Mid-major
Encyclopedia
Mid-major is a term used in American
Division I college sports, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the major six conferences (the ACC
, SEC
, Big East
, Big 10
, Big 12
, and Pac-12, the programs of which are sometimes referred to as "high majors" by comparison). While many believe the term "mid-major" was originally coined by the sports media in order to distinguish between BCS
and non-BCS conference teams, it was actually coined in 1977 (more than two decades before the development of the BCS) by Jack Kvancz, head coach of Catholic University's mens basketball team. Indeed, such a distinction is not officially acknowledged by the National Collegiate Athletics Association, nor does the NCAA use the terms "major" and "mid-major" to differentiate between Division I athletics conferences.
in a "good" year, or how much success a given conference has in the NCAA tournament, or even conference revenue and attendance. The Missouri Valley Conference
, which is widely considered a "mid-major" conference, has received two, three, or even four NCAA tournament bids every single year from the 1990s through the 2007 tournament
, while the Horizon League
has had a higher NCAA tournament winning percentage than most "Major" conferences over the last seven years (17-9)
. The Horizon League has also advanced three different teams (Butler, Milwaukee, Cleveland State) to at least the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament every year for the last seven years, and 11 of the last 14 years with four teams (Detroit). Moreover, the Missouri Valley Conference had an average attendance of nearly 2,000 more people per game than the Atlantic 10, and outdrew Conference USA
by over 2,000 per game during recent seasons.
Given the sustained success of many so-called "mid-major" conferences, "higher profile" conferences are finding it more difficult to distinguish themselves with any clarity when it comes to the "mid-major" and "major" labels, unless one is using the sole distinction of being a BCS football playing conference.
Until the last decade, the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference
, and the Western Athletic Conference
were widely considered to be above the level of the other mid-major (non-BCS) conferences, but still generally below the level of the six major conferences. However, due to recent changes in membership in some conferences, as well as the sustained success of other mid-major conferences, most no longer consider those four conferences to be above the level of other non-BCS conferences in college basketball. This is based on prestige, performance, recent post-season results, and national perception, both because of a weakening of those four conferences and a strengthening of several formerly lower-rated conferences (such as the Missouri Valley Conference).
The term mid-major is sometimes used to describe all of the other 25 conferences not normally considered to be a major conference. Most of the time, though, the term is specifically applied to only the non-BCS conferences that consistently produce quality teams. Often the definition of a basketball mid-major will be of a conference that can put up at least one at-large bid in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament as well as have a team or teams advance fairly regularly, while not garnering the attention and television dollars of a major conference.
So-called mid-major (non-BCS) basketball programs generally belong to one of the following nine conferences, although some of these conferences, including the Mountain West, Conference USA, and the Atlantic 10 may not be considered mid-majors depending on who one asks.:
This list is not static from year to year, as many fail to agree which conferences are truly the majors and which are the mid-majors during any given season. Some still refuse to consider the Mountain West to be a major conference, for example, despite outperforming several other "major" (BCS) conferences in recent years. In any case, there are many conferences (besides the six BCS conferences) that have regularly had teams advance to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen) or beyond, regularly challenge for multiple NCAA Tournament bids, have multiple teams "buy" games from lower-ranked conferences, and have all finished in the top 10 in conference attendance every year for the last decade.
In recent years, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has stressed the importance of a team's strength of schedule (SOS) in the nonconference portion of their schedule. Teams with a low-ranked nonconference SOS have often been penalized in their seeding and in some cases not selected for the tournament at all. In 2006
, Florida State was left out of the tournament field in large part because its out-of-conference schedule was rated #316 out of 333 Division I teams .
