In college sports, tournament snubs happen every now and then. When they do, the reactions to those snubs are what you want to look for. When it comes to responding to a snub, the Kansas State Wildcats baseball coach had a spicy response to the NCAA Tournament committee.
K-State head coach Pete Hughes let it fly, and the baseball team’s Twitter account posted the comments for everyone to see.
“The Division 1 Baseball Committee and the system failed K-State, our program, and our seniors. It was obvious that the committee over-emphasized the RPI – a flawed metric. The regional disparities of the RPI are glaring and still were used as a tool to form, shape, and make decisions.”
Hughes continued. “The most important criteria, that has ‘zero’ grey area is head-to-head competition. It’s definitive – someone wins and someone loses. We were left out in place of two teams that we finished ahead of in overall conference play and also two teams we beat head-to-head. Why play the games if the records are not valued? When did we stop rewarding winning? It’s inexplicable and disappointing. Our players and community deserved better.”
Statement from head coach Pete Hughes#KStateBSB pic.twitter.com/14HCtew06s
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) May 30, 2023
The two teams Hughes referred to were Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Kansas State took series from each of them this season. But despite that, the NCAA Tournament paved the way for OU and the Red Raiders to enter the tournament, but not the Wildcats.
Fair to say that Kansas State baseball might have an axe to grind.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022