Men’s March Madness Snubs: San Diego State, Auburn Left Out of NCAA Tournament Field

Much of the conversation every year after the men’s NCAA tournament selection show is about who didn’t get in. And this year in particular, with all the wild narratives that took off late in the year debating the importance of strength of schedule and how to evaluate teams like Miami (Ohio) and Auburn, we were guaranteed to get at least one team with every reason to be upset that their name wasn’t called. 

Which teams have the biggest gripe about not being selected to go dancing? Here’s a look at five with the most valid complaints. 

San Diego State and the Mountain West 

Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez likely has among the biggest gripes with how her league was treated on Selection Sunday. The league had six top-75 KenPom teams, but only its champion, Utah State, is dancing after San Diego State was the third team out. New Mexico was also in the bubble mix coming down the stretch. For a league that has gotten four or more bids in the last four years, it’s hard to believe just one Mountain West team will have a chance to dance this season. 

San Diego State’s case was the strongest. It had boosted its résumé this week by beating Colorado State and New Mexico in the Mountain West tournament, and hung right with Utah State in the title game most of the way. The Aztecs challenged themselves in the nonconference schedule, playing in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas and a neutral-site game vs. Arizona. Unfortunately, the Aztecs took a difficult Quad 3 loss to Troy (an eventual NCAA tournament team) in mid-November that haunted them. Teams unfortunately are rarely rewarded for playing buy games against better mid-majors instead of the dregs of Division I. 

And New Mexico looked in good shape in mid-February, but finished poorly with losses in four of six to close the season. Some of those were heartbreakers: a two-point defeat to San Diego State, a four-point loss to Utah State and two more single-digit defeats against Nevada and Colorado State. Like SDSU, the Lobos were hurt by an early bad loss, falling to rival New Mexico State on Nov. 15 for their worst defeat of the season.

Auburn 

It’s certainly hard to be sympathetic for Steven Pearl’s Tigers after losing 16 times in the regular season and posting a pedestrian 17–16 record. That being said, everything else about the Tigers’ profile was NCAA tournament caliber. Auburn beat Florida on the road in Gainesville, Fla., the best win of any bubble team by a long shot. They also beat Big East champion St. John’s on a neutral court in November and blew out Arkansas in January. And from a metrics standpoint, Auburn was the strongest overall profile to miss the cut. 

Is that enough for me to say Auburn deserved to be in? Maybe not. But Auburn’s schedule was so difficult that perhaps the committee could have been a bit more forgiving of its very middling record. 

Oklahoma 

In a season in which it seemed like just about every bubble team stumbled to the finish line, perhaps the committee could have rewarded an Oklahoma team that soared in the season’s final month. In February, the Sooners won on the road at Vanderbilt, a monster résumé-topping win over a top-15 team in the NET. They also notably won late-season matchups against several of the league’s bubble teams, including winning on the road at Texas (one of the last teams in) and blowing out both Missouri and Texas A&M that landed on the No. 10 line. If the objective is to select the best teams at the present moment, Oklahoma certainly seemed more dangerous than some of the teams that enter the Big Dance on a whimper. 

Instead, it’s yet another bubble heartbreak for the Sooners under Porter Moser, who have made a living coming up just short. The Sooners had a strong case in both 2022 and ’24 but were left out. This year, Oklahoma was the first team out, meaning that if not for bid steals in the Atlantic 10 (VCU) and MAC (Akron), the Sooners would have snuck in. 

Indiana

You might not call Indiana a snub, but the Hoosiers were in the first four out in spite of their brutal finish. Had the Hoosiers not lost to Northwestern in ugly fashion in the Big Ten tournament, it’s possible Indiana might have been able to sneak in. In the end though, going from 17–8 to 18–14 will elicit little sympathy from most. 

That said, Darian DeVries is another coach who can’t be enjoying Selection Sunday lately. This year’s snub was far less egregious than last year’s shocking exclusion at West Virginia though.

Seton Hall

This wasn’t as egregious as two years ago, when Seton Hall was left out in spite of a 13–7 Big East record. But Shaheen Holloway can’t be too happy about the lack of respect for his Pirates and the Big East after not even coming close to the field despite winning 21 games. In the end, the Pirates just were victims of too many close calls, losing single-digit games to St. John’s and UConn twice each and in controversial fashion against UCLA in Maui. I maintain the Pirates might have been dangerous despite an anemic offense had they gotten in.

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