"Robbery of the highest level": West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey calls for investigation on NCAA following Mountaineers snub

The exclusion of the West Virginia Mountaineers from the NCAA Tournament continues generating buzz. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey reacted to it. Morrisey and attorney general JB McCuskey are launching a formal investigation on the Mountaineers snub from the field of 68.

Standing in front of a sign that read “National Corrupt Athletic Association” on Monday, the state official lashed at the NCAA for excluding the Mountaineers from the tournament.

“Nearly every single sports fan, pundit and Bracketologist had WVU as a shoo-in for the tournament,” Morrisey said Monday. “This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels.”

UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham is also the chairman of the selection committee. While he was not in the room when the inclusion of North Carolina was discussed, Morrisey questioned his role in the selection.

The Tar Heels earned the final spot in the bracket, according to selection committee vice chairman, Keith Gill, who also said that if UAB had defeated Memphis in the AAC final, North Carolina would have lost its spot on the field.

While experts generally hold the opinion that the Mountaineers and Indiana may have been more deserving than the Tar Heels, there hadn’t been calls of corruption from analysts.

North Carolina finished the season with a 22-13 record but went 1-12 against Q1 schools. West Virginia had a 19-13 record and went 6-10 in quad one games. The Tar Heels also lost a Q3 game, which is another stat to factor in.

CBS analyst shares his thoughts on North Carolina - West Virginia decision

CBS college basketball insider Jon Rothstein believes the NCAA Tournament selection committee made a mistake by picking North Carolina to make the tourney over WVU and Indiana.

Rothstein went off on the committee and the decision to include the Tar Heels in the field.

“Indiana, unlike North Carolina, has no Quad 3 and 4 losses. Indiana went on the road to East Lansing and beat Michigan State, who is a two-seed, and beat Purdue on its home floor and is a four-seed and Indiana did not get in the NCAA Tournament.

“Then let’s talk about West Virginia. West Virginia won a game at Allen Fieldhouse. West Virginia beat Gonzaga on a neutral court. They beat Arizona on a neutral court. It also beat Iowa State. And North Carolina is in over those two teams?” Jon Rothstein said.

While there are always controversial decisions and teams getting snubbed from the NCAA Tournament, because of the schools involved, and Cunningham’s position on the committee, this might be one of the hottest in the history of the event.