Why did Rutgers miss March Madness? Inside the Scarlet Knights' Selection Sunday snub

Sam Jarden

Why did Rutgers miss March Madness? Inside the Scarlet Knights' Selection Sunday snub image

In a snub that shocked fans and experts alike, Rutgers was left out of the 2023 NCAA Tournament field. 

The Scarlet Knights were widely expected to receive one of the last few at-large bids on Selection Sunday, but the committee had other ideas. Steve Pikiell's squad was overlooked in favor of fellow bubble teams Nevada, Arizona State and Pitt.

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Despite several impressive wins, high rankings in KenPom (35) and NET (40) and an respectable record in the highly competitive Big Ten, the team will be forced to watch the dance from home for the first time since 2019. 

"Obviously a tough day," Pikiell told reporters after the bracket was revealed. "Our goal every year is to go to the NCAA Tournament. I felt like we certainly did enough. It’s a tough job the selection committee has and, unfortunately, they felt it wasn’t good enough."

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It's impossible to know exactly what the committee's reasoning was behind its decision, but there were a few glaring issues with Rutgers' resume that probably kept the Scarlet Knights out of the field.

Why did Rutgers miss March Madness?

The biggest issue was always going to be Rutgers' 2-4 record in Quad 3 games. In fact, that's probably the main reason it missed out on the dance. 

The Scarlet Knights had bad losses to Temple, Seton Hall, Nebraska and, most recently, Minnesota. The question heading into Selection Sunday was whether those losses outweighed wins over 1-seed Purdue and 4-seed Indiana and a season sweep of 10-seed Penn State.

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Recent months have also not been kind to the Scarlet Knights. After a solid 8-4 start in conference play, they limped across the finish line with seven losses in their final 10 regular-season games. Many thought a win over Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament would be enough to clinch a spot in the dance, but it clearly wasn't. This could be a case of the committee asking, "What have you done for me lately?" 

There is also the matter of Rutgers' weak non-conference schedule. The team's out-of-conference schedule ranked 314th out of 352 Division I teams in difficulty, according to bracketologists.com. Especially in recent years, the committee seems to prefer programs that test themselves against tough opposition in non-conference games rather than put together soft schedules. 

Since Pikiell took over as head coach in 2016, Rutgers has gone with the strategy of putting together easier out-of-conference schedules. It has paid off before, with the program sneaking into the dance in each of the last two seasons. But this year, it might have been another argument against the team in the eyes of the committee. 

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One final, unexpected factor might have been a season-ending ACL injury to junior forward Mawot Mag. In his breakdown of the field following the bracket reveal, NCAA selection committee chair Chris Reynolds specifically mentioned Mag's absence as a part of the decision process. 

While it seems unfair to use injuries as a measure of whether a team is deserving, it's also worth noting the committee's task is to fill the bracket with the nation's best teams. If the absence of a key player makes a team significantly weaker, then that has to be taken into account. Rutgers was 8-4 in the Big Ten when Mag was injured and went 2-6 the rest of the way. 

The Scarlet Knights have already made it clear they will accept a bid to the NIT, so we haven't seen the last of them this season. However, the NCAA snub is certainly a bitter disappointment to a program that has been on the rise in recent years. 

Sam Jarden

Sam Jarden Photo

Sam Jarden joined Sporting News as an intern in 2020 and returned as a content producer in 2022. In between, he spent a year and a half at Turner Sports, managing the social media accounts for Bleacher Report, NBA on TNT, NBA TV and others. A proud UNC alumnus, he spends his free time following the Tar Heels, Buffalo Bills and Newcastle United FC, and has been known to occasionally hit the links.