On Sunday night, West Virginia found themselves on the outside of the bubble for the 2025 NCAA Tournament field, being passed up in favor of the North Carolina Tar Heels for the final spot. Understandably, the most vocal West Virginia graduate in the sports media realm, ESPN personality Pat McAfee, was none too happy about it.
The decision to put North Carolina into the field, which Seth Davis wasted no time criticizing as soon as it was announced on the CBS NCAA Tournament Selection Show, was a shock to many, considering the lack of quality wins from the Tar Heels this season.
With just one win against a team in the NCAA Tournament field, a win over UCLA back in December on a neutral floor, most perceived North Carolina as a team that never quite lived up to their potential and had much more name value than substance on the court.
The NCAA Selection Committee saw things differently, outlining on the CBS Selection Show how UNC essentially fell into a NCAA Tournament spot as the final team in the tournament when Memphis was able to fend off a bid-stealing UAB in the AAC Tournament Championship.
Meanwhile, fans of West Virginia, who the Selection Committee detailed was the first team left out of the tournament, were understandably frustrated about their team’s fate.
McAfee took to social media shortly after West Virginia was officially left out of the tournament field, sharing in a post how he believes that the Mountaineers were “screwed” by the Selection Committee.
“WVU got screwed. Of course,” wrote McAfee in a post on X.
WVU got screwed
Of course https://t.co/WtBb86u48q
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 16, 2025
Additionally, McAfee retweeted a number of posts highlighting the mistake that he believes the Selection Committee made, one of which made by Chris Anderson, the owner of EerSports, the West Virginia site on the 247Sports Network. In Anderson’s post, he outlined how the Mountaineers had as many Quad-1 wins as UNC, Xavier and San Diego State, all three bubble teams who got in over them, combined.
“WVU is listed as the very first team left out of the NCAA Tournament team,” wrote Anderson. “WVU had SIX Quad One victories this season. The last three teams in – UNC, Xavier and San Diego State – had five Quad One wins….. COMBINED.”
#WVU is listed as the very first team left out of the NCAA Tournament team. #WVU had SIX Quad One victories this season.
The last three teams in – UNC, Xavier and San Diego State – had five Quad One wins….. COMBINED.
— Chris Anderson (@CMAnderson247) March 16, 2025
It’s understandable for McAfee or any other West Virginia fan to feel frustrated about being snubbed in favor of North Carolina when you compare the resumes of the two teams.
But with that being said, there was also plenty that West Virginia could have done to potentially make it undeniable that they should have been an NCAA Tournament team. Perhaps most notably, a loss to Colorado in the Big 12 Tournament, the No. 16 seeded team in the conference, likely loomed large in the Selection Committee’s decision to leave them out.
Expect to hear even more from McAfee on this topic on Monday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show. But regardless of how he feels about the matter, his Mountaineers will be watching March Madness from the sidelines.
