Three bid stealers to blame for your team missing the 2018 NCAA tournament

Selection Sunday is always a day of celebration for a number of fan bases, a day of expected apathy for others, and for a select few, a day that ends in sheer misery.

That last group is comprised of fans of bubble teams who ultimately discover their squad was among the first helping of teams excluded from the field of 68. For those fans who find themselves pouring a stiff drink or 68 on Sunday night, here are the three 2018 “bid thieves” you can blame for your woes.

Davidson burst someone’s bubble at the 12th hour by claiming the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid a mere three hours before the start of the selection show. Despite making just one field goal over the game’s final 14 minutes, the Wildcats took out top seed and regular season champion Rhode Island — the A-10’s lone NCAA tournament lock — by a final score of 58-57.

You may remember that Davidson also went dancing 10 years ago.

It went pretty well for Bob McKillop’s team.

Also, bonus points here if Davidson’s win over Rhode Island winds up meaning that a Danny Hurley loss cost his brother Bobby Hurley’s team (Arizona State) a trip to the tournament.

Like Davidson, San Diego State did the heavy lifting of knocking off their conference’s top dog themselves. The Aztecs throttled Big Dance lock Nevada, 90-73, in the Mountain West tournament semifinals. SDSU then punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament with an 82-75 win over New Mexico in the title game.

C-USA regular-season champion Middle Tennessee is squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble, so Marshall only gets to retain its title of bid thief if the Blue Raiders hear their name called during the selection show. MTSU was stunned in the conference tournament quarterfinals by Southern Mississippi, which was then knocked out a night later by Marshall. Dan D’Antoni’s Thundering Herd then squeaked out a win over Western Kentucky in the championship game to punch their first ticket to the Big Dance in 31 years.