NCAA Launches Men’s Basketball Committee Selection Process Following UNC Controversy

The NCAA made a pretty notable change to its men’s basketball committee selection process, a change it should simply call “the Bubba Cunningham Rule.”

We all know the drama that surrounded the UNC basketball program’s inclusion on last season’s NCAA Tournament teams, a decision underscored by the fact that Cunningham was chairman of the committee. Many people still believe that North Carolina should not have been included on the field, because those same people believe that the Tar Heels athletic director played a large role in making that happen.

Because of this speculation, the NCAA put a rule in place to prevent this type of controversy from happening again.

Under the new rule, the president must be recused if his or her school is under review for final at-large selections. If their school makes the bottom four at-large teams, the president cannot comment publicly on its inclusion.

Basically the NCAA is saying, “well, we’re not saying there was wrongdoing, BUT we’ll take precautions to make sure it doesn’t happen again!” »

The truth about what happened during the committee selection meetings will never surface, which will always lead to even more speculation on the subject. Following the backlash, particularly from West Virginia University, it was almost guaranteed that the NCAA was going to address this type of issue in the future, ensuring that the committee placed the top 68 teams in the field.

While we don’t believe Cunningham committed any wrongdoing, you can understand why many people across the country feel this way, especially considering how the UNC basketball program has performed through most of the 2024-25 regular season. It was a bad year because the program was mediocre, putting Cunningham in a difficult position as committee chairman.

When referring to this rule, you may informally refer to it as “the Bubba Cunningham Rule.”