While there are 68 teams celebrating their appearance in the NCAA men's tournament, there are several others sulking, thinking about what could have been.
Every year, there are always teams that had a tournament worthy resume, but there just weren't enough spots for them to make it into the bracket. This year's was especially not kind, with chaos in conference tournaments resulting in bids being stolen, and the number of available spots shrinking. There are also the factors the tournament committee considers, like NET ranking and other formulas to compare teams.
As a result, teams that thought they were going to be in learned they just missed the cut, and will miss the goal every team sets their eyes on even though they had a solid case.
Here are the biggest snubs from the 2024 NCAA men's tournament:
Life in the Big 12 is not easy, but even a decent season in the conference isn't enough to get in the field this season.
IT'S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY's NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.
In early January, Oklahoma was a top 10 team in the country and looked like a Big 12 title contender. But things began to get weird for the Sooners, finishing the regular season 2-5 and No. 9 seed in the Big 12 tournament after some significant injuries. The Sooners were out in one game, losing to TCU in their first game in Kansas City, Missouri.
Even with a 20-12 record, Oklahoma had no bad losses with all defeats being against Quad 1 opponents. The Sooners had just four Quad 1 wins, but had weathered a tough Big 12 combined with a great non-conference record to be worthy of a tournament spot. Instead, Oklahoma was the committee's last team out and the first casualty of the stolen bids.
Since the NET ranking was introduced in 2018, no team ranked in the top 30 ever missed the tournament − until now.
Indiana State won't be dancing despite having a No. 29 NET ranking on Selection Sunday, the highest rank to miss out on the tournament. The Sycamores had solid 28-6 season, but they didn't secure the Missouri Valley Conference automatic bid by losing to Drake in the conference tournament final. What might have hurt Indiana State was its Quad 1 record at 1-4, with the only win being a road victory against Bradley. There was also a home loss to Illinois State and missed opportunities against Alabama and Michigan State that loomed large.
Still, the Sycamores were high in the one thing the selection committee values the most. At-large teams with much worse rankings like South Carolina (51), Northwestern (53) and Virginia (54) got in. A tough break for a team in conference that sends only one team to the tournament.
If Rick Pitino was hoping his rant a few weeks ago would spark his team into the tournament, he fell short.
St. John's was among the hottest teams in college basketball to end the regular season, picking up a five-game winning streak that included defeat of Creighton. In the Big East tournament, the Johnnies beat Seton Hall before losing to Connecticut and finish 20-13. The Red Storm did all they could, but they still fall short despite being the highest NET ranked Big East team that missed out at No. 32. Had Indiana State made it in, St. John's would be the highest NET ranked team ever to miss out on the tournament.
The Johnnies don't have the prettiest Quad 1 record at 4-10, but combined with Quad 2, it's a 10-12 record, impressive for a team that didn't have much expectation this season. The midseason lull St. John's was in likely is the reason for it being left out, but there's no denying the Red Storm were one of the better teams in the sport in recent weeks.
Seton Hall improved from a good first season under Shaheen Holloway to finish 20-12, but it still wasn't enough to earn a selection under their second-year coach.
Even in a tough top of the Big East, the Pirates played well in conference play with a 13-7 record, and picked up big wins against Connecticut and Marquette as part of their 5-8 Quad 1 record. It should have been heavily rewarded for being one of three teams to beat the No. 1 overall seed Huskies this season.
But what may have hurt Seton Hall was its one-and-done appearance in the Big East tournament. By losing to St. John's even though the Pirates had beaten them twice this season already, the Pirates landed as the second team out. In short, if St. John's wasn't going to be in, then neither was Seton Hall, a devastating reality for the Pirates.
If you haven't noticed a theme yet, the Big East only sent three teams to the tournament for the first time since 1993, and Providence is one of those bubble teams that had a case to be in.
Providence got a great start to the season with an 11-2 record before it settled down and finished the season 21-13. The Friars stumbled a little bit at the end of the regular season, but they had a solid showing in the Big East tournament. After defeating Georgetown, the Friars picked up one of the best wins among bubble teams this past week by beat Creighton for the second time this season. Providence then lost to Marquette in the Big East semifinals.
Besides the Big East tournament teams, no one else in the conference had as many Quad 1 wins as Providence with its 6-9 record against that group. The Friars also didn't have any bad losses with a 12-0 Quad 3 and 4 record. But the biggest issue with Providence was its No. 57 NET ranking, too high of a place to be to qualify when there are so many upset automatic qualifiers and several other bubble teams had better rankings. The non-conference schedule wasn't that strong compared to others, and it is likely the reason why the Friars missed out.
Pittsburgh was one of the first four teams left out by the committee, a tough break for a team that was playing great basketball for close to two months.
After a 10-7 start to the season, Pittsburgh went into Cameron Indoor Stadium and upset Duke to spark an 11-3 finish to the regular season to get the No. 4 seed in the ACC tournament. The Panthers beat fellow bubble team Wake Forest in the quarterfinal before it lost to North Carolina in the semifinals.
Pittsburgh finished the season 22-11 and a No. 40 NET ranking, and was worthy of a tournament spot for how good it had been recently. But the bad start to the season was likely too much for the selection committee to overlook, combined with a 6-2 Quad 3 record. The Panthers unfortunately don't get rewarded for being a great February team.