West Virginia’s Political Sideshow: When March Madness Meets Political Grandstanding
The world of college basketball, with its Cinderella stories and nail-biting finishes, often provides a welcome distraction from the more serious realities of life. However, when politics and sports collide, the result can be a spectacle that is both absurd and deeply unsettling. Such was the case recently in West Virginia, where the state’s governor and attorney general staged a press conference to decry the NCAA basketball tournament selection process, transforming a perceived injustice into a political platform.
Governor Patrick Morrisey and Attorney General John McCuskey, appearing at the aforementioned press conference, expressed outrage over the West Virginia Mountaineers’ exclusion from March Madness. Their rhetoric, bordering on hyperbolic, included accusations of "miscarriage of justice," "robbery," and even intimations of corruption within the NCAA. The tone and severity of their pronouncements would have been almost comical were it not for the serious implications of elected officials leveraging their power for what seemed to be purely political gain.
The timing of this public display, a mere 18 hours after the tournament selections were announced, felt less like a genuine attempt to rectify a wrong and more like a calculated move to capture the national sympathy that was already trending toward Morgantown. The authors of this political theater seemed to ignore that the one thing more grating to sports fans than an NCAA tournament snub is a pair of politicians using it as a soapbox to pander to their base.
The irony of the situation was readily apparent. Here were two elected officials, ostensibly responsible for addressing the myriad problems facing their state, dedicating their time and resources to a basketball team’s exclusion from a tournament. In a state grappling with issues such as opioid addiction, poverty, and infrastructure challenges, the governor and attorney general chose to focus their attention on the perceived injustice of the NCAA selection committee.
Morrisey’s suggestion that the Mountaineers’ exclusion might be retribution for the state’s previous lawsuit against the NCAA regarding player eligibility raised further questions about his motives. While the previous lawsuit was framed as a defense of a citizen’s rights against potentially anti-trust NCAA regulations, this instance appeared as simple whining on behalf of a basketball team with a mediocre record. The team lost 13 of its 32 games including the Big 12 tournament.
The fact that the NCAA tournament selection process is not based on strictly objective criteria is not a secret. Every Division 1 school understands this when they agree to participate in the system. While the Mountaineers’ omission was indeed surprising, considering that most bracketologists had them included, the outrage seemed disproportionate to the alleged offense.
The North Carolina athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, also serves as the chairman of the selection committee. This is, at best, an uncomfortable situation, particularly when the final decision essentially came down to North Carolina versus West Virginia. While recusal procedures are in place, these measures do not fully safeguard against the perception of favoritism.
This situation provided an opening for Morrisey, an opportunity to rail against a perceived injustice and portray himself as a champion of the people. However, it is a cynical endeavor that would have been mirrored by any governor whose state team was excluded. The argument that Cunningham had a financial incentive to ensure North Carolina’s selection further fueled the conspiracy theories surrounding the decision.
The heart of the issue is not whether the selection committee made the correct decision, but rather whether elected officials should be injecting themselves into the realm of college sports. These decisions should be for college sport leaders to deal with – not elected officials who want to make it seem like they are fighting for the common man to get more votes in an election.
McCuskey, in his role as attorney general, sounded more like an impassioned fan on a message board than a chief law enforcement officer. His repeated references to the Mountaineers as "we" and his assertion that the team was capable of defeating anyone in the country further undermined the seriousness of the press conference.
In the end, the actions of Morrisey and McCuskey were deeply embarrassing for the state of West Virginia. Their behavior echoed similar instances of political grandstanding in other states, such as when Florida politicians protested Florida State’s exclusion from the College Football Playoff. State-level legislators have passed bills in states such as Georgia, Alabama, and Illinois to exempt college athletes from state income tax on their NIL deals, which has helped sway public opinion back to the NCAA.
Ultimately, the press conference resembled a poorly executed comedy sketch, more fitting for a Saturday Night Live skit than a serious discussion of state policy. The fact that it occurred in real life, in the state of West Virginia, is a testament to the lengths to which politicians will go to score cheap political points, even at the expense of their own credibility.