The difficulty most mid-majors have in scheduling BCS conference opponents has a large effect on their ability to qualify for the NCAA
basketball championship tournament and for the National Invitation Tournament
. Often, mid-major teams with outstanding records are passed over for at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament in favor of teams from BCS conferences with mediocre records, based partly on the fact that the mid-major teams often have a lower strength of schedule. Without the ability to play more "major" opponents, most mid-majors have to stake their Tournament hopes on winning their conference's season-ending tournament (which promises an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament) since the possibility of an at-large bid is often remote.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs
team faces a slightly different set of challenges. Since its Elite Eight
appearance in 1999
, it has successfully established itself as the closest thing to a major program in a mid-major conference, making the tournament field in every year since, even in years it failed to win the West Coast Conference
tournament. Its position in a mid-major conference is no longer a primary issue with regard to making the tournament field, but is often perceived to adversely affect its tournament seeding. The Bulldogs typically play a nationally competitive nonconference schedule, frequently going on the road, and have proven themselves capable of defeating nationally prominent opponents. However, the relative weakness of the West Coast Conference (WCC)
hurts Gonzaga's strength of schedule, which in turn lowers the Bulldogs' Ratings Percentage Index (RPI)
(an important numerical criterion in tournament selection). Xavier University is another program that must overcome the mid-major label. On January 9, 2008, PG Drew Lavender was named the "Mid-Major Player of the Week" by Rivals.com
but Lavender refused to accept the award making the case that Xavier was no longer a mid-major. This act caused many prominent journalists to debate if the Atlantic 10 is a mid-major conference or not. Other nationally prominent mid-majors, such as the Memphis Tigers
and Butler Bulldogs, are also likely to face these challenges.
Mid-major teams as a rule have to play these BCS conference teams as road games, but many BCS conference teams are scared of such. Some mid-major teams are now preferring to play "home" games in larger nearby arenas. Charleston (SC) often uses the North Charleston Coliseum
, while Gonzaga uses the Spokane Arena
in its home city or KeyArena
in Seattle for these larger-audience games. Some mid-major and major conference teams have made the use of non-campus arenas permanent; DePaul, Milwaukee, Memphis, Georgetown, and Marquette all moved men's games off-campus in order to gain more exposure, with the latter three sharing NBA arenas.
The NCAA tournament selection for the 2006 men's tournament was surrounded by controversy related to mid-major programs. A number of teams from mid-major conferences had unprecedented success in the non-conference portions of their schedule, and were therefore ranked highly in the RPI throughout the season. A change in the NCAA's RPI rating process, prior to the 2005 season, also improved many of these teams' chances by changing from a formula that treated home and road wins and losses equally, to a formula that gave higher weight to road games. Because many BCS conference teams played no more than one or two non-conference games away from home, there was a de-facto bolstering of RPI ratings for many mid-major teams, leading to speculation about how this "new" version of the RPI would be used in the selection process by the NCAA tournament selection committee. In spite of a new precedent being set by the committee by leaving the highest ranked RPI team ever, #21 Missouri State
of the Missouri Valley Conference
out of the tournament field, some mid-majors with strong RPI's received at-large bids over lower-ranked BCS conference teams. This prompted harsh criticism from sports writers and coaches of BCS conference teams that did not receive bids. This criticism flew in the face of the fact that the six BCS conferences still received more bids (32) from the committee than in most past years. The mid-major conference teams that were selected went on to silence those critics when a record number (five) advanced to the "Sweet 16
". Even more significantly, one of those teams, George Mason
of the Colonial Athletic Association
, made it to the Final Four. In both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA tournaments, mid-major Siena
had a strong showing, advancing to the second round with wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio State respectively. In 2008 the Memphis Tigers, led by Derrick Rose
, out of Conference USA, reached the national championship game before being defeated by the Kansas Jayhawks in overtime. And in the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
, the Butler University
Bulldogs
reached the Final Four, becoming the 3rd mid-major to make the Final Four in the modern (1985–present) era. On April 3, they beat Michigan State of the Big Ten Conference to become the second mid-major to reach the national championship game.
