College basketball’s March Madness was exactly that after its first two rounds last weekend.

Perhaps one of the biggest stories surrounding the tourney year in and year out is who didn’t make the tournament. Bubble teams, as they are more commonly known as, help add hype in the weekends leading into selection Sunday.

One can only imagine what actually goes through the minds of the selection committee when deciding what teams to invite.

So it seems like a good time to dive into the head of a committee member and see how to pick a team or leave them for the NIT.

As Tuesday’s Northern Star stated, DePaul was more than likely not invited to the tourney thanks to a 15-point loss early in the season to NIU. It seems that key losses were a large part in the Blue Demons’ case.

So the “what have you done for me lately” philosophy that ESPN college basketball analyst Digger Phelps likes to talk about isn’t all that important. DePaul finished fifth in Conference USA behind four teams that made the Big Dance.

All four of those teams finished with 20-plus victories this season whereas the Blue Demons only had 19 wins before starting National Invitational Tournament play. So was a 20-win season a major criterion for teams hoping to make the tournament from Conference USA?

No.

Both Texas Christian and Memphis finished the season with more than 20 wins but neither were able to garner an invitation to the ball.

DePaul also played three games against teams that were riding the bubble watch the last week of the season.

The Blue Demons beat Notre Dame 84-73 on Dec. 11. The 11-point victory came on the road at South Bend, Ind.

Their schedule also featured two match-ups with tourney contender Alabama-Birmingham. Both games were losses but only by a combined four points on the road, one of which was in their conference tournament.

The Blue Demons also boasted two wins over nationally ranked teams. They defeated then-No. 20 ranked Cincinnati and No. 25 Marquette during the middle of the season. This was before Marquette fell out of the bubble watch.

It appears that DePaul not dancing can be traced to two games in particular: Its conference tournament loss against Alabama-Birmingham and the Nov. 27 loss to NIU at the Allstate Arena.

One can say the Conference USA tournament loss to UAB was the deciding factor in who got the fourth conference bid.

Is it really that farfetched to say a loss to a team below .500 and ranked 184 in the RPI sealed DePaul’s faith forcing it into a win or you are gone situation?