I can only describe this as shocking and a massive snub, nothing less: The 22-10 Virginia Women's Basketball team was left out of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Virginia finished the regular season with a 22-10 record, including 9-7 in conference; That was good enough to tie for fifth in the ACC. They didn't beat any of the four teams ranked above them - Duke, Miami, Maryland or Georgia Tech - but they did beat #2 Tennessee during their non-conference slate. They also had no bad losses.
All four of the teams above Virginia in the ACC standings made it into the dance. Not only that, the lowest seed of those four teams - Georgia Tech - was a four seed. Maryland Duke received two seeds, Miami received a three seed. So every team above Virginia in the conference was ranked in the top 25% of the NCAA Field.
The 'Hoos final RPI was right around 50. Not great, I'll grant you, but not horrible either. Kansas (53), Texas (56) and Michigan State (62) all made it into the tournament. The Jayhawks and Longhorns both had sub-.500 records in the Big 12 and neither reached the 20-win plateau. Kansas was 4-10 in their last 14 games. Texas was at least marginally better at 6-8 in their last 14 games. Virginia? 8-6.
The Selection Committee Chair said that the fact that Virginia didn't beat any of the teams above them in the ACC is what kept them out of the dance. I understand that being a knock on us, but when all of those teams are seeded 4th or above in the tournament, that hardly seems like something worth knocking us all the way out of the tournament.
But, it is what it is, I suppose.
Virginia did get selected to the WNIT and will host Howard in the first round on Thursday at 7pm. You can check out the WNIT bracket and try to guess how Virginia will fare. There's a possible second round match against Richmond, who the Cavaliers beat 69-56 earlier in the season, as well as a possible sweet sixteen matchup with N.C. State, who the 'Hoos took down 55-47 in Raleigh earlier in the year. In other words, Virginia has a decent chance of advancing pretty far in this tournament, which would be nice to see.