The 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
was the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that two mid-majors met in the Final Four. The Butler University
Bulldogs
returned for their second consecutive appearance after winning the Southeast Regional in New Orleans as a #8 seed. The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams of the Colonial Athletic Association
advanced to their first Final Four appearance after winning the Southwest Regional in San Antonio as a #11 seed. VCU became the first team in history to win five games to reach the Final Four, winning the First Four round in its inaugural year. VCU tied LSU
in 1986 and fellow CAA
team, George Mason
, in 2006 as the highest seed to reach the Final Four (#11). The previous time two mid-majors met in the Final Four was the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
.
Furthermore, according to Kyle Welliston, author of Midmajor blog The Midmajority, it is "impossible" for any mid-major team to win the championship. Whelliston is known for his "Red Line" Theory and how the conferences with a sports budget above $20 million per school and a basketball budget above $2 million per school have an intrinsic advnatage. Indeed, over the past seven years, schools from the Big Six conferences, Mountain West, and Conferences USA have beaten "Other 24" schools 86.6% of the time.
Current Poll
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Division I college sports, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the major six conferences (the ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
, SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
, Big East
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
, Big 10
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
, Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
, and Pac-12, the programs of which are sometimes referred to as "high majors" by comparison). While many believe the term "mid-major" was originally coined by the sports media in order to distinguish between BCS
BCS conference
An Automatic Qualifying conference is an athletic conference in NCAA Division I FBS whose champion receives an automatic berth in one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowl games...
and non-BCS conference teams, it was actually coined in 1977 (more than two decades before the development of the BCS) by Jack Kvancz, head coach of Catholic University's mens basketball team. Indeed, such a distinction is not officially acknowledged by the National Collegiate Athletics Association, nor does the NCAA use the terms "major" and "mid-major" to differentiate between Division I athletics conferences.
Basketball
There has been much debate, especially in the last decade, as to the true definition of "mid-major," particularly as it relates to college basketball. Some still believe the term uses an arbitrary litmus test of sorts, such as how many teams from a given conference qualify for the NCAA tournamentNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
in a "good" year, or how much success a given conference has in the NCAA tournament, or even conference revenue and attendance. The Missouri Valley Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...
, which is widely considered a "mid-major" conference, has received two, three, or even four NCAA tournament bids every single year from the 1990s through the 2007 tournament
2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 NCAA schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2006–07 basketball season...
, while the Horizon League
Horizon League
The Horizon League is a ten school, NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in five of the Midwestern United States....
has had a higher NCAA tournament winning percentage than most "Major" conferences over the last seven years (17-9)
Horizon League Men's Basketball Tournament
The Horizon League men's basketball tournament is held annually at the end of the men's college basketball regular season. The tournament has been played each year since 1980. The winner of the tournament is designated the Horizon League Tournament Champion and receives the conference's automatic...
. The Horizon League has also advanced three different teams (Butler, Milwaukee, Cleveland State) to at least the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament every year for the last seven years, and 11 of the last 14 years with four teams (Detroit). Moreover, the Missouri Valley Conference had an average attendance of nearly 2,000 more people per game than the Atlantic 10, and outdrew Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
by over 2,000 per game during recent seasons.
Given the sustained success of many so-called "mid-major" conferences, "higher profile" conferences are finding it more difficult to distinguish themselves with any clarity when it comes to the "mid-major" and "major" labels, unless one is using the sole distinction of being a BCS football playing conference.
Key conferences
So-called major (BCS) basketball programs generally belong to one of the following six conferences:- Atlantic Coast ConferenceAtlantic Coast ConferenceThe Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
(ACC) - Big 12 ConferenceBig 12 ConferenceThe Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
- Big East ConferenceBig East ConferenceThe Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
- Big Ten ConferenceBig Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
- Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12)
- Southeastern ConferenceSoutheastern ConferenceThe Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC)
Until the last decade, the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
, and the Western Athletic Conference
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
were widely considered to be above the level of the other mid-major (non-BCS) conferences, but still generally below the level of the six major conferences. However, due to recent changes in membership in some conferences, as well as the sustained success of other mid-major conferences, most no longer consider those four conferences to be above the level of other non-BCS conferences in college basketball. This is based on prestige, performance, recent post-season results, and national perception, both because of a weakening of those four conferences and a strengthening of several formerly lower-rated conferences (such as the Missouri Valley Conference).
