A lot of people thought the SMU Mustangs were going to make the NCAA Tournament this year -- the Ponies finished the year 25-9, 12-6 in a top-heavy AAC, and were ranked No. 25, and no ranked team had missed the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
But they lost their last three games of the year, including an AAC Tournament game against Houston. And although things are turning around for Larry Brown and co., they were left out of the tournament in favor of NC State, who only one of 78 bracketologists thought was worthy of a spot.
#SMU players, fans and coach Larry Brown react after missing out on #NCAA tourney.
Thanks to the magic of TV, we get to watch all the teams as they find out their tourney spot -- and we also get to find out what teams look like when they find out there is no tourney spot. pic.twitter.com/3hoWvnQhFS
— Richard Durrett (@espn_durrett) March 16, 2014
Bummer, guys. Let's break this down in greater depth:
An awesome recruiting job by Brown means the future is bright, and we won't have to see them sad again next year.