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Mid-major is a term mainly used in American college basketball and college football, to describe schools not affiliated with a conference whose football teams possess automatic bids to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the College basketball most often refers to the American Basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, Colleges and military academies The Bowl Championship Series ( BCS) is a selection system designed to give the top two teams in the NCAA FBS Bowl Subdivision System an opportunity to compete in a "national [1] Though not always the case in the past, the term today has basically the same meaning in basketball that it has in football. It should be noted that the term "mid-major" was originally coined by the sports media and has no official status. The NCAA recognizes no distinction between so-called "major" and "mid-major" conferences in either basketball or football. [2] Still, "mid-major schools" face different dilemmas in each sport.

There has been much debate, especially in the last decade, as to the true definition of "mid-major" as it relates to college basketball. Some still believe that the term has an arbitrary litmus test of sorts, such as how many teams a conference qualifies for the NCAA tournament in a "good" year, or how much success said conference has in the NCAA tournament, or even conference revenue, attendance, and so on. In recent years conferences such as the Missouri Valley and Horizon League have either a) received two, three, or four NCAA tournament bids every single year since the 1990s (MVC), or b) had a higher NCAA tournament winning % than all but one non-BCS conference over the last four years (Horizon League). Membership Affiliate members Eastern Illinois University (men's soccer not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference) Membership Former members History Foundation In May 1978 DePaul University hosted a meeting with Bradley Dayton Detroit The Horizon League is also one of only two non-BCS conferences that has had a Sweet 16 team in three of the last five NCAA tournaments (with C-USA being the other). Possibly even more telling, for 2005-06 the MVC had an average attendance of nearly 2,000 more people per game than the A-10, and outdrew C-USA by over 2,000 per game. [3]

It is quite possible that the parity shown in the 2006 NCAA tournament is a reflection that, outside of being BCS members, higher-rated conferences can no longer be differentiated from each other with any clarity when it comes to the "mid-major" and "major" labels. 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

Contents

Major conferences

The term "mid-major" does not generally apply to schools belonging to the following six conferences:

Until the last decade, the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference had been considered above the level of the other non-BCS conferences (although generally below the level of the six BCS conferences). The Pacific-10 Conference ( Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. The Southeastern Conference (SEC is a College Athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which operates in the southeastern Due to recent changes in membership in some conferences, as well as the sustained success of other non-BCS conferences, most no longer consider those four conferences to be above the level of other "mid-major" 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). [4][5]

This list is not static from year to year, as most fail to agree which conference's during any given year are the "majors". Some still refuse to consider the MVC to be a major conference, despite it having outperformed for many years several other conferences that some individuals consider "major" (the A-10 and WAC, for instance). Regardless, there are many conferences (besides the six BCS conferences) that have regularly had teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond, regularly challenge for multiple bids per year to the NCAA tournament, have multiple teams "buy" games from lower-ranked conferences, and have all finished in the top 12 in conference attendance every year for the last decade. [6] Many, including college basketball experts, coaches, players and administrators, have agreed that these are just some of the important traits that preclude a conference from being considered a mid-major.

Basketball

The term "mid-major" is sometimes used to describe all of the other 31 conferences not normally considered to be a major conference. Most of the time, the term is specifically applied to only the non-major conferences that consistently produce quality teams. Often the definition of a basketball mid-major will be of a conference that can put 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. The conferences most likely to be considered a mid-major include [1][7][8]:

Issues mid-major programs face

Mid-major teams often have a difficult time scheduling major conference opponents, especially at home. The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10 is a Mid-major college athletic conference which operates mostly on the United States' eastern seaboard The Colonial Athletic Association, also known as the CAA, is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in East Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. Membership Former members History Foundation In May 1978 DePaul University hosted a meeting with Bradley Dayton Detroit The Mid-American Conference ( MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA Division I college athletic conference with a membership Membership Affiliate members Eastern Illinois University (men's soccer not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference) The Mountain West Conference (or MWC) the youngest of the College athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division I FBS (I-A officially Current members Former members University of the Pacific (1952-1971 San Jose State University (1952-1969 The Western Athletic Conference (commonly referred to as the WAC, pronounced "wack" was formed on July 27 1962 making it the sixth oldest of the 11 College [9] 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 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[10], 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, 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 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 Florida State University (commonly referred to as Florida State or FSU) is a public Research University located in Tallahassee