The term mid-major is sometimes used to describe all of the other 25 conferences not normally considered to be a major conference. Most of the time, though, the term is specifically applied to only the non-BCS conferences that consistently produce quality teams. Often the definition of a basketball mid-major will be of a conference that can put up at least one at-large bid in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament as well as have a team or teams advance fairly regularly, while not garnering the attention and television dollars of a major conference.
So-called mid-major (non-BCS) basketball programs generally belong to one of the following nine conferences, although some of these conferences, including the Mountain West, Conference USA, and the Atlantic 10 may not be considered mid-majors depending on who one asks.:
- Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10)
- Colonial Athletic AssociationColonial Athletic AssociationThe Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...
(CAA) - Conference USAConference USAConference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
(C-USA) - Horizon LeagueHorizon LeagueThe Horizon League is a ten school, NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in five of the Midwestern United States....
- Mid-American ConferenceMid-American ConferenceThe Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...
(MAC) - Missouri Valley ConferenceMissouri Valley ConferenceThe Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...
(MVC) - Mountain West ConferenceMountain West ConferenceThe Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
(MWC) - West Coast ConferenceWest Coast ConferenceThe West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
(WCC) - Western Athletic ConferenceWestern Athletic ConferenceThe Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
(WAC)
This list is not static from year to year, as many fail to agree which conferences are truly the majors and which are the mid-majors during any given season. Some still refuse to consider the Mountain West to be a major conference, for example, despite outperforming several other "major" (BCS) conferences in recent years. In any case, there are many conferences (besides the six BCS conferences) that have regularly had teams advance to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen) or beyond, regularly challenge for multiple NCAA Tournament bids, have multiple teams "buy" games from lower-ranked conferences, and have all finished in the top 10 in conference attendance every year for the last decade.
Issues mid-major programs face
Mid-major teams often have a difficult time scheduling major conference opponents, especially at home. Major conference teams usually will not schedule a high quality mid-major team, knowing that there is an uncomfortably high chance that they will lose (especially if the game is at the mid-major team's home court) and if the major team does win, there is often little benefit in media exposure for beating a non-major school. Some major conference teams also believe that scheduling games with additional competitive teams isn't necessary for their current team's development, as they believe there will be enough "tough games" during conference play. This phenomenon often manifests itself in major squads playing mostly lower ranked mid-major conference teams (while refusing schedule requests from better mid-major squads) in their out-of-conference schedules, thereby establishing very impressive records against lesser foes and bypassing higher quality mid-major teams in the process.In recent years, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has stressed the importance of a team's strength of schedule (SOS) in the nonconference portion of their schedule. Teams with a low-ranked nonconference SOS have often been penalized in their seeding and in some cases not selected for the tournament at all. In 2006
2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005–06 basketball season...
, Florida State was left out of the tournament field in large part because its out-of-conference schedule was rated #316 out of 333 Division I teams .
The difficulty most mid-majors have in scheduling BCS conference opponents has a large effect on their ability to qualify for the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
basketball championship tournament and for the National Invitation Tournament
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
. Often, mid-major teams with outstanding records are passed over for at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament in favor of teams from BCS conferences with mediocre records, based partly on the fact that the mid-major teams often have a lower strength of schedule. Without the ability to play more "major" opponents, most mid-majors have to stake their Tournament hopes on winning their conference's season-ending tournament (which promises an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament) since the possibility of an at-large bid is often remote.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs
Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball
The Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Gonzaga University. The school competes in the West Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
team faces a slightly different set of challenges. Since its Elite Eight
Elite Eight
The term Elite Eight, or less commonly called "Great Eight", refers to the final eight teams in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship; and, thus, represents the national quarterfinals. In Division I, the Elite Eight consists of the...
appearance in 1999
1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1999, and ended with the championship game on March 29 at Tropicana Field in St....
