It was a big of a shocker when the NCAA Tournament committee announced that North Carolina had made the field, earning a spot as one of the last four teams in. The Heels will face San Diego State in their First Four matchup.
And CBS college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein is thinking the same way, wondering what could've made the committee put the Tar Heels in the field over teams likely more deserving, such as West Virginia or Indiana.
On CBS Sports Network last night after the field was announced, Rothstein expressed his disbelief when he saw the Heels were in the NCAA Tournament field.
"If the criteria for the NCAA Tournament, in terms of getting an at-large bid, is to beat other NCAA Tournament teams if you're on the bubble, how in the world could North Carolina get an at-large bid over Indiana, and over West Virginia," Rothstein said. "Indiana, unlike North Carolina, has no Quad 3 and 4 losses. Indiana went on the road to East Lansing and beat Michigan State, who's a 2-seed, and beat Purdue on its home floor, who is a 4-seed in this bracket, and Indiana did not get in the NCAA Tournament. Then let's talk about West Virginia. West Virginia won a game at Allen Fieldhouse. West Virginia beat Gonzaga on a neutral court, it beat Arizona on a neutral court, it also beat Iowa State. And North Carolina is in over those two teams? I'm just waiting for somebody to say 'we got some swamp water to sell you in Florida.'"
Rothstein is completely right, as it really makes no sense how UNC made the field over Indiana and West Virginia. the Tar Heels were 1-12 are Quad 1 games this season, with their best win of the season coming against UCLA on a neutral floor, who earned a 7-seed in the tournament. UNC is also 0-3 against Duke this season and has a Quad 3 loss to Stanford on the resume. Indiana has four Quad 1 wins and West Virginia has six. Along with that, neither team has a loss outside of Quad 2, and the Tar Heels do. It just doesn't add up.
Some are wondering if bias took over, as Bubba Cunningham, who served as the chairperson on this year's 12-person selection committee, is also the athletic director at UNC. However, Cunningham said he had nothing to do with the conversations about UNC.
"I was not in the room for any of that," Cunningham told CBS Sports.
Even with no bias from the committee's chairperson, it still makes little sense how North Carolina managed to get in the field over some other programs. But regardless, UNC now has a chance to prove it deserved to make it and go on a magical March run.