(The Hill) — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) on Monday said he will take legal action against the NCAA over West Virginia University (WVU)’s snub from the March Madness tournament.

“I’ve asked Attorney General [JB McCuskey] to launch an investigation into the NCAA tournament selection committee to determine if any backyard deals, backroom deals, corruption, bribes or any nefarious activity occurred during the selection process,” Morrisey said during a Monday press conference.

The WVU Mountaineers are not a part of this year’s March Madness tournament. The Mountaineers are also not ranked in The Associated Press’s poll of the top 25 men’s college basketball teams.

“Many of us were looking to see how WVU was going to be seated in the tournament,” Morrisey said Monday. “Nearly every single sports fan, pundit, bracketologist, everyone had [WVU] as a shoe-in for the tournament. In fact, leading up to Selection Sunday, 111 out of the 111 bracketologists projected WVU to make the tournament.”

In a similar move in late 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) went after the College Football Playoff committee’s decision to exclude Florida State University from the four-team playoff field.

West Virginia (19-13) had six Quad I wins this season, but lost its opening game in the Big 12 tournament to last-place Colorado. That kept the Mountaineers from being that league’s eighth team to make the NCAA field.

“Obviously, we are extremely shocked, saddened and disappointed with not being selected for the NCAA Tournament,” first-year Mountaineers coach Darian DeVries said. “We strongly believe that we have a resume that is worthy of an NCAA Tournament team.”

The Mountaineers played much of the season without the coach’s son, 6-foot-7 Tucker DeVries, who averaged 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in his eight starts before an upper-body injury that required surgery. The father-son duo came from Drake, where Tucker DeVries was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference player of the year.

Bubba Cunningham, the North Carolina athletic director who is chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, referenced DeVries’ injury when talking about the first four teams left out.

“The last four teams that were out for, it was a tough call. The next team out was West Virginia and they had an outstanding year and unfortunately knowing Tucker DeVries was hurt, player availability is something that we talk about quite a bit,” Cunningham said during the Selection Show. “Indiana was close, Ohio State was close, Boise was close.”

The Hill has reached out to the NCAA for comment.

The men’s March Madness tournament starts Tuesday, beginning with a game between St. Francis University and Alabama State University at 6:40 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.