, it has successfully established itself as the closest thing to a major program in a mid-major conference, making the tournament field in every year since, even in years it failed to win the West Coast Conference
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
tournament. Its position in a mid-major conference is no longer a primary issue with regard to making the tournament field, but is often perceived to adversely affect its tournament seeding. The Bulldogs typically play a nationally competitive nonconference schedule, frequently going on the road, and have proven themselves capable of defeating nationally prominent opponents. However, the relative weakness of the West Coast Conference (WCC)
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
hurts Gonzaga's strength of schedule, which in turn lowers the Bulldogs' Ratings Percentage Index (RPI)
Ratings Percentage Index
The Rating Percentage Index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule. It is one of the systems by which NCAA basketball and baseball teams are ranked...
(an important numerical criterion in tournament selection). Xavier University is another program that must overcome the mid-major label. On January 9, 2008, PG Drew Lavender was named the "Mid-Major Player of the Week" by Rivals.com
Rivals.com
Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting. The network was started in 1996 and currently employs more than 300 personnel.-Schools:The individual collegiate sites can be found...
but Lavender refused to accept the award making the case that Xavier was no longer a mid-major. This act caused many prominent journalists to debate if the Atlantic 10 is a mid-major conference or not. Other nationally prominent mid-majors, such as the Memphis Tigers
Memphis Tigers basketball
The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers compete in Conference USA, in which they have won six regular season and four conference tournament championships. As of 2011, the Tigers have the 29th highest...
and Butler Bulldogs, are also likely to face these challenges.
Mid-major teams as a rule have to play these BCS conference teams as road games, but many BCS conference teams are scared of such. Some mid-major teams are now preferring to play "home" games in larger nearby arenas. Charleston (SC) often uses the North Charleston Coliseum
North Charleston Coliseum
The North Charleston Coliseum is a 14,000-seat multi-purpose arena in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is part of the North Charleston Convention Center Complex, which also includes a Performing Arts Center, and is owned by the City of North Charleston and managed by SMG...
, while Gonzaga uses the Spokane Arena
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena a multi-purpose arena, located in Spokane, Washington, USA.It is home to the Spokane Chiefs, of the WHL and the Spokane Shock, of the AFL.-Construction:...
in its home city or KeyArena
KeyArena
KeyArena at Seattle Center , is a multipurpose arena, in Seattle, Washington. It is located north of downtown in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition...
in Seattle for these larger-audience games. Some mid-major and major conference teams have made the use of non-campus arenas permanent; DePaul, Milwaukee, Memphis, Georgetown, and Marquette all moved men's games off-campus in order to gain more exposure, with the latter three sharing NBA arenas.
The NCAA tournament selection for the 2006 men's tournament was surrounded by controversy related to mid-major programs. A number of teams from mid-major conferences had unprecedented success in the non-conference portions of their schedule, and were therefore ranked highly in the RPI throughout the season. A change in the NCAA's RPI rating process, prior to the 2005 season, also improved many of these teams' chances by changing from a formula that treated home and road wins and losses equally, to a formula that gave higher weight to road games. Because many BCS conference teams played no more than one or two non-conference games away from home, there was a de-facto bolstering of RPI ratings for many mid-major teams, leading to speculation about how this "new" version of the RPI would be used in the selection process by the NCAA tournament selection committee. In spite of a new precedent being set by the committee by leaving the highest ranked RPI team ever, #21 Missouri State
Missouri State Bears
The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University. Missouri State athletics date back to 1908. Missouri State is in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, and most teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference...
of the Missouri Valley Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...
out of the tournament field, some mid-majors with strong RPI's received at-large bids over lower-ranked BCS conference teams. This prompted harsh criticism from sports writers and coaches of BCS conference teams that did not receive bids. This criticism flew in the face of the fact that the six BCS conferences still received more bids (32) from the committee than in most past years. The mid-major conference teams that were selected went on to silence those critics when a record number (five) advanced to the "Sweet 16
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
". Even more significantly, one of those teams, George Mason
2005-06 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team
The 2005–06 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team represented George Mason University in the 2005–2006 NCAA Basketball season, and is best known for their success in the NCAA Tournament, having reached the Final Four.-Season notes:...
of the Colonial Athletic Association
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...
