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West Virginia governor vows to take action vs. NCAA over March Madness snub
By Paul Harvey
Published:
West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey is not watching idly by as the Mountaineers get left out of the final field for March Madness.
Across Selection Sunday, the full bracket for the 2025 NCAA Tournament was unveiled. That included North Carolina out of the ACC as officially the last team into the final field which came as a stunning announcement to many.
Most bracketologists, including ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, had the Tar Heels on the wrong side of the bubble. In fact, Lunardi’s final projection didn’t include a mention of West Virginia being in jeopardy at all, it only identified 3 teams (Indiana, Texas and Xavier) for the 2 final spots with UNC not having enough quality wins to deserve inclusion after a 1-12 mark in Quad 1 wins.
Instead of that playing out, West Virginia found itself on the wrong side of the bubble and was left out of the final field entirely alongside Indiana as UNC made its way in. UNC AD Bubba Cunningham ironically (or not, depending on how you feel) was the chair of the selection committee this season but confirmed he left the room for all discussions on the Tar Heels.
Vice Chair, Keith Gill, answered questions about the Tar Heels and pointed to their Quad 2 performance instead of the blemishes in Q1:
As for the Mountaineers, the governor revealed the state is preparing to take action against the “National Corrupt Athletic Association.” Morrisey is set to announce those potential actions alongside the state’s AG on Monday.
While WVU AD Wren Baker avoided commenting on potential action against the NCAA, he also reacted to the news on Sunday by saying his team “deserved better than what the committee delivered.” Baker also described the snub as a “terrible travesty” with the Mountaineers holding a better case than multiple teams that wound up in the bracket.
We’ll soon find out what action West Virginia believes it can take against the NCAA, but the Mountaineers will ultimately have to settle for being home for March Madness this time around.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
