CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Today, Governor Patrick Morrisey announced the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is making rule changes to the March Madness selection process, resulting from a call to action by the Governor and West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey.
New NCAA rules for the 2026 championship require the selection committee chair to recuse themselves during final at-large team selections if their institution is under review. Additionally, if their institution is among the last four at-large teams, the chair cannot publicly comment on its inclusion.
“Leaving WVU out of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was unjustified, and the selection process left fans and supporters in the dark,” said Governor Morrisey. “I’m proud to announce that our call to action has produced real results to eliminate potential bias and bring more transparency going forward.”
Earlier this year, Governor Morrisey and Attorney General McCuskey called on the NCAA to look into their policies after the WVU Men’s Basketball team was left out of the NCAA March Madness tournament, despite a strong resume and 111 out of 111 bracketologists predicting they would make the tournament. WVU was one of the “first four” teams left out of the tournament, while UNC, whose Athletic Director was the head of the Selection Committee, was one of the last teams to get a bid.
“When we raise issues, we follow up and do what we say,” said Governor Morrisey. “Eliminating conflicts of interest is important in sports and in real life to ensure that the rules of competition are based upon merit, not special preferences.”
“While this change of rule doesn’t fix the blatantly wrong decision of the NCAA selection process, it will help ensure such a conflict never happens again,” Morrisey added.
The NCAA’s recent rule changes follow Governor Morrisey’s work as Attorney General, when he aggressively challenged an NCAA rule that barred student athletes from competing for a full season after multiple transfers. As Attorney General, Morrisey successfully enjoined the law and recovered legal costs from the NCAA.
“As your Governor, I’m going to keep pursuing new ways to safeguard impartiality and justice in the sports that mean so much to our state, and to keep fighting for the people of West Virginia,” said Governor Morrisey.