The lines that separate the Goliaths from the Davids of college
basketball have disappeared.
The so-called mid-major schools have spent the past two weeks
turning the tables and picking on the bullies.
Last year George Mason showed the rest of the country just how
good the mid-major schools are in making a run to the Final Four.
Now, plenty of other schools have shown that the Patriots
aren’t the only ones that can slay the giants of college
basketball.
Vermont takes down Boston College on the road. Missouri State
beats preseason Big-10 favorite Wisconsin on a neutral floor. Oral
Roberts defeated Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, the same Jayhawk team
that just took down defending national champion Florida. Wichita
State upended Louisiana State on the Tigers’ home floor.
So how are all these upsets happening? And should they still
even be considered upsets if they keep happening so frequently?
Simply put, mid-majors are designated such for a reason. They
are generally smaller and have drastically fewer resources than the
big boys.
Realistically, they should not be able to compete with the elite
programs of college basketball, but through good coaching and that
great equalizer in sports, experience, they have been able to
compete against more talented foes. Players at these schools often
have the talent to play in big-time conferences, but might have
been too short, too slow or simply overlooked.
As a result, these players stay more often than not for their
senior years, creating continuity at programs and playing team
basketball. Combined, these create a perfect formula for a less
talented and glamorous team to upend a perceived bigger and better
school.
This is the new landscape of college basketball. With early
entries to the NBA draining talent at the “elite”
schools, any team can be beaten on any given night.
Now the shockers that enthrall the sports nation every March are
happening with more frequency throughout the year, and perhaps
these big upsets have never been more prevalent than this
month.
Nowhere was this more evident than in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off
Tournament.
Heavily favored Tennessee faced off against North Carolina last
Friday, but it wasn’t in the championship; it came in the
consolation third-place game.
Gonzaga upset the Tar Heels’ ACC Player of the Year
candidate Tyler Hansbrough to just 9 points in the process.
Butler got by heralded in-state opponents Notre Dame and Indiana
before dispatching the Volunteers to set up an all-Bulldog final in
Madison Square Garden.
Even that game was a mild upset, with Butler prevailing over
Gonzaga, perhaps the most celebrated mid-major of them all.
It’s clear that big-time basketball is played outside of
the BCS conferences. Conferences like the Colonial Athletic,
Mid-America and Missouri Valley are incredibly competitive. The
rigors of this competition leave these teams dangerous by the time
March rolls around.
Rather than giving bids to sixth place teams from major
conferences, the NCAA needs to recognize these accomplishments and
reward more of these smaller, less recognizable schools with NCAA
tournament bids.
Newly anointed No. 1 UCLA would be wise to be wary of the rest
of its non-conference foes no matter what the front of its
opponents’ jerseys say.