South Carolina Was Invited to the NCAA Tournament, Then Told It Was a Mistake [UPDATE]

[UPDATE: HOLY COW THIS STORY IS TRUE! South Carolina AD Ray Tanner just confirmed it. What a colossal blunder by the NCAA.]

This item was buried in a NOLA.com mailbag from a reporter, so read it as gospel if you want, but it can’t possibly be true. I mean, is this even the process? Via Ron Higgins:

"It looked like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee giving Vanderbilt the gift of an invitation as one of the last teams in the 68-team field had saved Commodores’ coach Kevin Stallings job. And even that invite was in question because sources told me that the person that makes the travel arrangements for NCAA tournament teams had actually called South Carolina, told the Gamecocks they had been invited, then said to hold on and they would call back in 10 minutes. South Carolina never got the return call. Vandy got the NCAA bid and then promptly lost by 20 points to Wichita State in one of the tourney’s First Four games in Dayton."

What?

So the selection committee calls teams to invite them? Does this only apply to bubble teams? If this process does exist, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. If the selection committee was calling teams, wouldn’t coaches immediately pass that info on to players and the rest of the athletic department?

This is very confusing. I’m sure the NCAA tournament selection committee will address it at some point. Let’s start here: Who did they call at South Carolina? And who made the call?