Technically, the president of the NCAA Selection Committee, Bubba Cunningham, was not allowed to vote for the North Carolina basketball team while choosing the March madness field of 68 teams.
As a athletic director of the school, he was not only forbidden to choose the Tar Heel's for male and female tournaments, but not even allowed him in the room for those discussions, according to his vice president, Keith Gill.
But when the 22-13 Tar Heels broken in some way they received an offer of tournament without any signature victory in 2024-25, university basketball fans could not avoid blaming Cunningham for their perceived corruption. Many saw Indiana, West Virginia and Boise State as better options, but the three schools were rejected on Sunday.
“Bubba Cunningham is one of the most corrupt men in the history of modern sport,” wrote an Indiana fan in X after Sunday's team.
'How is this allowed?' Another fan asked online.
Cunningham was asked about the conflict of interest perceived during Selection Sunday Show in CBS.
Seth Trimble #7 of the Tar Heels of North Carolina and RJ Davis #4 react in the second half against the Duke Blue Devils during the semifinal round of the Basketball Tournament Acc
Technically, the president of the NCAA Selection Committee, Bubba Cunningham, was not allowed to vote for the North Carolina basketball team while choosing the March madness field of 68 teams
“Obviously, I'm going to differ that to Keith,” Cunningham said, referring to Gill. “But all policies and procedures were followed and Keith can address exactly how North Carolina was discussed because he was not in the room for any of that.”
According to Gill, Cunningham was forbidden to have some contribution or even listen to discussions about the fate of North Carolina.
“Our policies require that the announcement of any school be challenged and actually leave those discussions and are not really allowed to participate in any vote too,” Gill told CBS. 'So we continued, we had many discussions about North Carolina.
“You know, on Saturday night, we took our final vote and voted in four teams in the field on Saturday night and we had a contingency vote,” he continued. 'And the contingency vote? That was the last team in the field. It was based on Memphis and UAB. If Memphis won that game, then that was going to free a place in the tournament and that was going to be North Carolina. If Uab had won, then Memphis was going to be in the tournament, Uab would have been in the North Tournament and Carolina would have been the first team outside.
'And so that process was developed today. Memphis won and that put North Carolina in the countryside.
Critics indicate the 1-12 UNC record against the so-called Quad 1 schools in the middle of a historically bad season for the ACC.
“I am so fed up with this garbage,” wrote an angry fan of Unc Charlotte in X. “Why even play the tournament? They were 1-12 against Quad 1 and are stealing an offer from Boise State or UC Irvine, whom I would prefer to see. Bubba Cunningham hit. This program deceives everything.