Of the various potential men’s NCAA tournament snubs left out of the 68-team field on Selection Sunday, West Virginia probably has the best case for being upset.

The Mountaineers were far from perfect this season, entering Sunday with a 19–13 record, but the team was far more competitive against top competition than the last team in the field, North Carolina, which was famously just 1–12 against Quad 1 opponents in the NET rankings. WVU was 6–10.

Pat McAfee, perhaps the best-known West Virginia alumnus in sports right now, believes the school’s top programs’ lack of recent top-line success allowed a big brand like UNC to beat out his Mountaineers.

“Men’s basketball, men’s football, there hasn’t been the national moment for a while,” McAfee said on his show Monday. “And I think that was held against us.”

While he acknowledged that the team could have certainly played better and eliminated any question about whether they should be in the field, McAfee does think the program deserved a ticket to the dance.

“Wouldn’t have been a high seeding, obviously. We should have played a lot better throughout the season and certainly had a little bit of a setback. And we didn’t do well in the Big 12 tournament either,” he said.

“So obviously, they’re holding something against West Virginia. That is just another chip on the shoulder. Obviously, it’s bulls—. We don’t love it, we don’t like it. Play better, you’re in, definitely, but nonetheless, West Virginia will be back. West Virginia will be back on top in all the big sports.”

McAfee also supports West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey’s threat of legal action against the NCAA and selection committee after the snub.

It won’t be enough to change the tournament field this year, but clearly McAfee hopes the momentum for the Mountaineers across all sports will start to change. Perhaps this snub can be a spark to that end.

West Virginia’s governor, Patrick Morrisey, said on Monday that the state will launch an investigation into the NCAA and the selection committee over how teams were picked for this year’s NCAA Tournament.

His move comes a day after his state’s flagship school, West Virginia, was excluded from the tournament.

Standing behind a podium emblazoned with a sign that read “National Corrupt Athletic Association,” Morrisey said West Virginia deserved a place in the tournament.

“This is a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest level,” he said.

Clearly knowledgeable about college basketball, Morrisey talked at length about factors such as Quad 1 victories, strength of schedule and NET rankings – among the metrics that the tournament committee supposedly uses in determining the teams.

Debate raged on Monday morning after the North Carolina Tar Heels were awarded a spot in the field of 68 instead of the Mountaineers. UNC received a No 11 seed and will play fellow No 11 San Diego State in a First Four game on Tuesday.

West Virginia finished the season with a 19-13 record (10-10 Big 12); the Tar Heels were 22-13 (13-7 Atlantic Coast Conference). However, when using the metric of Quad 1 wins, North Carolina were 1-12 and West Virginia 6-10.

“We keep hearing about the importance of these Quad 1 wins, but UNC couldn’t even get more than one,” the Republican governor said. “They also had the 25th-toughest schedule in America, right behind WVU.”

Morrisey said he has directed state attorney general JB McCuskey to work with the NCAA to find out just what criteria the selection committee uses in picking the teams. McCuskey said that knowledge can help teams to build rosters and decide the best use of their NIL funds.

McCuskey also said that as the NCAA Tournament has evolved into a billion-dollar business, the selection process hasn’t kept up. An animated Morrisey also questioned what influence Bubba Cunningham, the chair of the selection committee, might have had over the process. Cunningham is the athletic director at North Carolina.

“That’s being reported by a number of outlets that Cunningham had a significant bonus incentive, at least $70,000, for UNC making the tournament – arguably more if they advanced,” he said, adding the state’s investigation would look into whether “backroom deals, corruption, bribes or any nefarious activities occurred.”

He added: “Any way you slice it, this thing reeks of corruption.”

Morrisey has tangled with the NCAA before. In 2023, when he served as the state’s attorney general, he and a coalition of attorneys general in other states sued the NCAA over transfer eligibility and won.

“Is this retribution? I don’t know. We’re going to have to get to the bottom of that,” he said.

West Virginia declined to participate in the second-tier NIT.

“I want to reiterate what I said on Sunday that I am incredibly proud of this team and what they accomplished this season,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said in a statement on Monday. “One of our team goals was making the NCAA Tournament and we had a resume worthy of an NCAA Tournament selection. Our guys poured their hearts into this season and all their collective efforts into making the NCAA tournament. I would like to thank all of Mountaineer Nation for their unwavering support of our team this season.”

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told ESPN he thought the selection committee made the wrong decision.

“I was surprised and disappointed to see West Virginia not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament,” Yormark said. “In addition to their six Quad 1 wins, the Mountaineers won 10 conference games in one of the toughest leagues in the country.”

As the 2025 NCAA tournament bracket was revealed on Sunday, there were bound to be a few notable exclusions. One of these was West Virginia, who fell just short of the tournament as the first team out.

With a 19-13 record, and a 10-10 Big 12 record, the Mountaineers were quickly viewed as one of the tournament’s biggest snubs. West Virginia seems to agree, with the Mountaineers publicly stating they believe they deserved a berth in the tourney.

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A couple of hours after the bracket was announced, West Virginia posted a statement from head coach Darian DeVries on social media addressing the snub.

Soon after the snub, West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker released a statement on social media, saying he was “heartbroken.” He posted the statement alongside a list of the Mountaineers’ accolades from the season, which included six wins over Quad 1 teams and four wins over ranked teams, including then-No. 2 Iowa State and then-No. 3 Gonzaga.

“I can’t comprehend this team being left out. Our résumé was better than several teams in the field and it’s a terrible travesty that we weren’t included,” Baker wrote.

West Virginia was passed over in the tournament in favor of North Carolina, which made the tournament as the last at-large team in the field.

UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham is the chair of the selection committee, prompting some to raise eyebrows at the Tar Heels’ inclusion. Cunningham and Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill, who is the committee’s vice chair, told CBS that Cunningham was not in the room when UNC was being discussed, as per the committee’s policy.

Gill said the Tar Heels would not have made the tournament if UAB had beaten Memphis in the AAC championship game on Sunday.

Still, the snub is a tough blow for West Virginia, with many getting the sense that the committee made the wrong choice. After the selection show, Cunningham cited a season-ending injury for Mountaineers guard Tucker DeVries — the coach’s son — as part of the reasoning for leaving West Virginia out. But DeVries played in only eight games before suffering the injury in December. He underwent shoulder surgery last month.

Instead, UNC will be the ones going dancing, playing San Diego State in a First Four game on Tuesday for the No. 11 seed. West Virginia, meanwhile, will be staying home.