With the 2011 Final Four upon us, we have Kentucky and UConn facing off in one semifinal and VCU taking on Butler in the other semi. Kentucky and UConn have combined for 18 Final Four appearances and nine National Championships, while VCU and Butler have combined for a whopping three Final Four appearances (including each team's apperance this season). Now, UConn and Kentucky represent the Big East and the SEC, which are two of the six so-called "power conferences," while VCU plays in the Colonial Athletic Association and Butler is a member of the Horizon League. Butler shocked the world by reaching the final and narrowly losing to Duke last season, and we're guaranteed to have our second straight "mid-major" finalist. Some people would even argue that the Butler-VCU winner will be the third team from a mid-major league to play in the final in four years (Conference USA's Memphis lost to Kansas in 2008). I wouldn't be one of them.
While I'm not denying the fact that VCU and Butler are both mid-major programs, I don't put Memphis in that category. The six BCS conferences are in a different class. I understand and have no problem with this. But they aren't the only six "major" conferences. Even CBS is guilty. During the Selection Show, CBS broke down the bids by conference, but only had those six leagues and everyone else lumped into the "mid-major" category. As if the Mountain West and Atlantic 10 are the same as the CAA and Horizon League.
A quick rundown of the teams in the Mountain West: BYU, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming, TCU and Air Force. BYU and San Diego State were both ranked in the Top 10 for most of the year, with San Diego State earning a No. 2 seed and BYU getting a No. 3. You trying to tell me that those two teams weren't among the best in the nation all season? Fifteen years ago the WAC was right up there as a "major" league. Most of these teams were in the WAC back then. So how do they suddenly go from "major" to "mid-major" status just because their football league doesn't have a BCS berth?
Likewise, Temple is one of the most consistently successful programs in college basketball history. But Temple plays in the Atlantic 10 (with the likes of Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island and Saint Joseph's), so the Owls, too, are stuck with the undeserved "mid-major" label. The same goes for Memphis and its Conference USA brethren. Memphis went to the Final Four way back in 1985 and was ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the season in 2008, when it should've beaten Kansas in the National Championship Game. The Tigers were the third different Conference USA school to reach the Final Four (Marquette-2003, Louisville-2005), yet that conference, too, is labeled as a "mid-major" league.
When the so-called "Big Six" look for new members, where do you think they look? The ACC poached Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech from the Big East back in 2003. The Big East responded by grabbing five Conference USA schools (Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, South Florida) to replace them. And just because it lost five of its top six programs, Conference USA suddenly went from a "major" to a "mid-major." As I said before, the WAC was always considered a "major" conference throughout the 80s and 90s. Yet the Mountain West, which consists of essentially the same schools, isn't a "major"? Utah played the 1998 National Championship Game for crying out loud! (The Utes are leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-10 next season.) I already made the case about Temple, which is one of SIX Atlantic 10 schools that's been to the Final Four. Back when the Big East first expanded in the mid-90s, it was Atlantic 10 members Rutgers, West Virginia and Virginia Tech (along with Notre Dame) that were asked to join. (Penn State used to be in the Atlantic 10, too). To further prove my point, the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West both landed three teams in the Tournament this year, and Conference USA got two.
My point is, there are more than six "major" conferences. I'm OK with making a distinction between the six BCS conferences and everybody else, but you'll never convince me that the Mountain West, Atlantic 10 and Conference USA belong in the same "mid-major" grouping as the Colonial Athletic Association, Horizon League and Missouri Valley Conference (which boasts NIT champion Wichita State), just as you'll never be able to give me a compelling argument that those leagues are on the same level as conferences like the MEAC, SWAC and Southland. If you have more than one member regularly in the discussion (and receiving) at-large bids, you aren't a mid-major conference.
I'm OK with a "high major" classification for the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC. But I would put four conferences into the group "major"--the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, Mountain West and WAC (although the argument for keeping the WAC is admittedly somewhat weak). I'd even separate leagues like the Horizon League, CAA, West Coast Conference and Missouri Valley into a higher level of mid-majordom, but let's start with getting the BYUs, Memphises and Temples of the world out of that category. Although, like I said, Butler and VCU are still "mid-majors" no matter how you define it.
As for the picks, I'm taking Butler over VCU, UConn over Kentucky, and UConn over Butler for the title.
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