2019 NCAA Tournament: TCU, Indiana, Alabama among top Selection Sunday snubs
Another Selection Sunday is in the books so let’s talk about who was snubbed from the 2019 NCAA Tournament since many fan bases always feel like their team deserved to get in over others.
I just got done talking about who the biggest NCAA Tournament snubs were since 2000 and now I’ll talk about who were the biggest names to be left out of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. As crazy and wide open as the field has ever been, there aren’t any eye-opening snubs. We don’t have a USC from last year who finished second in the Pac-12, made the conference Championship and was snubbed.
The Selection Committee probably chose Washington to avoid what happened in 2012. The Huskies won the regular season title, but was left out of the Tournament. Saint Mary’s was left of the Tournament last year and that created some buzz. The Gaels eliminated all snub talk and just beat Gonzaga for the automatic bid.
The committee chose two from the Ohio Valley and Atlantic 10 because Middle Tennessee felt snubbed last year. But then again, the Southern Conference had a better half than both of those conference and they only got one. And the Big Ten played much better so they didn’t have a team finish fourth and get left out.
There was some strong debate going on all day Sunday on who the final six or so teams were going to be. But nobody came to a consensus once the Selection Show started. No team was safely in, but ended up finding themselves out. There were however some teams from power-conferences who played in tough leagues that simply missed the dance due to either a bad NOSOS or losing a ton down the stretch.
The committee wants to evaluate the entire body of work and not just recent games, so obviously TCU and NC State both felt like there was a chance at getting in. The SoCon had a great year and only the automatic was selected there. But we were told Sunday night that UNC Greensboro was the first team out. Most of the other teams had a lot of losses, but also showed some great wins along the way. I’ll highlight the seven teams who are feeling a snubbed this week after not getting invited to the dance.