Every Selection Sunday, there are bound to be a handful of teams that feel they were wrongly excluded from the field of 68. But not many of them have a sitting governor weigh in on their behalf.
The Rutgers men’s team found itself on the outside looking in on Sunday night despite a strong season in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights went 19–14 overall and 10-10 in conference, thanks in large part to one of the nation’s best defenses. In his final bracket projection, Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney had Rutgers as one of the last four at-large selections. But when the selection committee revealed its selections on Sunday evening, the New Jersey school was left out.
So what was New Jersey governor Phil Murphy’s first order of business on Twitter on Monday morning? Stumping for his state’s flagship public university.
According to the selection committee, Rutgers was the second team left out of the field (after Oklahoma State). The deciding factor for the Scarlet Knights was a 2–4 record in Quad 3 games. Although they had earned some impressive victories, they also wilted against some lesser opponents. Losses late in the season against Nebraska and Minnesota were especially galling.
Rutgers landed just on the right side of the bubble last season, making the NCAA tournament as one of the last four teams into the field, but lost in the First Four against Notre Dame. The Scarlet Knights made it to the second round in 2021 in what was their first NCAA tournament appearance in 30 years.
New Jersey didn’t get shut out of the tournament this year, though. Two private schools from the state—Princeton and Fairleigh Dickinson—earned automatic bids. Murphy wrote the Knights a letter congratulating them on making the field. But clearly he wishes the state’s largest school was also going dancing.
