West Virginia University has a strong voice leading the charge over their snubbing of the NCAA Tournament.
Stephen A Smith is ready for the NCAA Tournament to start, but he is not thrilled with one governor trying to dampen the occasion.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey wasn’t happy the Mountaineers’ men’s basketball team missed out on the NCAA tournament.
Morrisey held a press conference Monday and announced that he has asked state Attorney General John McCuskey to open an investigation into the NCAA selection committee to find out whether any “backdoor deals” were made to ensure his favorite team did not make it and that others would.
“West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA tournament,” Morrisey said. “This is a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest level.”
North Carolina was among the most debated teams heading into the NCAA Tournament selection show, and somehow they made it in.
During Tuesday’s episode of ESPN’s “First Take,” Stephen A Smith decided he would fire back at the governor and his accusations.
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“It’s embarrassing for an elected official to take the position he’s taking,” Smith said on Tuesday.
“Literally calling for an investigation. You can complain, and he has legitimacy with his complaints. But to go this far and to really, really try to force an investigation, it’s utterly ridiculous; it’s childish, and you would like to think our elected officials have something better to do with their time on behalf of their constituency than something of this magnitude. Clearly he does not.”
"It's embarrassing for an elected official to take the position he's taking…it's utterly ridiculous, it's childish and you would like to think our elected officials have something better to do with their time." Stephen A. Smith on West Virginia Gov Patrick Morrisey pic.twitter.com/WBJTVKBguL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 18, 2025
The Mountaineers went 19-13 this season in the Big 12 and were one of the teams on the bubble. While some believed that they had a strong case to be among the 68 teams selected, the committee thought otherwise in the end.
West Virginia Being Snubbed Leads to Them Declining NIT
After not being included in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, some figured that West Virginia would participate in either the College Basketball Crown or the NIT.
That won’t be happening.
The two tournament fields were announced within twelve hours. The Mountaineers are not featured in either of the tournaments, which signals the end of their season.
Also Read: U.S. Governor Taking Action Against “Corrupt” NCAA Following Controversial March Madness Decision
