MORGANTOWN — For a second consecutive season, the WVU men’s basketball team will not be dancing.
A year ago, that was no shock, but it was a much different feeling Sunday, as the 68-team field for the NCAA tournament was unveiled with the Mountaineers left on the outside looking in.
“Obviously, we are extremely shocked, saddened and disappointed with not being selected for the NCAA tournament,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said in a statement. “We strongly believe that we have a resumé that is worthy of an NCAA tournament team.
“I am incredibly proud of this team and what they accomplished. They poured their hearts into this season and put all their collective efforts into making the NCAA tournament, and I believe they did that.”
Rather than playing in the NCAAs, the Mountaineers (19-13) were instead listed by the selection committee at the top of the “First Four Out” list, which was little consolation to the Mountaineers.
The team watched the selection show at a private off-campus site. Hopefully, it was a fortified bunker to protect the team from the shrapnel thrown its way by the NCAA selection committee.
“I can’t comprehend this team being left out,” WVU athletic director Wren Baker in a statement on social media. “Our resumé was better than several teams in the field and it’s a terrible travesty that we weren’t included.”
As the top-ranked non-NCAA tournament team from the Big 12, the Mountaineers earned an automatic bid to the College Basketball Crown, which is a new 16-team tournament this year launched by Fox Sports.
The entire tournament is played in Las Vegas, but doesn’t begin until March 31.
It was unclear at press time if WVU had accepted a bid to the Crown.
Most projections had the Mountaineers heading for the NCAA tournament at the end of the regular season, as either a No. 9 or No. 10 seed.
Following a 72-65 victory against UCF to close out the regular season, DeVries felt the Mountaineers’ resumé for the NCAAs was good enough for inclusion.
“There’s no doubt now,” DeVries said after the game. “They punched their ticket tonight. They’re in the tournament.”
But it was a devastating 67-60 loss against Colorado — the last place team in the Big 12 — in the second round of the conference tournament that may have put the final nail in the Mountaineers’ coffin.
WVU did not look like a tournament-type team in that loss, and the Mountaineers also struggled over the final stretch of the season.
WVU went 6-9 over its final 15 games, including the loss in the Big 12 tournament and scored 70, or more, points in only five of those games.
Still, the Mountaineers had built an impressive resumé earlier in the season with wins against Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa State — all four teams made the field of 68 — and entered the day with a NET ranking of No. 51.
The NET rankings is the evaluation tool used by the selection committee to determine at-large bids and seeding for the tournament.
While the overall NET ranking would leave plenty of reason to be left out of the field, WVU was 6-10 in Quad 1 games, while a team like North Carolina — NET ranking of 36 — was just 1-12 in Quad 1 games.
According to Bubba Cunningham, the chair of the selection committee, as well as North Carolina’s athletic director, the Tar Heels were the final at-large team selected for the field.
“I have so much appreciation for (DeVries), our coaching staff and players,” Baker said. “They deserved better than what the committee delivered today.”
