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College Basketball: Mid-Majors Continue to Close the gap on Power Conference Schools

By Matt Johnson

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College basketball has experienced its fair share of changes over the past few decades. From various rules alterations to the advent of the one-and-done player, collegiate hoops is in a very different place than it was even 10 years ago.

Some have bemoaned these changes as detrimental to the overall on-court product. They contend top prospects are in a bigger hurry than ever to make a jump to the professional ranks, creating a lack of fervor and intrigue. And the NCAA is definitely listening.

How else can one explain the organization’s continued tinkering with the sport’s rules on a yearly basis?

Forgotten in all of it is the continually blurring concept of “mid-majors.”

Even as analysts and casual fans yearn for the good ole’ days of consistent power programs dominating the college hoops landscape, mid-majors are having a bigger impact on the sport than ever before.

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It started with George Mason’s miraculous run to the Final Four in 2006, continued with Butler’s jaunt to the National Championship Game in 2010, and was further cemented when the Bulldogs were joined by VCU at the Final Four in 2011. After Butler broke through to the title game again that season, the term “mid-major” probably should have been retired permanently. After all, Wichita State and Gonzaga were once after-thoughts in major college basketball. Now, they reside in the top-10 of both major polls on a seemingly yearly basis.

More evidence was on display Friday night as the Wisconsin Badgers, coming off their own trip to the championship contest in 2015, were dispatched at home 69-67 by the Western Illinois Leathernecks , a squad that finished dead-last in the Summit League a season ago.

The Badgers loss wasn’t the only one worth noting.

Illinois also went down to defeat in their home digs against North Florida, a school that didn’t even have a basketball team until 1992. It marked the second-straight season coach Matthew Driscoll’s Ospreys have taken down a Big 10 member after shocking Purdue in West Lafayette last season.

Around the country, small schools continued the upset trend as Chattanooga downed Georgia, Sacramento State defeated Arizona State, Monmouth edged past UCLA and Belmont squeaked out a victory over Marquette. Stanford meanwhile required overtime to nip Green Bay while Texas Tech sweated out a four-point win over High Point.

What does it all mean? The gap between power conferences and smaller schools has never been so miniscule.

College basketball has always been a game of upsets, but it’s more common now than ever. Even a decade ago, such results would have had the collective minds of media members and fans alike spinning like a top. Nowadays they are so commonplace that college basketball observers barely raise an eyebrow.

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    • Obviously, power programs such as North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky will continue to grab headlines and victories at a phenomenal place. Tradition, facilities and swagger still count mightily in the world of college hoops.

    However, even John Calipari’s vaunted Wildcats have fallen victim to those dreaded smaller schools in the past. Who can forget Robert Morris’ defeat of then-national-champion Kentucky in 2013 NIT?

    The new bottom line is virtually any team has a chance on a given night. Small schools are no longer scared of the big boys and they’re proving it more and more each year. We’re just one day into the 2015-16 season and already programs that once toiled in obscurity are beating their chests with authority.

    Change always brings about considerable teeth-gnashing and college basketball is no different. Players will continue to bolt school early, social media will continue its foot-hold on recruiting practices and rules’ updates figure to carry on into the foreseeable future. For some, these changes remain an overall negative to the collective sport.

    Just don’t tell that to any small school teams, coaches or fans. For them, all those changes are working out just fine.

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