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. The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA, often pronounced "N-C-Double-A" is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions conferences organizations The National Invitation Tournament (NIT is a men's college Basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. 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. An at-large bid is a bid or berth in a sporting tournament granted by invitation not right 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. Automatic bid is a term generally used to describe a bid or berth to a tournament granted based on performance in prior competition and not based on subjective picking (see An at-large bid is a bid or berth in a sporting tournament granted by invitation not right

The Gonzaga Bulldogs team faces a slightly different set of challenges. Men's basketball thanks in large part to recent success has become the most successful athletic program for the Bulldogs of Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington. 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. The term Elite 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. 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 Current members Former members University of the Pacific (1952-1971 San Jose State University (1952-1969 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). Current members Former members University of the Pacific (1952-1971 San Jose State University (1952-1969 Commonly known as RPI the Ratings Percentage Index is one of the rating systems whereby NCAA Basketball teams are ranked Other mid-majors, such as Memphis, are also likely to face these challenges.

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 RPI rating process, prior to the 2005 season, also bolstered many of these teams' chances. The NCAA changed from a formula that treated home and road wins and losses equally, to a formula that gave higher weight to road wins and home losses. 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 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, which left the highest ranking RPI team ever, #21 Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference out of the tournament field [11], some mid-majors with high RPI's received at-large bids over lower-ranked BCS conference teams. The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University. Membership Affiliate members Eastern Illinois University (men's soccer not sponsored by the Ohio Valley Conference) 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 as in most years past. The mid-major conference teams that were selected went on to quiet 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. The 2005-2006 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team began their 40th season of collegiate play on November 10 2005 versus UC Irvine at The Colonial Athletic Association, also known as the CAA, is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in East

Football

In college football, the term "mid-major" can be applied to either those Division I FBS (formerly I-A) schools that do not play in the six BCS conferences, or Division I FCS (formerly I-AA) schools that play non-scholarship football (such as the Ivy League, the Pioneer Football League, and the Patriot League). College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, Colleges and military academies Division I (or D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States The Bowl Championship Series ( BCS) is a selection system designed to give the top two teams in the NCAA FBS Bowl Subdivision System an opportunity to compete in a "national Division I (or D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States The Ivy League is an Athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The Pioneer Football League is a College athletic conference which operates literally from coast to coast in the United States. The Patriot League is a College athletic conference which operates in the Northeastern United States. Notre Dame has retained its independent status in football, but is a member of the Big East in most other sports, and is also included in the BCS. Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, United States Mid-major football schools play in the following Division I FBS conferences:

Mid-major football schools face the problem of not being part of the BCS, which controls access to the unofficial National Championship of Division I FBS football (since the NCAA does not sponsor an FBS football champion). Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The Mid-American Conference ( MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA Division I college athletic conference with a membership The Mountain West Conference (or MWC) the youngest of the College athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division I FBS (I-A officially The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA 's Division I since 1976. The Western Athletic Conference (commonly referred to as the WAC, pronounced "wack" was formed on July 27 1962 making it the sixth oldest of the 11 College The Army Black Knights football program represents the United States Military Academy. The Navy Midshipmen football team represent the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I -A College football. The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA, often pronounced "N-C-Double-A" is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions conferences organizations Mid-major schools have very limited opportunities to participate in the five BCS bowl games, with only Utah, a Mountain West member, and WAC members Boise State and Hawaiʻi having played in a BCS game. In the United States, a bowl game is traditionally a post-season College football game however the term "bowl" has become synonymous with a major American The Utah Utes are the athletics teams of the University of Utah. The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 college football season. The 2007 Hawaii Warriors football team represented the University of Hawai{{okina}}i at Mānoa in the 2007 NCAA Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football season In recent years, WAC member Fresno State and Mountain West member TCU have also made strong runs at a BCS berth. History Football was first played on the Fresno campus in 1921 and for its first year it played as an independent The TCU Horned Frogs football team is the interscholastic football team at Texas Christian University. As in basketball, the higher quality mid-major programs often have difficulty scheduling games against higher quality BCS conference foes and often for the same reason; the BCS conference programs are concerned about the higher probability of an early season loss against such opponents and generally prefer to schedule matches against lower quality Division I FCS opponents. However, this tactic recently backfired against the University of Michigan football team, as they became the first ranked Division I FBS team to lose to a Division I FCS team. The 2007 Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in the College football season of 2007-2008. On September 1, 2007, Michigan lost a home game to the then two-time (now three-time) defending FCS champion Appalachian State Mountaineers 34-32. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Michigan Stadium, nicknamed The Big House, is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 2007 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team represented Appalachian State University in the College football season of 2007. The 2007 Appalachian State-Michigan game was a College football game held on September 1 at Michigan Stadium on the campus of the University of Michigan

