Why Indiana basketball missed NCAA Tournament in favor of North Carolina

There were fewer thefts of NCAA Tournament bids this season, and a weaker bubble led itself to Indiana basketball potentially making the field of 68. But Mike Woodson's tenure will end with two straight seasons missing the NCAAs.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was who made it in the Hoosiers' place: North Carolina. The chair of the NCAA Tournament selection committee was UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who announced on the bracket reveal show on CBS that he recused himself from those conversations per NCAA policy. But even the CBS crew was surprised.

The Hoosiers were 19-13, 4-13 in Quad 1 and 15-0 in Quads 2-4. As CBS analyst Seth Davis pointed out, the Tar Heels only had one Quad 1 win and lost at home to Stanford, a Quad 3 loss.

"I had Indiana and West Virginia in over Carolina and Xavier. I've got to say, Indiana is the one that sticks out to me," Davis said. "They had a win at Michigan State, home against Purdue, 4-13 Quad 1, so more than Carolina. ... So, I'm curious to hear the reasoning.

"North Carolina had a great nonconference schedule. terrific in the metrics, but bottom line is only one Quad 1 win to Indiana's four. Carolina had a Quad 3 loss. Indiana didn't have any losses outside of Quad 1."

And Clark Kellogg offered a partial explanation: "And that's where that subjectivity within the committee comes into the play. Ten folks there, not everybody votes on every round of these particular teams, and when you put yourself in position ... when you put yourself in position to be on the stoop, then you end up getting whatever you get. ... I'm surprised by North Carolina."

Other 11 seeds that will play in the First Four in Dayton included Xavier, Texas, North Carolina and San Diego State. Davis asked the first question to Cunningham, who quickly deferred to committee vice chair Keith Gill.

"Saturday night, we took our final vote and voted in four teams into the field Saturday night, and had a contingency vote. The contingency vote, that was the last team in the field," Gill said. "That was on Memphis and UAB. If Memphis won that game, then that was going to free up a spot in the tournament, and that was going to be North Carolina. If UAB had won, then Memphis was going to be in the tournament, UAB would have been in the tournament, and North Carolina would have been out. "

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why did IU miss March Madness, North Carolina make NCAA tournament

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