CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — SMU coach Andy Enfield believes his Mustangs have done enough to earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid despite being eliminated from Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Wednesday's second round by No. 24 Louisville.
“We feel very strongly that we deserve to be in,” Enfield said. “But it’s not our decision, and we just hope that (the selection committee) looks at the entire schedule.”
The Mustangs (20-13) entered the day with a NET rating of 37 and were 4-8 in Quadrant 1 games that top a postseason resume. On BracketMatrix.com, SMU was in the field as a No. 11 seed on the site’s average of 87 mock projections as of Wednesday night.
SMU was also among the last four teams in the field according to projections by analytics site T-Ranketology as of Wednesday evening.
SMU beat Syracuse 86-69 in the first round of the ACC Tournament before falling to Louisville 62-58.
The Mustangs played both games without B.J. Edwards due to an ankle injury, but he's expected to return for the NCAA Tournament, Enfield said.
Enfield said SMU's schedule should be taken into account.
“I think as far as our schedule strength, the fact that we scheduled four SEC teams in a row, none at home, and have those quality Quad 1 and Quad 2 game wins, that our resume is probably better than some of the other teams in that area with where our NET is right now,” Enfield said.
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