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NCAA Tournament committee chair explains what went into controversial bubble decisions

by: Alex Byington11 hours ago_AlexByington

As usual, Selection Sunday was chalk full of controversy, especially with regard to the bubble teams that saw their NCAA Tournament hopes burst among the First Four Out.

And, as was the case much of the last few weeks, much of Sunday’s debate centered around Miami of Ohio’s placement among the Last Four In despite not earning the MAC’s automatic bid after suffering its first loss of the season in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. The RedHawks (31-1) will play fellow 11-seed SMU (20-13) in a First Four play-in game Wednesday from Dayton, Ohio.

Miami-Ohio and SMU will be joined in Dayton by fellow Last Four In teams Texas and NC State as the final four teams in March Madness’ 68-team field. Of course, that meant hopeful bubble teams such as Auburn, Oklahoma, Indiana, and San Diego State found themselves on the outside looking in.

NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee chair Keith Gill addressed Sunday’s bubble controversy during an appearance on CBS’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection Show, and cleared the air about where the RedHawks fit into the mix.

“Miami of Ohio was not the last team selected into the field,” Gil told CBS’s Seth Davis. “They came in before NC State, Texas and SMU, and when we did our scrubbing process, those teams scrubbed above them relative to the predictive metrics and also the difference in the quality of the wins. So they scrubbed up above them”

When asked a follow-up from CBS analyst Bruce Pearl, who led Auburn to the Final Four last year before retiring from coaching just prior to the start of the 2025-26 season, Gill made it clear, the Mustangs earned the tournament’s final at-large bid due to impressive wins over fellow ACC teams North Carolina and Louisville, as well as a non-conference win over Texas A&M — all NCAA Tournament teams — as well as their potential with the pending return of talented senior guard B.J. Edwards.

“The quality of wins is where it came down (to). SMU was the last team selected into the field, and when you look at it, they had wins, when these teams were at full strength, over North Carolina, Louisville and Texas A&M,” Gill said of SMU. “Six games ago they lost one of their important players, Edwards, and they’ve lost five of six of those games and he’s coming back. He’s the  third leading scorer, defensive player and so the quality of wins and obviously them getting back to full strength allowed them to kind of get that last spot.”