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[12]

Past mid-major champions

References

  1. ^ a b "Mid-major redux", Mike Jarvis, Yahoo! Sports, February 14, 2007. Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University. Miami University, in Oxford Ohio, features 18 different varsity level sports teams for men and women all of which are known as the Miami RedHawks. The Eastern Michigan Eagles, formerly known as the Eastern Michigan Hurons have won three NCAA Division II national championships and 13 NAIA Division I Mike Jarvis is the head Men's basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. Yahoo! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. Previously certain elements of Yahoo! Sports were named Yahoo! Scoreboard before the launch of Yahoo! Sports Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
  2. ^ "UD-Xavier tilt is rare TV showcase for A-10", Kyle Nagel, Dayton Daily News, January 27, 2007. The Dayton Daily News ( DDN) is a daily Newspaper published in Dayton Ohio. Events 98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
  3. ^ NCAA D-1 attendance figures, 2005-2006, NCAA, May 31, 2006. The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA, often pronounced "N-C-Double-A" is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions conferences organizations Events 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great (19th dynasty becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
  4. ^ "Nothing mid-major about MVC attendance", Andrew Skwara, Rivals.com, August 11, 2006. Rivals is a network of Websites that focus mainly on College football and basketball recruiting. Events 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
  5. ^ "Attendance Peaking in Valley", Bryan Armen Graham, CBS College Sports Network, October 5, 2006. CBS College Sports Network (usually promoted with the "Network" portion excised from the branding is a multimedia network and the first dedicated exclusively to Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
  6. ^ "Men's Basketball Attendance", NCAA. The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA, often pronounced "N-C-Double-A" is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions conferences organizations
  7. ^ "A lot to like in mid-major coaching ranks", Andrew Skwara, Rivals.com, October 15, 2007. Rivals is a network of Websites that focus mainly on College football and basketball recruiting. Events 533 - Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
  8. ^ "Atlantic 10 steps into national spotlight", Andrew Skwara, Rivals.com, January 3, 2008. Rivals is a network of Websites that focus mainly on College football and basketball recruiting. Events 1431 - Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common
  9. ^ "Schedule Problem for VCU", Tim Pearrell, Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 18, 2008. The Richmond Times-Dispatch ( RTD or TD for short is the primary daily Newspaper in Richmond Virginia Events 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius ' will and proclaims Caligula emperor 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common
  10. ^ "Schedule is getting tougher for Valley", Steven Pivovar, Omaha World-Herald, July 18, 2006. The Omaha World-Herald, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is the primary daily newspaper of Nebraska as well as portions of southwest Iowa. Events 390 BC - Roman - Gaulish Wars Battle of the Allia - a Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
  11. ^ "Packer: Too Many MVC, CAA Teams", Mark Schlabach, Washington Post, March 13, 2006. Mark Schlabach is an author and columnist for ESPNcom. Schlabach joined ESPN The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D Events 1138 - Cardinal Gregorio Conti is elected Antipope as Victor IV, succeeding Anacletus II. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
  12. ^ "Division 1 Mid-Major", CollegeSwimming. com.

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