, made it to the Final Four. In both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA tournaments, mid-major Siena
Siena Saints men's basketball
The Siena Saints men's basketball team represents Siena College in Loudonville, New York, United States. The Division I program competes in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Saints are coached by Mitch Buonaguro who just completed his first season as head coach at Siena after serving as...
had a strong showing, advancing to the second round with wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio State respectively. In 2008 the Memphis Tigers, led by Derrick Rose
Derrick Rose
Derrick Martell Rose is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association ....
, out of Conference USA, reached the national championship game before being defeated by the Kansas Jayhawks in overtime. And in the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The first and second round games were played at the following sites:*March 18 / 20*March 25 / 27*March 26 / 28Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held on April 3 and 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium, hosted by the Horizon League and Butler University, as per the NCAA's...
, the Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
Bulldogs
Butler Bulldogs men's basketball
The Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team represents Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League, of which it has been a member since 1979...
reached the Final Four, becoming the 3rd mid-major to make the Final Four in the modern (1985–present) era. On April 3, they beat Michigan State of the Big Ten Conference to become the second mid-major to reach the national championship game.
The 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2011 tournament:First Four*March 15 and 16**University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OhioSecond and third rounds*March 17 and 19**Verizon Center, Washington, D.C....
was the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that two mid-majors met in the Final Four. The Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
Bulldogs
Butler Bulldogs men's basketball
The Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team represents Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League, of which it has been a member since 1979...
returned for their second consecutive appearance after winning the Southeast Regional in New Orleans as a #8 seed. The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams of the Colonial Athletic Association
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...
advanced to their first Final Four appearance after winning the Southwest Regional in San Antonio as a #11 seed. VCU became the first team in history to win five games to reach the Final Four, winning the First Four round in its inaugural year. VCU tied LSU
LSU Tigers basketball
The Louisiana State Tigers basketball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The team is currently coached by Trent Johnson and has enjoyed recent success, including a Final Four run in the 2005–2006 season. Past coaches include John Brady, Press...
in 1986 and fellow CAA
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...
team, George Mason
2005-06 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team
The 2005–06 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team represented George Mason University in the 2005–2006 NCAA Basketball season, and is best known for their success in the NCAA Tournament, having reached the Final Four.-Season notes:...
, in 2006 as the highest seed to reach the Final Four (#11). The previous time two mid-majors met in the Final Four was the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 40 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 9, 1979, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in Salt Lake City, Utah...
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Furthermore, according to Kyle Welliston, author of Midmajor blog The Midmajority, it is "impossible" for any mid-major team to win the championship. Whelliston is known for his "Red Line" Theory and how the conferences with a sports budget above $20 million per school and a basketball budget above $2 million per school have an intrinsic advnatage. Indeed, over the past seven years, schools from the Big Six conferences, Mountain West, and Conferences USA have beaten "Other 24" schools 86.6% of the time.
Swimming
Since 2002, CollegeSwimming.com has produced an objective ranking system for Mid-Major, Division I swimming programs. Initiated by Clark Campbell, the poll has been used to provide attention to teams that were often targeted for elimination ostensibly for Title IX or budgetary reasons. Unlike basketball and Division I FBS football where scholarships are awarded as full grants-in-aid, swimming is considered an "equivalency" sport by the NCAA, meaning scholarships can be divided among a number of student-athletes. CollegeSwimming.com's definition of a mid-major institution takes this into account. Though the lineup has changed, institutions eligible for the CollegeSwimming.com poll are those institutions that a) are not members of a BCS conference, Mountain West Conference, or Western Athletic Conference; or b) provide fewer than one-half of the allowable scholarships under the NCAA rules.Current Poll