The Mid Major Thread

[SU Nittany Tide]

Mike Daum at SDSU. They almost beat Nevada at Nevada.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

I think at this point Buffalo, Nevada and Gonzaga are clearly getting an at large big should they not win their respective conference tournament.

Teams that can probably afford maybe a loss or maybe two in conference(probably not though) Utah State, Belmont, San Francisco, and maybe one of St Louis or VCU in the A-10.

The problem this year for the mid majors is that alot of these are a lot deeper than they normally are, meaning it's going to be difficult to run through, for example, the So Con with just a loss. It's a bummer because there are some good mids this year. It'll be interesting to see how the committee treats the mids in comparison to the difference in the NET and the RPI. If you were a mid majors in the 30's/40's of the RPI you had basically a zero percent chance of getting an at large. Will they treat the similar rated teams in NET the same or not? That's what I'll be taking away the most in this first year.

Belmont picked up a few good wins I think? Utah State will get opportunities against Nevada too

VCU beat Texas, Temple and Wichita State, and their losses are to St. John's, Virginia, Old Dominion and Charleston. Old Dominion beat Syracuse (is Old Dominion another At-large chance?) so they're not a bad loss. Charleston might be.

Belmont I looked at their schedule, not much for wins sadly only one over a free-falling UCLA. They also have a bad loss to Green Bay, they really needed to take advantage of that opportunity against Purdue.

Furman was looking strong but I think they lost a game in the SoCon already, it really sucks that not a lot of people have noticed how strong that league is

 

[ericd7633]

Belmont picked up a few good wins I think? Utah State will get opportunities against Nevada too

VCU beat Texas, Temple and Wichita State, and their losses are to St. John's, Virginia, Old Dominion and Charleston. Old Dominion beat Syracuse (is Old Dominion another At-large chance?) so they're not a bad loss. Charleston might be.

Belmont I looked at their schedule, not much for wins sadly only one over a free-falling UCLA. They also have a bad loss to Green Bay, they really needed to take advantage of that opportunity against Purdue.

Furman was looking strong but I think they lost a game in the SoCon already, it really sucks that not a lot of people have noticed how strong that league is

Belmont has a sweep over Lipscomb, which should finish in the top 75 of net giving them a Q1 and Q2 win on their resume. UCLA is fading and fast. That might not even register as a Q2 win.

I feel bad for these teams because all them have been on the road so many games already and are almost assured to get no credit for it in terms of selection.

To answer your question, I think all of these teams could be at large candidates, but it would really require them to lose at most 2 conference games.

And yes it's frustrating that the general public doesn't understand the strength of the So Con. It's a very good league at the top 5. 5 teams currently in the top 100 of NET.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Belmont has a sweep over Lipscomb, which should finish in the top 75 of net giving them a Q1 and Q2 win on their resume. UCLA is fading and fast. That might not even register as a Q2 win.

I feel bad for these teams because all them have been on the road so many games already and are almost assured to get no credit for it in terms of selection.

To answer your question, I think all of these teams could be at large candidates, but it would really require them to lose at most 2 conference games.

And yes it's frustrating that the general public doesn't understand the strength of the So Con. It's a very good league at the top 5. 5 teams currently in the top 100 of NET.

This actually seems like a stronger year for mid-majors in general. The committee and the selection process in general should be evaluated closely if mid-majors don't get a lot of bids again.

Forgot about Lipscomb, they're looking good too. None of their losses are bad, swept by Belmont and the other two were to Louisville and Clemson. There's the road win over TCU which is a nice feather in the cap. They can't afford losses in conference play though.

Penn is another one now that I think of it. They have a win over Villanova, and as I look at their schedule here they beat Miami (fl). Losses are to Kansas State, Oregon State (who's actually one of the less bad teams in the Pac-12) and Toledo.

This allowed me to stumble upon Toledo, they're 12-1. They don't have much for wins other than Penn and a loss to Wright State, but they can build a case if they can upset Buffalo. Another lost league, the Mac is having a strong year.

