Every Selection Sunday, there are bound to be a handful of teams that feel they were wrongly excluded from the field of 68. But not many of them have a sitting governor weigh in on their behalf.
The Rutgers men’s team found itself on the outside looking in on Sunday night despite a strong season in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights went 19–14 overall and 10-10 in conference, thanks in large part to one of the nation’s best defenses. In his final bracket projection, Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney had Rutgers as one of the last four at-large selections. But when the selection committee revealed its selections on Sunday evening, the New Jersey school was left out.
So what was New Jersey governor Phil Murphy’s first order of business on Twitter on Monday morning? Stumping for his state’s flagship public university.
