USF women's lacrosse robbed of NCAA tournament bid -- how could this happen?

The USF lacrosse team just made history, but, thanks the NCAA's stacked deck, it was a dubious achievement.

The Bulls were left out of the NCAA tournament after the selection committee decided to ignore their No. 17 RPI ranking because -- actually, I have no idea how the members agreed on this ham-handed decision.

Part of it has to be a preference for "brand names" over a fledgling USF program. It's also not hard to believe that good old fashioned politics played a big role.

The Bulls were ranked higher in RPI than Penn State (18th) but, you know -- brand name. On an Spotify podcast for Inside Lacrosse, selection committee chair Matt Colagiovanni said the Nittany Lions were the last team in the field.

USF was higher than Boston College (19) who had a bland 9-7 overall record.

Higher than 10-8 Rutgers (20) who enters with a three-game losing streak. but -- oh wait -- Colagiovanni (the chair of the committee , remember) is the chief of staff for athletics at (guess where) ... Rutgers. Duh!

Higher than 9-7 Boston College (19), a 14-7 loser to Stanford in the ACC quarterfinals.

Higher than 8-9 Virginia (22), which was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

Higher than Loyola Maryland (23), which lost in the Patriot League semifinals.

Higher than Georgetown (28), which was blown out 12-4 in the Big East championship game.

Higher than 12-5 Notre Dame (30). The Irish lost in the ACC quarterfinals but, you know, Rudy was a great movie so the Irish get a lifetime pass.

You want to hold USF's 17-7 loss to James Madison in the American Conference final against the Bulls? OK, but why were teams like Georgetown and Boston College not held to the same standard?

The Bulls did have a thread for the committee to pull at -- a No. 38 ranking in strength of schedule. Head coach Mindy McCord tried to load USF's non-conference powers like Florida, Michigan, and Navy -- all ranked in the Top 10.

But here's the kicker.

On that same Spotify podcast, Colagiovanni said 8-8 Penn (29) was the last team out -- not USF.

So basically, the Bulls were against a stacked deck and never had a chance.

McCord did have a comment on the morning after the snub. This year's field has 29 teams -- 14 league champs, 15 at-large. She wants more.

Moving on is all anyone can do at this point.

But it won't change the fact that USF got robbed.

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