Honorable Mentions
2001 Alabama Crimson Tide
Not sure if there are many people who remember this Alabama Crimson Tide team. They started out 11-1 in the non-conference. The only loss by the Tide came in the championship game of an early season tournament to the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cincinnati would end up grabbing a five-seed and make the Sweet 16.
Alabama entered the top-25 in Week 4. The Crimson Tide reached No. 18 when SEC play started and peaked at No. 14. That was two weeks before Selection Sunday.
Alabama’s first two SEC losses came to teams that would eventually make the Tournament. The Crimson Tide picked up a huge win over the Kentucky Wildcats, who landed a two-seed. Their first loss to a non-tournament team came against the Vanderbilt Commodores and then the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Alabama dropped out of the polls because of ending the regular season on a four-game losing streak, but three out of four were to Tournament teams. They revenged a loss against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament, but lost to the Florida Gators. Despite a 21-10 record, it was not good enough for the Crimson Tide to go dancing.
2018 Nebraska Cornhuskers
The Nebraska Cornhuskers took advantage of a very down year for the Big Ten. Last year, the Cornhuskers won 13 Big Ten games and didn’t make it to the NCAA Tournament.
They finished fourth and was the only team in the Big Ten with a conference winning record to not go dancing. But the committee looked at its non-conference slate, which was not good. Nebraska did not pick up a non-conference road win and lost to its toughest opponent in their early season tournament.
All four Big Ten road wins came to teams with losing records in conference. The win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the beginning of December was a top-15 win, but the Gophers really struggled after that.
Nebraska picked up a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament after tying with the Michigan Wolverines and getting the tiebreaker thanks to winning the only match up. But the Cornhuskers lost to Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, ultimately leading to Nebraska being left out of the Big Tournament.
2012 Washington Huskies
The Washington Huskies finished first in a power-conference and got left out of the NCAA Tournament. They finish one spot ahead of the Oregon Ducks and the California Golden Bears.
Their overall records are almost identical as well. The Colorado Buffaloes finished fifth, won the Pac-12 Tournament and snagged the auto-bid. To avoid a good conference only getting one bid, the committee chose Cal over Washington and Oregon. The Ducks have a case, but the Huskies won the regular season title.
They did start out 6-5 before Pac-12 play started. Four out of the five losses end up making the NCAA Tournament. They didn’t help their case because Washington didn’t pick up a single NCAA Tournament win either.
Since the Pac-12 only had two representatives, an out of nowhere conference champion and Cal, the Huskies failed to beat both. But you would think winning 12 regular season games could be enough, despite getting upset in the first round to the Oregon State Huskies.
2009 Davidson Wildcats
Do you all remember what Stephen Curry did in his final season at Davidson before going pro? He did not make the Elite Eight and lose by two to the Kansas Jayhawks. He came back for his junior year, lost the next three leading scorers behind him and failed to make the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats had won 26 games heading into Selection Sunday, but the committee didn’t push for Curry and his Davidson team to make the Tournament for a second time.
Davidson started the season ranked 20th by no surprise. By Week 7, they dropped out and two weeks later conference play started, meaning no more chances for quality wins.
In the third game of the season, Blake Griffin’s Oklahoma Sooners beat Curry’s Wildcats. Davidson beat a Tournament team in the West Virginia Mountaineers on a neutral court, but couldn’t secure another quality win. They went 18-2 and won the regular season title, but won just one game in the Tournament and didn’t pick up an at-large bid.
2008 Arizona State Sun Devils
The previous year, another future NBA superstar entered college, but failed to make the NCAA Tournament. James Harden came in as a top-20 recruit for Arizona State.
The Sun Devils started out 10-2 before Pac-10 play started. The two losses though were to teams that would end up missing the Tournament. They did knock off a 30-win Xavier Musketeers team, but Arizona State only played on true road game out of conference.
Arizona State reached the polls for two weeks in January, but fell out after losing five-straight. What really upsets Sun Devils fans that year is that they beat the Arizona Wildcats twice that year, but Arizona still got in and the Devils did not.
They finished a solid 9-9 in the Pac-10 for fifth place, but lost in the first round of the conference Tournament. That went along with a bad RPI and we did not see Harden make the Tournament until the next year.