March Madness 2022: 5 biggest NCAA Tournament snubs

March Madness 2022: Texas A&M and the 5 biggest NCAA Tournament snubs

TAMPA, FLORIDA - MARCH 13: Brandon Huntley-Hatfield #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers blocks a shot by Henry Coleman III #15 of the Texas A&M Aggies during the second half in the Championship game of the SEC Men's Tournament at Amalie Arena on March 13, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

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FORT WORTH, TX – MARCH 11: Zhuric Phelps #1 of the Southern Methodist Mustangs reacts after scoring on a slam dunks against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the second half of the American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals at Dickies Arena on March 11, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas. Southern Methodist defeated Tulsa 83-58. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /

2. Biggest March Madness Snubs – SMU Mustangs

There may not have been a more bubbly team this season than SMU, which pretty much floated between Last Four in and First Four Out status for weeks. The Mustangs also fell into that low-40s NET ranking that each of the previous three teams listed earned, but there were numerous issues with SMU’s resume.

This selection committee emphasized quality wins as a factor dating back to the Top 16 seed reveal a few weeks ago and SMU did not have many of those. The three best wins on SMU’s resume came in conference play as they swept Memphis during the regular season and won at home against Houston, giving them a 3-1 record against the American’s two NCAA Tournament teams.

The issue for SMU comes from the fact that they only posted a 2-2 record in Quadrant 1 games, an issue largely of their own making for assembling a bad non-conference schedule. The Mustangs’ best non-conference win came against fellow bubbler Dayton as part of the 209th-rated non-conference strength of schedule.

In the end, it looked like SMU needed to find a way to beat Memphis for a third time to get into the field, which isn’t necessarily fair but is a bed the Mustangs made with poor scheduling choices. The shrinking bubble also didn’t help SMU as Virginia Tech’s win likely knocked them out of the field.

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