Olympic Committee Reveals Key Date: Final Ice Hockey Showdown Scheduled for July 28th!
Miami (OH) RedHawks head coach Travis Steele gives a speech after defeating the Toledo Rockets 74-72, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at Millett Hall in Oxford, Oh. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Listen, we all know Xavier got snubbed. A solid 4-17 in the top two quads, only one Q3 loss, and a run all the way to the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
That’s a team that should be in. But other than that, the Selection Committee has finally gotten it right. For years there have been questions about how the field was formed, and whether it was all popularity, or money, or name recognition that got teams in.
The system was about as clear as the reasons for another war in the middle east. As a distraction? Because we hadn’t in awhile?
Just because? It was hard to sort exactly why mediocre high-majors snuck in or mid-majors that had accumulated vaguely impressive resumes landed single digit seeds. This year the NCAA said it would be a lot of NET, metrics, and wins above bubble.
Then, shockingly they held to that. The questions coming in were whether Auburn, Oklahoma, or Indiana would ride their strength of schedule into the tournament and what would happen to Miami. The Miami question was tied into the other ones.