Let's set the record straight on mid-majors

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

All the hoopla about that Xavier kid dunking on LeBron has me thinking once again about this aberration I came across a while back.

Listen, I'm not taking a dig at Antonio Williams' credentials. When you've got experience scouting the NBA, you know what you're talking about when it comes to evaluating talent. Your words bear more merit than, say, chuckleheads like Skip Bayless or Jay Mariotti.

But where Williams, and a majority of the media, go wrong is in blanketly labeling any basketball team outside the six "power" conferences as a "mid-major". If anything, the fact that a kid from Xavier dunked on LeBron should show the masses that Xavier is a Top 25 program. Just look at their last three coaches -- Skip Prosser (1994-2001), Thad Matta (01-04) and Sean Miller (04-09) -- and remember that this team has been to two Elite Eights and three Sweet Sixteens since 2004. This is a program.

Yet some refuse to classify them as so, chalking it up to rolls of the dice and "good coaching". I fear Memphis will now be shed in a similar light, despite having one of the best young basketball minds in Josh Pastner.

The use of the term "mid-major" can be maddening, because its perspective is different amongst the eye of each beholder. Some people get it right, and count many basketball schools amongst its "major" category. Historically, because of such limited roster spots, basketball offers the most parity of any of the four major college sports. Many talented players slip through the cracks for reasons unknown -- see Elgin Baylor, Nate Archibald, Earl Monroe, Bill Bradley, etc.

Other writers -- primarily, the ones working for recruiting services -- seem to think any school not in one of the six BCS conferences is squabbling amongst the commonfolk for breadcrumbs. These are also the same people who think Alex Oriakhi is from New Hampshire, and every BC High kid lives in Dorchester.

Two years ago, when Rivals.com sent a mid-season award trophy to Xavier's athletic department for being the "best mid-major school", XU promptly refused to accept it. And rightfully so. How can you call Xavier, which has sent nine guys to the NBA in the last 15 years, a mid-major; and South Florida -- which might be one of the ten worst programs in Division 1 -- a high-major, strictly because they play in the Big East and XU is in the A-10?

South Florida might be the Dubai of college athletics (scrap of the Earth a decade ago, Deity in 2009), but they still out and out tank in basketball. You can make the same case about other "power conference" schools who haven't made a dent since the Clinton presidency.

I have a novel suggestion. If you have demonstrated a consistently competitive team at a high level, like Gonzaga or Memphis, then you are not a mid-major. If you’ve competed for a national title in the last 25 years, despite playing in a terrible conference – see: Louisville circa 1980’s, UNLV and Utah in the 90’s – and you haven't gone to shambles, then you’re still a high-major. Period. I don’t care if you play in Mid-Wach D. I actually have a whole argument on why the A-10 is not a mid-major, but that’s for a different day. Right now, let's set the record straight on mid-majors.

The following are examples of what AREN'T "mid-majors": Gonzaga, UNLV, Xavier, Memphis, BYU, Fresno State, Houston, UAB, Dayton, Utah, UMass, UTEP, New Mexico, George Washington, Rhode Island, Nevada, Saint Louis, Charlotte.

The following are examples of what ARE "mid-majors": Central Florida, George Mason, Rice, Davidson, Winthrop, Boston University, Southern Miss, New Mexico St., Siena, Manhattan, Oral Roberts, Butler, Creighton, Drake, Pacific, Wichita St., Holy Cross.

The following ought to be considered "mid-majors", because they are run like one: DePaul, Rutgers, St. John’s, Georgia, Northwestern, Nebraska.

Get the idea?

As for South Florida...the Bulls have made some splashes on the recruiting trail in the Northeast (see: South Kent), but the jury's still out.

I, for one, am not sold. Not until somebody dunks on Vince Carter.