South Carolina Mistakenly Invited to 2016 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday

The South Carolina Gamecocks were one of the bubble teams kept out of this year's NCAA tournament, though a mistake on Selection Sunday had the team believing it was going dancing.   

Per Jeremy Turnage of WIS-TV 10, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said the team was notified around 6:30 p.m. ET on March 13 (Selection Sunday) by NCAA officials it was one of 68 teams invited to the NCAA tournament only to be told minutes later the invitation was a mistake.

The NCAA issued a statement about the mistaken tournament invite given to South Carolina, via USA Today's Nicole Auerbach:

Despite the rescinded invite, Gamecocks officials said they were not told that fellow SEC bubble team Vanderbilt had been invited to the tournament. 

South Carolina certainly had solid NCAA tournament credentials. The Gamecocks finished the season with a 24-8 record (11-7 in the SEC), ranked 57th in the RPI and had an 8-5 record against the RPI top 100. 

Using those same metrics, Vanderbilt's resume didn't look as strong. The Commodores were 19-13 (11-7 in the SEC) during the regular season, ranked 60th in the RPI and went 7-10 against the RPI top 100. 

South Carolina defeated Vanderbilt in their only matchup during the regular season, and each team lost their first game in the SEC tournament. The biggest difference between the two teams as far as metrics was strength of schedule. Vanderbilt played the 43rd-toughest schedule, compared to South Carolina at 159. 

Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin took a reasonable approach to his team's exclusion from the NCAA tournament, telling David Cloninger of The State, "If you win enough, you get in, if you don't, you won't. And obviously, we didn't win enough."

South Carolina did accept an invite to the NIT, defeating High Point in the first round before losing in the second round to Georgia Tech. 

There were certainly arguments to be made against South Carolina making the NCAA tournament, but being told by the NCAA it made the big dance after a 12-year absence only to find out moments later it was a mistake has to feel like a knife to the gut for a team that had a very good season. 

Rankings per ESPN.com.