 

[ChiSoxFan]

Loyola Ramblers 2-0 to start Missouri Valley play. Should win the conference and get to the dance again.

 

[UCFhonors]

It seems as though we have threads dedicated to the Power 6 conferences and nothing for the Mid Major leagues. For the sake of this thread, I'd like to exclude leagues that historically receive more than 1 bid per year to the NCAA Tournament, because of that the AAC, A-10, Mtn. West and WCC should have their own thread if anyone is interesting in starting one.

I really wanted to do this, because I noticed there were a number of mid major teams, from historically 1 bid leagues that have gotten off to great starts. I know OOC play is halfway over, so the chance for some of these teams to pull upsets will lessen, but I still think these teams are worth following into their respective conference play.

Just some things I've noticed thus far:

Out of the A-Sun, Lipscomb is off to a 5-1 start(against D1 teams). Three true road wins @TCU, @SMU, and @Morehead St. Still have road games @Clemson, @UL, and @Belmont. Not only have they played well thus far, this is a really fun team to watch. They get up and down(avg. 83 ppg), and have one of the best mid major players in the country in guard Garrison Mathews, who could eclipse 2,500 career points this season.

Out of the Big South, Radford, fresh off a tournament appearance last year is off to a 3-1 start(against D1 teams). Including a true road win @Notre Dame. Carlik Jones, who you may remember sent the Highlanders to the tournament with his buzzer beater against Liberty as a Freshman, is off to a fantastic start to his sophomore season avg. almost 20 ppg. Certainly is a name to look out for in the Big South this season.

C-USA is off to a promising start. And not from the teams you'd expect. I'm sure most of us expected Western Kentucky(based on talent), MTSU(based on program) and Marshall(based on winning the C-USA CG, and beating Wichita State in the tournament) to battle it out for the top spot in the league this year. And while that still may be the case. Some other teams have gotten off to good starts. North Texas is 5-0(against D1 teams) Florida Atlantic is 5-1(against D1 teams) and La. Tech is 3-2(against D1 teams) with a win over Wichita State and close losses to LSU and UNC-Greensboro.

Out of the MAC, Buffalo has picked up right where they left off last year, and even then some. Buffalo is 5-0 with a win @WVU and has a couple big games later in the OOC with games against Syracuse and Marquette. There is a real shot to pick up an at-large, should someone else win the conference tournament. Who might be able to knock off Buffalo. Kent State is off to a good start 4-1(against D1 teams) with a road win @Vandy. Toledo is 4-1(against D1 teams), and don't sleep on Ball State despite the 3-3 record. They've lost to Purdue, Virginia Tech and Alabama, but my guess is they are the biggest challenger to Buffalo.

Out of the Ohio Valley, it appears it's another two team race between Belmont and Murray State. This has turned into a really good rivalry ever since Belmont joined the league a couple years back. Belmont already has wins against solid mid major programs in Illinois St, MTSU and Lipscomb and they still have to play @Samford, @UCLA, vs. WKU and @Purdue. If they can manage an upset(most notably against UCLA/Purdue) entering the at-large discussion is a real possibility.

And finally, one other noticeable thing I wanted to touch base on was how good the So Con has been this year. Just a tremendous start for the top half of the league thus far. Furman is 4-0(against D1 teams) with road wins @Nova and @Loyola(Ch). Samford is off to a 6-1 start(against D1 teams) with it's lone loss coming @Ohio State, a game in which they lead at half. And UNC-Greensboro is 5-1(against D1 teams) for a team coming off a tournament appearance last year, that gave Gonzaga all it could in the 1st round.

There's obviously a ton more of great things happening at the mid major level, but I wanted to get this up and running to really keep track, and see if it's viable for one or even a couple of these historic one bid leagues to have a chance at getting two in the bracket.

Feel free to post anything relevant to the topic in this thread. I know I will. I'll also post some important upcoming games when necessary, and instead of starting up the tournament threads, I'll post them into this thread, once conference tournament season rolls around, so the main board doesn't get cluttered with them.

