March Madness 2017: ESPN analyst Dick Vitale talks NCAA Tournament

But did Dick Vitale see any snubs in this year’s edition of March Madness? In his opinion, there was only one team who could really be looked at as borderline.

"“The only argument you might make, and it could be trivial and have gone either way, was Syracuse. Those that were looking for negatives from Syracuse, they’ve given you lots of negatives, you know? The fact that they couldn’t win away from home. The fact that they lost five of their last seven. The fact of the matter that they really, really struggled in situations — especially early — getting beat by the likes of St. John’s and Boston College and Georgetown, who are not really vintage teams. But then if you think like I do and you look at their resume, I look at three wins over three legitimate top 10 teams at the time that they played them — Florida State, Duke and Virginia — [Syracuse] beat those three teams.”"

But if Syracuse is possibly in, then who could get left out? USC Trojan fans might take umbrage with Vitale’s take on this one and even give a little of the “East Coast Bias” accusations.

"“Syracuse won 10 games in the toughest conference of all, and I would have a comparison with Syracuse, and with Southern Cal. Not going to take away from Southern Cal — the Trojans, they won 24 games — but they were 9-8 in their last 17. They have two quality wins, UCLA and the win over SMU. And that’s it. So to me, if I’m on the committee, and I put those resumes next to each other, my choice is Syracuse.”"

The debate is certainly open, but the committee obviously saw Syracuse’s late-season struggles and inability to win on the road — as well as a lack of wins over high RPI teams — as reason enough to keep them from dancing and for sending them on their way to the NIT.

You have to wonder if Jim Boeheim’s commentary on Greensboro had anything to do with the nod going to USC as well.