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The West Virginia Mountaineers women’s basketball team has been left out of the NCAA tournament, despite winning 20 games this season, including 11 in Big 12 conference play. Head coach Mike Carey took to Twitter to voice his displeasure.
This is a joke....
— Mike Carey (@CoachMikeCarey) March 18, 2019
11 wins in the @Big12Conference, the 3rd Best RPI rated conference in the country. That’s all that needs to be said #HailWV
— Mike Carey (@CoachMikeCarey) March 18, 2019
Carey has repeatedly argued for his teams’ inclusion into the Tournament using the “11 wins in the 3rd best conference” line and he’s right, the Mountaineers finished 11-7 in the Big 12. Carey has a bit of argument to pick with the committee given that the Mountaineers weren’t even listed as one of the final eight teams “debatable eight” even though teams like Arkansas were included, who went 6-10 in SEC play and 2-10 against Quadrant 1 teams.
Carey’s squad is saddled with a RPI of 80 thanks to a weak non-conference schedule that included Bryant, Towson, Eastern Kentucky and Coppin State.
Carey has been very vocal about his team’s resume, “We won 11 games in the Big 12. We should be in the NCAA. Watch, on the men’s side there will be teams with losing records in the Big 12 that get into the NCAA. How they do it and we don’t get it done, I have no idea.”
The Oklahoma men’s team made the NCAA tournament despite a 7-11 conference record.