There have always been 10 Major basketball conferences, Noob.

"Power conferences" is a made up term by The ESP5N Cartel in 2012.

#UCFacts

 

[ericd7633]

There have always been 10 Major basketball conferences, Noob.

"Power conferences" is a made up term by The ESP5N Cartel in 2012.

#UCFacts

That'd be a no, dumbass.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

There have always been 10 Major basketball conferences, Noob.

"Power conferences" is a made up term by The ESP5N Cartel in 2012.

#UCFacts

Lol

 

[UCFhonors]

That'd be a no, dumbass.

Lol

Learn your UCFacts. The ESP5N Cartel is trying to brain wash you with propaganda.

From Wiki:
Mid-major is a term used in American NCAA Division I college sports, especially men's basketball, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the the American aka AAC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, the Big East, the Atlantic 10, and the Mountain West.

The term "mid-major" was coined in 1977 by Jack Kvancz, head coach of Catholic University's men's basketball team.[1] Such a distinction is not officially acknowledged by the NCAA, nor does the NCAA use the terms "major" and "mid-major" to differentiate between Division I athletic conferences. It is considered offensive and derogatory by some fans and schools.[2][3]

#UCFacts

 

[ericd7633]

Learn your UCFacts. The ESP5N Cartel is trying to brain wash you with propaganda.

From Wiki:
Mid-major is a term used in American NCAA Division I college sports, especially men's basketball, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the the American aka AAC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, the Big East, the Atlantic 10, and the Mountain West.

The term "mid-major" was coined in 1977 by Jack Kvancz, head coach of Catholic University's men's basketball team.[1] Such a distinction is not officially acknowledged by the NCAA, nor does the NCAA use the terms "major" and "mid-major" to differentiate between Division I athletic conferences. It is considered offensive and derogatory by some fans and schools.[2][3]

#UCFacts

Cool that's 9, dumbass.

 

[UCFhonors]

Cool that's 9, dumbass.

CUSA was High Major when UCF was in it. Obvi.

#UCFacts



.

 

[ericd7633]

CUSA was High Major when UCF was in it. Obvi.

#UCFacts



.

Back when there was no AAC. Let me know when you get to 10.

 

[UCFhonors]

Back when there was no AAC. Let me know when you get to 10.

There was an AAC. It was called the Big East. Noob, you really need to learn your UCFacts if you're going to post on a National Basketball board.

#UCFacts

 

[ericd7633]

There was an AAC. It was called the Big East. Noob, you really need to learn your UCFacts if you're going to post on a National Basketball board.

#UCFacts

I'll just keep calling you a dumbass and be done with it.

 

[UCFhonors]

I'll just keep calling you a dumbass and be done with it.

It just makes you look UCFoolish, especially with me owning your every point. As the saying goes, "UCFirst they deny. Then they detract. Then they come around to the UCFacts."



#UCFacts

 

[ericd7633]

It just makes you look UCFoolish, especially with me owning your every point. As the saying goes, "UCFirst they deny. Then they detract. Then they come around to the UCFacts."



#UCFacts

Okay, dumbass.

 

[ericd7633]

Current mid majors in the top 50 of NET:

#14. Buffalo
#31. Wofford
#41. Murray State
#43. San Francisco
#47. Liberty
#48. Lipscomb

Outside of Buffalo, anyone think any of these other teams are capable of getting an at-large? I'd lean Wofford and San Francisco.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

There was an AAC. It was called the Big East. Noob, you really need to learn your UCFacts if you're going to post on a National Basketball board.

#UCFacts

You’re still at 9. Even with the very broad inclusion of the AAC/CUSA, MW and A10

 

[rmilia1]

You’re still at 9. Even with the very broad inclusion of the AAC/CUSA, MW and A10

He forgot the MEAC

 

[ericd7633]

Mid majors in the top 60 of NET:

#13 Buffalo
#30 Wofford
#39 Murray State
#42 Lipscomb
#45 Liberty
#48 San Francisco
#52 Hofstra
#54 St. Mary's
#60 Furman