March Madness: Virginia basketball branded ‘unwatchable’ after team shoots only 17 PERCENT from the field in the first half as fans berate selection committee for controversial pick

The NCAA Tournament selection committee’s controversial decision to include the University of Virginia men’s basketball team backfired spectacularly after it had one of the worst performances of March Madness history.

Selection Sunday shocked fans with the Cavaliers’ inclusion as one of the final four teams in the tournament – despite almost every possible metric and analysis saying the team did not deserve to participate – compared to teams such as Indiana State, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Oklahoma.

Well, the Cavaliers rewarded the committee for their generosity by turning in an all-time shooting performance in a 67-42 loss to Colorado State in their “First Four” game in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday night.

Virginia shot a terrible 5-for-29 (17%) from the field in the first half and didn’t score a field goal for the final 9:20 of that period – heading to the locker room with just 14 points.

They didn’t manage to break that duck until about four minutes into the second half, which was almost 14 minutes of playing time and 52 minutes of real time between the buckets.

Virginia finished the second half shooting 9 of 27 from the field – finishing the night 14-56 (25%) from the field and 3-17 (17.6%) from 3-point range.

Social media reaction to the match was a mixture of anger from the teams who did not participate and being appalled by the spectacle.

On the NCAA Tournament postgame show, analyst Wally Szczerbiak said, “(The committee) made a mistake putting Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. All the bracketologists said it.

“They go out and play like that. This is unwatchable basketball the way they played today and on national television.

Other college basketball media sang a similar song about the Cavaliers – whose season ended with this loss.

“A Virginia team that had lost 5 of its previous 9 games, has not been able to score 50 points in 4 of its previous 8 games and is 18 places worse on (analytics site) KenPom than the next lowest team overall. “I don’t belong in this NCAA Tournament,” wrote CBS Sports columnist Gary Parrish. “A lot of us said that two days ago .”

FOX Sports broadcaster John Fanta tweeted: “I usually don’t like ‘they didn’t belong in the tournament’ comments because anything can happen in one game. But I will make an exception here. Nothing against UVA. Tony Bennett is a hell of a coach. But this particular team had no business doing that. It’s the truth.’

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote: “The committee members should all be fired for nominating Virginia. Results matter. Disgusting.’

Villanova alumnus and New York Knicks guard Josh Hart defended his colleagues from rejected Big East teams Seton Hall, St. John’s and Providence, saying, “They really chose this Virginia team over the Big East teams.”

“Don’t let the fact that Virginia plays a plodding, unenjoyable style of basketball distract you from the fact that it’s also not good enough to make the NCAA tournament,” wrote The Ringer’s Roger Sherman .