Auburn will not go dancing this spring as the Tigers became one of the most notable names to miss out on appearing in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Steve Pearl and his dad, former head coach Bruce Pearl, made their best pitches for the Tigers to be part of the 68-team field, but in the end, Auburn joined Oklahoma, San Diego St. and Indiana as the first four teams out this year.
Among some of the surprise teams that didn’t make the cut was a New Mexico squad that was on the bubble after falling to San Diego St. in the Mountain West Tournament.
Here’s a look at some of this year’s March Madness snubs.
Auburn Tigers
The Tigers had been one of the most talked-about teams heading into Selection Sunday, in large part due to the headlines generated by their former head coach, who lobbied for Auburn on TV and in interviews. In the end, Auburn needed to make it in on an at-large bid after losing in the SEC Tournament and finishing with a 17-16 overall record.
Auburn had finished the year with a 4-13 record against Quad I opponents and they had gone 4-9 in their last 13 games following an upset win over the defending national champion, Florida Gators.
In games against Quad II opponents the Tigers had gone 3-2, they went 4-1 against Quad III opponents and the Tigers went 6-0 against Quad IV opponents.
This is the first time Auburn has missed the NCAA Tournament since 2021.
Oklahoma Sooners
The Sooners were the first team out of the field on Selection Sunday, dashing their hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma managed to win eight of its last 11 games after losing nine straight, leading to the team missing out on an appearance for the fourth time in five seasons under head coach Porter Moser.
Moser will be back in 2026-27 after the Sooners went 19-15 in 2025-26.
San Diego State Aztecs
A tough turn of events for the Aztecs.
San Diego State lost in the Mountain West Tournament final, missing out on the automatic bid, and then found itself on the outside looking in for March Madness. The Aztecs had made five NCAA Tournament appearances up until this year.
San Diego State had finished the year with a 22-11 overall record, but the loss to Utah State in the conference tournament championship proved to hurt them quite a bit, dropping them down two spots in the NET ranking.
Indiana Hoosiers
In their first season under Darian DeVries, the Hoosiers went 18-14 overall, but had lost six of their last seven games of the season and had put up a 9-12 record against Big Ten opponents.
The Hoosiers had looked like a tournament team early in the year before the wheels fell off after winning just one game after Feb. 9.
Indiana’s season is expected to be over after multiple outlets have reported that they will not accept an invitation to any postseason tournaments.
New Mexico Lobos
It was a tough year for the Mountain West after just one of its teams received a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They fell in the conference tournament in the semifinal to San Diego State and they were facing an uphill battle to earn an at-large bid.
They did have an 8-8 record against Quad I and Quad II opponents combined.
However, out of that, they had just two wins against Quad I opponents and had two losses to Quad III teams.
