The controversy didn't take long for North Carolina to brew on Sunday's selection when it was made the Madness 2025 bracket in March.
Texas, Xavier and San Diego are the other three teams that cracked the tournament committee's “last four” list, and the Longhorns' appearance was added to the SEC's record-setting year, sending 14 teams to Madness Field in March.
This post breaks down major snubs from the NCAA tournaments, including West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio State and Boise. This is listed on the committee's “First Four Outs” list.
Ohio (17-15)
Guard Blues Thornton appeared as one of the nation's bests, averaging 17.5 points per game and 4.5 assists in the regular season.
As a team, the Buckeyes shot 37.2% from the 3-point range. This is the third best meeting.
However, they were defensively soft and collected a 6-11 record for Quad I Games this season. Their final game before the selection was a brutal loss to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
The Hawkeyes fired head coach Fran McCaffrey a few days after the season-ending defeat, but his final victory in the program popped the Buckeyes bubble case.
In this post, it is covered with a printable NCAA bracket with a 68-team March Madness 2025 field.
Indiana (19-13)
Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers bid farewell after the season, and it seemed he might leave too soon, as he expressed on Advanced Day earlier this month.
After a five-game midseason lost a straight win, the Hoosiers won five of their final seven regular-season games, but ended up reaching their third tournament under Woodson.
They lost to Oregon in the second round of the Big Ten tournament, making it just 4-13 in the Quad I game.
West Virginia (19-13)
There wasn't much expectation this season from climber and first-year head coach Daryan Devries. They were ranked 13th in the polls before the Big 12 seasons, but that changed when they fell back then. 3 Gonzaga in November.
Javon Small averaged 18.6 points on Friday, with WVU having the second-best scoring defense and the highest 3-point defense in the meeting.
Still, it didn't matter when the brackets were announced.
Boise State (24-10)
The Broncos closed the regular season with nine wins in 11 games, but missed out on their fourth straight NCAA Tournament Bertz.
They had an offensive balance – six different players averaged at least 6.2 points – and are particularly good at protecting defensive glass.
Boise state led the country with a defensive rebound rate of 80.2.
However, with an automatic bid on Saturday night, they shook Colorado during a 69-56 defeat at the Mountain West Tournament Championship.
Wake Forest (21-11)
The Demon Deacon's identity, carried by All-ACC first-team Hunter Salis, who averaged 18.0 points in the regular season, came to the defensive side of the ball.
They forced 13.4 turnovers per game in the regular season. This is the second in the meeting.
Conversely, they scored just 29.2% from the 3-point range (worst in the ACC) and a fourth-place finish in the regular season standings of the conference, losing to UNC in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, not enough to generate another cameo in the bracket.
