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March Madness snubs: Oklahoma leads teams left out of NCAA tournament
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- March Madness snubs: Oklahoma leads teams left out of NCAA tournament
For the teams that aren't one of the 68 teams to make the 2026 NCAA Tournament , Selection Sunday was the start of March sadness.
Every year, teams spend all season trying to prove they belong in the bracket. Despite some hiccups along the way, they do achieve things that are worthy of being included in the field. However, there aren't spots for everyone, and the selection committee decides to go a different route, believing there were too many bad marks in the resume to put them in.
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No matter if the tournament expands or not, there's always going to be teams that felt like they were wrongfully left out. While the at-large candidates weren't necessarily as strong as previous years, these ones have a case for being upset with their omission.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma Sooners head coach Porter Moser reacts to a called foul against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the second half at Bridgestone Arena.
The late surge by the Sooners was all for naught, finishing as the first team out of the field despite being one of the hottest bubble teams in the conversation.
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Oklahoma looked dead in the water when it was 13-14, but it flipped a switch with six straight wins before falling just short in the SEC tournament quarterfinals to Arkansas. What really helped was two of those wins were Quad 1 victories to boost it toward a modest 4-10 record, and despite 15 losses on the season, none of them were Quad 3 or 4 defeats, not something every bubble team can say.
The Sooners were able to show they were a completely different team to end the season, picking up momentum at the right time. They surely would've been a competitive team, but the selection committee valued the whole resume even though some teams that got in struggled at the end of their campaigns.
San Diego State
The Aztecs were a few minutes away from clinching the Mountain West's automatic bid. It turns out that was the only way they were going to get in the tournament.
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There may not be anything major jumping from San Diego State's resume, it did finish second in the conference and did own a victory over champion Utah State. If you merge the Quad 1 and 2 records, it's 9-10, a good enough mark for an at-large candidate. There was a Quad 3 loss very early in the season and the team showed it had grown exponentially since then. What's unfortunate is the loss to Utah State in the tournament final pushed the Aztecs down two spots in the NET ranking at No. 47, below a New Mexico team it beat twice. They were also the first team right below the cutline of the WAB.
It wasn't a good year for the Mountain West in its final season of its current group. It will only send one team to the tournament for the first time since 2017, even though the conference runner-up proved it should have been in.
New Mexico
It's a feeling of "what if" for New Mexico, a team that picked up notable results but maybe a few plays may have decided its fate, missing the tournament for the first time since 2023.
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While the Lobos had a 2-7 Quad 1 record, they beat tournament teams in VCU and Santa Clara in the nonconference slate, helping contribute to an overall 8-8 Quad 1 and 2 mark that is fairly decent. However, some of those defeats were close ones. Three of the losses to Utah State and San Diego State were by four points or loss, showing New Mexico could compete with tournament teams.
However, the committee didn't value New Mexico's competitiveness. The two Quad 3 losses also loomed large and maybe were too much to overlook. The Lobos are a great case of how one game can completely alter a team's course, no matter how good it looked.
Belmont
It's gotten tougher for mid-majors to earn at-large spots in the field, and there's always going to be a team that didn't get enough love in the conversation. This year, that belongs to Belmont, which had a dominant campaign as the Missouri Valley Conference champion but didn't get the automatic bid.
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The 26 wins the Bruins collected were among the most for a team that didn't make the tournament, second to Stephen F. Austin's 28. However, Belmont is significantly higher than the Lumberjacks in the NET rankings at No. 63. Tulsa also had 26 wins and is higher in the NET (52), but the Bruins had a Quad 1 victory while the Golden Hurricane didn't.
Belmont was set on being a dangerous team in the bracket, but its early exit in the conference tournament doomed its chances immediately. It's the unfortunate reality of being a mid-major.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA Tournament snubs: These teams were left off 2026 bracket
