Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas React to Clemson Basketball Snub
Clemson’s men’s basketball team and their fans are still dealing with the excruciating disappointment of being left out of this year’s NCAA Tournament field. The Tigers were among the dreaded “First Four Out” category, along with teams like Oklahoma State and North Carolina.
The outcry of anger and disappointment isn’t just coming from the South Carolina area of the country. Many national pundits are pointing out the relatively obvious snub. ESPN’s Dick Vitale, one of the leading voices in college basketball for decades, expressed his displeasure, mentioning the Tigers at the opening of his initial reaction to the tournament field.
“I think, first of all, the committee has a tough, tough, job. So much unpredictability this year, but there’s something that did stand out to me: not seeing Clemson in there,” said Vitale. “I mean, what do you think the feeling must be at Clemson when they see N.C. State there, who they beat not once, not twice, three times. And did you see the margin of victories? The margin of victories in those games were better than 20 points twice, and double figures the third time as well. I don’t understand the logic there. They won 23 games. Yeah, they had a couple of bad losses, but I don’t know how you could really justify that. That really troubles me.”
Vitale wasn’t the only ESPN analyst upset with the decision to exclude Clemson. Jay Bilas and Seth Greenberg both said Clemson should be in the NCAA Tournament. “What I don’t get is the Clemson thing,” said Bilas. “If people want to talk about their non-conference schedule, and they’re saying ‘Well, they’re ranked this, this, and this in their non-conference schedule!’, so what? It’s the total body of work. How many times did they tell us it’s the total body of work? What difference does it make where the games fall?... If your total body of work is good enough, and I believe Clemson’s was good enough.”
Clemson has accepted a bid to play in the NIT Tournament. The Tigers are a No. 1 seed in the tournament and will take on Morehead State at home on Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.
