so. When the margin between bubble teams is so thin, every game matters.
4. UC Irvine (28-6)
KenPom: 65 | NET: 60 | Q1: 1-1 | Q2: 3-2 | Q3: 12-3 | Q4: 11-0
The dream of a two-bid Big West died during the final 10 minutes of Saturday night’s conference tournament title game when UC San Diego pulled away from UC Irvine to seize a 75-61 victory. The Tritons had the stronger case for an at-large bid. The Anteaters have been one of college basketball’s stingiest defensive teams all season, but they lacked the gaudy metrics or head-turning non-conference win to sway the committee.
UC Irvine coach Russell Turner seemed to already realize that by the time he spoke to reporters after Saturday night’s loss.
“It’s undeniable the devastating feeling of falling short of the goal of playing in March Madness,” Turner said. “We knew if we won we would reach the mountaintop and if we did not win, like we didn’t tonight, we would feel like we failed.”
5. Ohio State (17-15)
KenPom: 39 | NET: 41 | Q1: 6-11 | Q2: 3-4 | Q3: 2-0 | Q4: 6-0
In retrospect, it’s remarkable how clear the path to an NCAA bid looked for Ohio State entering the Big Ten tournament. Even at 17-14, even after slip-up after slip-up during Big Ten play, the underachieving Buckeyes were still in striking distance of claiming one of the final at-large bids.
Step one would have been a victory over an Iowa team days away from firing its coach, but Ohio State couldn’t even manage that. The Buckeyes fell 77-70 in a game where a win wouldn’t have assured them a spot in the field of 68, but a loss all but eliminated them from contention.
Predictive metrics still rank Ohio State as a top 40ish, NCAA tournament-caliber team. The Buckeyes boast six Quadrant 1 wins, including marquee victories over Kentucky, Maryland and Purdue. But no team has ever landed an at-large bid at just two games over .500, and the committee rightfully didn’t deem this Ohio State team worthy of being the first.
