Rutgers gets snubbed after late-season slide
Instead of a fairytale ending, Rutgers was handed a Magic Mirror by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Arguably the biggest snub of Selection Sunday, Rutgers was penalized for a soft non-conference schedule that left no margin for error when it erred down the stretch of the season by losing seven of its final 10 games. Rutgers could have made program history by earning a third straight March Madness bid but will settle for a No. 1 seed in the NIT and the difficult draw of a first-round matchup against Hofstra on Tuesday night at home.
“I felt like we certainly did enough,” coach Steve Pikiell said. “I thought we had a résumé that stacked up with a lot of teams, and obviously the selection committee didn’t. They have a very tough job. We’ll do what we do here at Rutgers and bounce back.”
At its best, Rutgers (19-14, 10-10 in the Big Ten) is capable of competing with any team, as shown by a combined 10 Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories, including a road upset of then-No. 1 Purdue (eventual Big Ten regular-season and tournament champions) on Jan. 2. Hence, the majority of bracketologists projected inclusion in the field of 68.
But there were too many hurdles to overcome. Oklahoma State was the first team left out, followed by Rutgers.
“Every bracket had [us] in. I’m sure they were seeing that on their phones,” Pikiell said of his players. “They were very disappointed. This has been a great group. We’ve got to get them up.”
The veteran-laden Scarlet Knights were seeking to become the first team in the five-year history of the quad system for evaluating at-large résumés to be selected despite a debilitating four Quad 3 losses. Their résumé’s death knell might have been Seton Hall’s upset loss to DePaul in the first round of the Big East Tournament, which bumped a Quad 2 loss (on Dec. 11 in the New Jersey rivalry) into a Quad 3 loss.
The other black mark was Rutgers’ annual soft non-conference schedule, which ranked No. 342 out of 363 Division I teams in terms of difficulty. Asked if this heartbreak might cause a rethinking of the annual schedule philosophy, Pikiell instead pointed to the officials’ admitted blown call that turned a win against Ohio State into a loss and playing undermanned at different points of the season.
“We were one win away, could’ve been in-league, could’ve been out of league,” Pikiell said. “We were a little unlucky, maybe. We’ll look at everything — like we do every year — and you guys can nitpick those kinds of things. We came up a little short.”
The bubble burst behind closed doors as Rutgers did not invite fans or media to watch the bracket reveal with the players like last season, when it received one of the final four bids and lost to Notre Dame in an opening-round game. Rutgers’ NET rating at that time (No. 77) was significantly worse than this season (No. 40).
Pressed further on scheduling, Pikiell said, “I don’t think that had anything to do with today. Our numbers were high as they’ve been — much higher than last year. You have to win enough games to get in, and they felt like we didn’t.”
In the range to land a No. 6 seed as recently as early February, Rutgers’ late-season slide coincided with the season-ending injury to starting forward Mawot Mag, which selection chair Chris Reynolds admitted on CBS’ telecast was a cause for concern.
“Obviously that changed our team a little bit,” Pikiell said, “but I think we did a lot this year. They are supposed to take into consideration our entire body of work.”
Rutgers is headed to the NIT for the first time since 2006. That was the program’s bar for a successful season until Pikiell raised it with four straight winning seasons. The last four NCAA Tournament at-large berths went to Arizona State-Nevada and Mississippi State-Pittsburgh, who will battle for No. 11 seeds.
“I don’t want this season to end,” Pikiell said. “I’m not apologizing for postseason play here at Rutgers.”