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NCAA Tournament 2017: 5 biggest snubs on Selection Sunday

By Cody Williams

Mar 8, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim reacts as he coaches against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half of an ACC Conference Tournament game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 8, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim reacts as he coaches against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half of an ACC Conference Tournament game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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Who were the five biggest snubs from the 2017 NCAA Tournament after the bracket was revealed on Selection Sunday?

At long last, the field of 68 for the 2017 NCAA Tournament has been revealed. Subsequently, March Madness has officially arrived as these teams will all compete as they work towards the singular goal of cutting down the nets in Glendale, AZ as National Champions. The No. 1 seeds, the Villanova Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, North Carolina Tar Heels and Gonzaga Bulldogs, are obviously among the favorites to go deep and possibly win the title.

However, much of the debate around the tournament field on Selection Sunday doesn’t revolve around the teams that are favorites and who will win which matchup. Instead, there’s always a lot of talk when it comes to the snubs from the tournament—the teams left on the outside looking in for the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

When you see teams like the USC Trojans, who struggled down the stretch, and the Vanderbilt Commodores, who had 15 losses on the season, making it, it’s hard to think that there weren’t better candidates to partake in the beauty of March Madness. Indeed there were, or at least there were teams that had strong cases to be included that weren’t.

These are those teams, the five biggest snubs from the 2017 NCAA Tournament:

Nov 18, 2016; Syracuse, NY, USA; Monmouth Hawks head coach King Rice reacts from the sidelines against the Syracuse Orange during the first half at the Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 18, 2016; Syracuse, NY, USA; Monmouth Hawks head coach King Rice reacts from the sidelines against the Syracuse Orange during the first half at the Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Monmouth Hawks

This marks the second year in a row that the Monmouth Hawks go down as a snub as they failed to win the MAAC Tournament Championship and were thus left out of the Big Dance. If you look solely at their BPI, it’s truly not hard to see why they were ultimately left on the outside. They ranked just No. 76 in that regard. However, when you look at the 2016-17 season for the Hawks, their resume is a bit more impressive than that would lead you to believe.

RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament Bracket

What hurts their BPI, without question, is a putrid strength of schedule. Monmouth played just the 195th toughest schedule in the country this season, going 27-6 overall throughout that road. However, it’s important to note the strength of record metric that measures essentially how impressive their overall record is in relation to the schedule they played. In that regard, the Hawks finished as the No. 55 team in the country, while also coming in as No. 50 in RPI.

Admittedly, Monmouth doesn’t have a true quality win to their credit. Their two toughest games were against Syracuse and North Carolina, and both were big losses for the Hawks. However, they played the schedule in front of them and had immense success in doing so. With how dominant they were in the MAAC until they were upset and with a sustained level of success after doing the same last season, they should’ve gotten more serious consideration as one of the 68 teams to go dancing.

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