6 biggest snubs from the March Madness bracket in 2024

St. John's Red Storm

Year 1 of the Rick Pitino era began with so much promise and ended with familiar heartbreak for St. John's fans as the Red Storm didn't make the NCAA Tournament. To add insult to the process, the Red Storm weren't even one of the First Four teams out of the field, which is a reflection of the blatant disrespect the Selection Committee showed the Big East.

While Indiana State may have set a new record for the lowest NET ranking to miss the NCAA Tournament, St. John's wasn't far behind with a NET of 32. Pitino also assembled a strong schedule as the Red Storm played in 14 Quad 1 games, going 4-10 in those contests and playing just 11 total games outside the top two quadrants.

St. John's also clearly passed the eye test as a tournament-worthy team with their surge down the stretch that included a home win over Creighton and a Big East Tournament win over fellow bubbler Seton Hall. Top overall seed UCONN also received everything they could handle from St. John's in the Big East semifinals, a much more competent display of basketball than whatever it was Virginia presented in the ACC Tournament.

A Quad 3 loss to Michigan certainly hurt but the Red Storm certainly had a better case for inclusion in the field than a team like the Cavaliers. The Red Storm were peaking at the right time but they weren't given a shot by a Selection Committee that had issues with the Big East for whatever reason.