4 biggest March Madness snubs in men’s 2025 NCAA tournament, ranked by egregiousness
Here are the biggest snubs in the 2025 men’s NCAA tournament bracket, ranked.
North Carolina getting into the field as an at-large team is the major bubble controversy of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Chaos developed during Championship Week last year when five bid thieves stole bubble spots. New Mexico, Duquesne, UAB, Oregon and N.C. State unexpectedly winning conference tournaments and earning autobids threw a major wrench in the postseason plans of teams sitting on the bubble.
This year’s bubble was much more subdued. Stolen bids weren’t a factor this March, giving bubble teams with weaker profiles a more realistic chance of making the field.
The inclusion of North Carolina is controversial thanks to a 1-12 record against quad one opponents this season. But a top-10 non-conference strength of schedule likely saved North Carolina’s season despite playing in a very weak ACC.
There’s also the added element of North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham serving as the chairperson for the 2025 NCAA Tournament selection committee. Although Cunningham told CBS Sports after the bracket unveiling that he absolved himself from all conversations pertaining to North Carolina’s inclusion in the NCAA tournament — leaving the room when the Tar Heels were discussed — it still leaves people to wonder about bias during the selection process.
So who should feel snubbed? The snub list includes West Virginia, Indiana, Mountain West tournament finalist Boise State and Ohio State — the NCAA’s last four teams out.
Find the full bracket in our instant NCAA tournament predictions post. With the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket now complete, here are four teams who have cases to feel snubbed.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State ultimately had too many losses compared with other bubble teams. A positive NET ranking of 41 and a solid KenPom ranking at No. 39 — the highest among teams omitted from the tournament — was undone by a poor closing stretch to the season.
The Buckeyes ended the year with back-to-back losses against another bubble team in Indiana and a bad first-game exit in the Big Ten Tournament against Iowa. Put those losses together with a blowout home loss against Northwestern and the Buckeyes didn’t play their best ball down the stretch.
Ohio State was 6-11 against quad one teams but hurt itself with a 3-4 mark against quad two teams. The Buckeyes put together a solid non-conference schedule (No. 89 per KenPom) and earned a good neutral win at Madison Square Garden over Kentucky. Ohio State’s other notable non-conference win against Texas didn’t end up helping as much as the Buckeyes would have hoped.
Even though the Big Ten was superior to the ACC and Ohio State had five more quad one wins than North Carolina, the Tar Heels are in the field over the Buckeyes.
3. Boise State Broncos
You have to feel for Boise State. The Broncos lost to Colorado State in the Mountain West title game on Saturday night, putting Boise State as one of the last teams to be on the outside looking in.
With a NET ranking of 44 and a No. 50 ranking on KenPom, Boise State’s numbers are in line with other bubble teams. Armed with a 3-6 record against quad-one teams, Boise State earned wins over NCAA tournament teams like New Mexico, Utah State and San Diego State during Mountain West play.
It appears that losing three games to Colorado State hurt Boise State’s chances significantly down the stretch. Early defeats to Boston College and Washington State at home also gave the Broncos a quad three and quad four loss.
The Mountain West once again proved itself as a deep league full of NCAA tournament-level teams at the top of the league. But Boise State evidently needed to do more against those tournament-caliber teams while avoiding bad non-conference losses.
2. Indiana Hoosiers
Mike Woodson’s tenure at Indiana ends by missing the Field of 68. Indiana had more quad-one wins than North Carolina (four compared to one) and also didn’t have a quad-three loss like the Tar Heels suffered against Stanford.
The Hoosiers appeared to be playing better basketball down the stretch with notable February Big Ten wins over No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 4 seed Purdue. North Carolina’s best win of the season came against No. 7 seed UCLA.
Indiana hurt themselves with a poor non-conference showing that included losses in the Battle 4 Atlantis to Louisville and Gonzaga. Ultimately, Indiana played in a much stronger conference this season and earned more quad-one wins while avoiding a disaster loss. There’s a strong case to be made for Indiana making the Big Dance if they defeated Oregon in their opening game of the Big Ten Tournament.
1. West Virginia Mountaineers
The Mountaineers have a bone to pick with the committee thanks to a respectable 6-10 record in quad one games and a non-conference strength of schedule (No. 137 on KenPom) that didn’t bottom out below 150.
During a solid season, West Virginia earned wins over Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa State. West Virginia’s last win over a team in the NCAA tournament field, however, came in January against the Cyclones. The Mountaineers closed the season 0-5 against future tournament teams.
Losing in the first game of the Big 12 tournament against lowly Colorado likely sealed West Virginia’s fate in the end. With a NET ranking of 51 and KenPom ranking of 53, the Mountaineers ultimately didn’t have strong enough metrics to close out a bid.