Syracuse made the NCAA Tournament.

Yep, that was a bit surprising. The Orange played 18 combined Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 games and they only won seven of those contests. And of those seven, only two of those games were away from home. The committee usually places great value on winning away from home.

But here's the thing: There are soooooooooo many factors that go into the selection process, and each individual committee member is allowed to give whatever weight he or she wants to each factor. So the tipping point can be something different every year, for every team. That's where part of the frustration kicks in, the not knowing.

That's also part of the fun, too. So let's look at the surprises and snubs in this year's NCAA Tournament selection process.

Biggest NCAA Tournament surprises, snubs


SNUB: Southern California is the team that most bracket projectionists had in the field, so technically I guess the Trojans feel they were snubbed. I don't really have a problem with USC being on the outside looking in, though. The Trojans were my last team in for my final Field of 68 update; here's what I wrote: "A resume scrub isn't going to be favorable for USC (11-7 road/neutral); the Pac-12 has three other possible at-large teams (Arizona, UCLA and Arizona State) and the Trojans went 0-4 against those teams. Yeah. Their best wins are against bubble teams Middle Tennessee, Utah and New Mexico State. Yikes." I guess the committee viewed USC the same way. Should have followed my gut and left the Trojans out.

SURPRISE:
Hi, Syracuse!

SNUB: The selection committee has been pretty consistent with its insistence that teams play a challenging schedule whenever possible. St. Mary's went 28-5, which is really good, but they didn't play an even remotely challenging schedule. Think about this: The only regular-season games they played outside the state of California were three league road games (and two more in the WCC tournament), and their total schedule offered only seven Q1/2 opportunities. Seven of 33 games gave the Gaels a chance to impress the committee. They won four of those seven, two at home and two away from home. It would have been a treat to watch Jock Landale play in the NCAA Tournament, but it's hard to think St. Mary's has much to complain about.

SURPRISE: It's not just that Nevada trailed San Diego State by 30 points at halftime of a Mountain West Tournament game (and wound up losing by 17), but the Wolf Pack being a No. 7 seed was a bit of a stunner. Nevada won exactly one game against an at-large qualifier, beating Rhode Island at home on November 13. That's it. And the Wolf Pack lost five games to teams that weren't even in the at-large conversation. How is that a No. 7 seed?

SNUB: A couple of Big 12 teams have to be wondering what happened in that selection committee room. Texas got in relatively comfortably with a 19-14 record as a No. 10 seed, but Baylor and Oklahoma State were on the outside looking in. Baylor (17-14) swept Texas in Big 12 play (and Oklahoma State, too), knocked off Creighton in non-conference play and lost just one game to a team that didn't make the field. Oklahoma State (19-14) had a bad NC SOS, but the Cowboys beat Florida State in Florida, and they swept two regular-season games vs. Kansas, a No. 1 seed and won at West Virginia. Their only losses to non at-large teams were, you guessed it, against Baylor.

SURPRISE: Did we mention Syracuse got an at-large bid? Kidding, mostly. Many folks were surprised that Arizona State made the tournament. But should they have been surprised? The selection committee tells us all that time that everything matters, that games in November and December count. Arizona State (7-7 road/neutral) provided an excellent litmus test. The Sun Devils beat two possible No. 1 seeds, winning at Kansas — a herculean task for a non-conference opponent — and beat Xavier on a neutral court, and they also topped Kansas State and St. John's, before injuries derailed the Johnnies. Yes, they faltered down the stretch, but does non-conference matter or not? We find out. Yep, it matters.

SNUB: Committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen said Notre Dame was the team that got bumped from the field when Davidson upended Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 title game Sunday to steal a bid (Rhode Island was safely in regardless). But, again, do Irish fans really have anything to complain about? Yes, their best player, Bonzie Colson, missed a large portion of the season with a foot injury before returning a couple weeks ago. But this is true …

Fun fact: Notre Dame has three Q3 losses.

Two of those (Ball State/Indiana) came with Bonzie Colson on the court.
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) March 11, 2018
SURPRISE: You didn't have to look hard to find someone saying Oklahoma didn't belong in the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners are, in fact, kind of reeling. But here's the thing: Any resume conversation about Oklahoma (5-11 road/neutral) had to start with the selection committee's Top-16 seeds reveal on Feb. 11. Even though the Sooners had lost six of eight at that point, they were still the No. 16 overall seed, based mostly on the strength of their six Q1 victories. Well, they still have the six Q1 wins (including KU at home, at Wichita State and at TCU), and if that was good enough for a No. 4 seed with eight losses on Feb. 11, surely that was good enough to still get an at-large bid with 13 losses on March 11, right? Yep. And not only was it good enough for a bid, it was good enough for a No. 10 seed