North Carolina vs. West Virginia vs. Indiana Quad 1 wins: Who deserved an NCAA Tournament spot?

The North Carolina Tar Heels were designated No. 11 seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday. Despite 111/111 brackets projecting the West Virginia Mountaineers to be in the final field (per BracketMatrix.com) while just 27 predicted the Tar Heels making it, the latter missed out while the former made it in.

The Indiana Hoosiers who were also firmly in the bubble after losing to the Oregon Ducks in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament were left out of the tournament.

North Carolina vs. West Virginia vs. Indiana Quad 1 wins – Who had the stronger case?

The North Carolina Tar Heels had a 1-12 record against Quad 1 teams while the Indiana Hoosiers had four Quad 1 wins (4-13). The West Virginia Mountaineers had six Quad 1 wins with five of them coming away from home. Those six wins were more than what 13 selected at-large teams had registered against Quad 1 teams.

The Hoosiers and Mountaineers had more Quad 1 wins than the Tar Heels making their exclusion more controversial. NCAA Tournament Selection chairman Bubba Cunningham explained the Mountaineers' exclusion.

"The last four teams that were out, it was a tough call," Cunningham, who also serves as UNC's athletic director said. "The next team out was West Virginia and they had an outstanding year. Unfortunately, Tucker DeVries was hurt and player availability is something that we talk about quite a bit."

NCAA tournament selection controversy – Analyst Fran Fraschilla weighs in

On X, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla weighed in on the debate about whether North Carolina deserved to make the NCAA Tournament over the other contenders. Fraschilla said that Cunningham was not allowed to interfere with the process despite being the athletic director at UNC.

"Whether North Carolina should be in or not is a good debate," Fraschilla said on Sunday. "Their AD is the chairman of the selection committee but cannot be in the room when the Tar Heels are discussed. But it's human nature that it doesn't hurt UNC's chances when other members of the committee have spent so much time with him."

What’s next for West Virginia and Indiana after the NCAA tournament snub?

Last year, the Indiana Hoosiers declined the invitation to play in the National Invitational Tournament and have reportedly declined invitations from that tournament and the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament. The West Virginia Mountaineers also missed out on both invitational postseason tournaments signalling the end of both teams' seasons.