The reveal of the men's NCAA tournament bracket highlights the culmination of a season-long journey for 68 teams whose dreams have finally been realized. The flip side of that coin, though, is heartbreak for those who didn't quite make the cut.
The bubble burst for several teams on Sunday, all of which had to wait for the entirety of CBS’s nearly-hourlong bracket reveal show for the announcement of their schools that never came. After the full 68-team bracket was announced, the committee released its “first four out” list, which likely served as a bitter twist of the knife as teams saw just how close they came to getting into the big dance:
Dayton was the team who was the last one to miss the field, followed by Oklahoma, SMU and Texas A&M. The Aggies had a chance to punch their ticket in Sunday’s SEC title game, where they lost to Tennessee, 65–50. The day also saw Richmond upset top-seeded Davidson in the Atlantic 10 championship game, stealing the bid that would have gone to Dayton.
Oklahoma made it to the Big 12 tournament semifinals, losing to No. 14 Texas Tech by one point. SMU, meanwhile, lost in the AAC tournament semifinals to Memphis on Saturday, ending its chances at an at-large bid. The Sooners were ranked No. 40 in the committee's primary metric, NET, making them the highest-ranked team by that measure to not make the field.
