Of the various potential men's NCAA tournament snubs left out of the 68-team field on Selection Sunday, West Virginia probably has the best case for being upset.

The Mountaineers were far from perfect this season, entering Sunday with a 19–13 record, but the team was far more competitive against top competition than the last team in the field, North Carolina, which was famously just 1–12 against Quad 1 opponents in the NET rankings. WVU was 6–10.

Pat McAfee, perhaps the best-known West Virginia alumnus in sports right now, believes the school's top programs' lack of recent top-line success allowed a big brand like UNC to beat out his Mountaineers.

“Men’s basketball, men’s football, there hasn’t been the national moment for a while,” McAfee said on his show Monday. “And I think that was held against us.”

While he acknowledged that the team could have certainly played better and eliminated any question about whether they should be in the field, McAfee does think the program deserved a ticket to the dance.

“Wouldn’t have been a high seeding, obviously. We should have played a lot better throughout the season and certainly had a little bit of a setback. And we didn’t do well in the Big 12 tournament either,” he said.

“So obviously, they're holding something against West Virginia. That is just another chip on the shoulder. Obviously, it’s bulls---. We don’t love it, we don’t like it. Play better, you’re in, definitely, but nonetheless, West Virginia will be back. West Virginia will be back on top in all the big sports.”

McAfee also supports West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey's threat of legal action against the NCAA and selection committee after the snub.

It won't be enough to change the tournament field this year, but clearly McAfee hopes the momentum for the Mountaineers across all sports will start to change. Perhaps this snub can be a spark to that end.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pat McAfee Thinks Lack of Recent 'National Moment' Was Held Against West Virginia.