What is your definition of Mid Major?

[Make MVC Great Again]

Anyone in a power 5 conference is clearly not a mid major, but what about teams from the Big East and the American Athletic?

It's hard for me to say with a straight face that Butler is not a mid major, and even a radio guy in Indianapolis said after they lost their coach to a power 5 team (Ohio State) that "That's life as a mid-major." I would also highly doubt that a Kansas fan would say that they think Wichita State is at the same level as them now that they are in the American Athletic.

Quite frankly I view the AAC as below the Big East and I view the Big East as a really good basketball conference, but they are by no means "Power 5".

I personally view teams from both leagues (B.E. and AAC) as "mid-majors". The only difference between them and us is that they have a lot of money or are very good at basketball (or both); and in both cases they have pretty good TV contracts.

Kind of interested to hear everyone else's thoughts on this too.

How tf is the Big East a mid-major when they just won a title and sending seven teams to the NCAA?

The new version of the Big East is what the Valley could have been if not for leadership failure.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

Big East is definitely a major conference now.

[C0|db|00ded]

[quote="Jsnhbe1Birds"]Big East is definitely a major conference now.[/quote]

Uhhhhh... no it's not.

The Big Pee is filled with the previous dregs of the REAL Big East and a few mid-majors sprinkled in. Just watch their games; many do not pass the eye test. The Big Pee getting 6 at-large bids is laughable and a mirage - regardless if the last four were 9, 10, 11, and 11 play-in... BJ getting a 6 when we got a 10 is beyond laughable. They're getting their money's worth on the Big East name, I'll give them credit for that. But the clock is ticking and I predict sooner rather than later, Cinderella is gonna find her Lambo has turned into an overripe pumpkin. Their next television deal will be very interesting...

I think the AAC has the best chance to compete with the "big boys" if the name programs can get things turned around. There's a LOT of support and huge enrollments in many AAC programs. Several have billion dollar endowments. Schools like Memphis can print money with their FedEx backing.


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[TheAsianSensation]

I think the AAC can get to major status - everyone outside of Wichita and Cincy needs to take about a half-step forward. Their terrible teams need to be only bad, their NIT bubble teams need to be 2-4 wins better, and they need the likes of Houston, Temple, Memphis and Tulsa to have stronger bubble resumes year in and year out.

The difference between the AAC and the Big Six are SoS (too many programs schedule badly), their worst teams are a little too killer on their computer numbers, and a couple of flagship programs had a down cycle. Wichita is going to fix a lot of that by bringing a legitimate business program to the top and providing a way to hide the bad teams in the conference schedule a bit more. They just need the middle to be a little better. The other conferences, their bubble teams at least provided some value (think Illinois in the B1G, USC in the Pac, Vandy in the SEC, etc). The AAC's bubble candidates (Houston last year) lagged a step behind those other teams. They need to start winning those bubble battles.

Of course, none of this factors in the tank job Jankovich is about to do at SMU.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

Big East is definitely a major conference now.

Uhhhhh... no it's not.

The Big Pee is filled with the previous dregs of the REAL Big East and a few mid-majors sprinkled in. Just watch their games; many do not pass the eye test. The Big Pee getting 6 at-large bids is laughable and a mirage - regardless if the last four were 9, 10, 11, and 11 play-in... BJ getting a 6 when we got a 10 is beyond laughable. They're getting their money's worth on the Big East name, I'll give them credit for that. But the clock is ticking and I predict sooner rather than later, Cinderella is gonna find her Lambo has turned into an overripe pumpkin. Their next television deal will be very interesting...

I think the AAC has the best chance to compete with the "big boys" if the name programs can get things turned around. There's a LOT of support and huge enrollments in many AAC programs. Several have billion dollar endowments. Schools like Memphis can print money with their FedEx backing.


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Sorry, but the big east is a major conference. I agree not every team is a major. However, I also say not every AAC team is a major and not every MVC team is a mid major. Drake and Evansville are low majors. Georgia tech isn't on level. A few posts ago I said you can't pigeon hole every twm into three categories. You need high major, major, mid major, and low major. Wsu, Cincy, Butler, Xavier, etc aren't mid majors but not high majors. They are a major program however. Just like Duke is a high major but some of their conference mates are not high majors like Georgia tech. It's a team by team basis. But if you try to pigeon hole each team into three categories then the big east must be listed as high major. Three final final fours and a championship since 2010 with several more elite 8s. 7/10 made the tournament. Yeah. That's a major league.

[BirdsEyeView]

Big East is definitely a major conference now.

Uhhhhh... no it's not.

The Big Pee is filled with the previous dregs of the REAL Big East and a few mid-majors sprinkled in. Just watch their games; many do not pass the eye test. The Big Pee getting 6 at-large bids is laughable and a mirage - regardless if the last four were 9, 10, 11, and 11 play-in... BJ getting a 6 when we got a 10 is beyond laughable. They're getting their money's worth on the Big East name, I'll give them credit for that. But the clock is ticking and I predict sooner rather than later, Cinderella is gonna find her Lambo has turned into an overripe pumpkin. Their next television deal will be very interesting...

I think the AAC has the best chance to compete with the "big boys" if the name programs can get things turned around. There's a LOT of support and huge enrollments in many AAC programs. Several have billion dollar endowments. Schools like Memphis can print money with their FedEx backing.


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Lol. You sir are laughable. Bitter about Creighton much?

Look at this conference last year, beyond Depaul who in it does not have major conference pedigree? Georgetown had a major down year, but we all know they can be very good..

http://www.bigeast.com/standings.aspx?standings=2


Now look at your precious AAC Conference, and specifically look at their records against the top 25 last year, which was 7-36 last year across the conference. Add in your bottom feeders Tulane, East Carolina and South Florida drag on the conference similar to what most of the bottom of the MVC does where even playing them hurts your standing and well, AAC is far inferior.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... conference

Finally, I know Conference RPI does not mean much to you blind Shocker fans, but RPI last year was Big East #3 and AAC #7. Wherein the AAC was closer to 11th (only .0062 points away from that position and just one above MVC) than it was to #6 (.0316)

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... conference

So, yes the AAC is an upgrade for WSU and WSU will make those stats above better for them, however to call the Big East not a major conference is completely indefensible given their pedigree of teams and their performances.

[bigdawg]

It's comical that for the bluster that Cold and some Shox fans have toward us, that they have such little man syndrome when it comes to Creighton.

[Dean Wormer]

Sorry, but the big east is a major conference. I agree not every team is a major. However, I also say not every AAC team is a major and not every MVC team is a mid major. Drake and Evansville are low majors. Georgia tech isn't on level. A few posts ago I said you can't pigeon hole every twm into three categories. You need high major, major, mid major, and low major. Wsu, Cincy, Butler, Xavier, etc aren't mid majors but not high majors. They are a major program however. Just like Duke is a high major but some of their conference mates are not high majors like Georgia tech. It's a team by team basis. But if you try to pigeon hole each team into three categories then the big east must be listed as high major. Three final final fours and a championship since 2010 with several more elite 8s. 7/10 made the tournament. Yeah. That's a major league.

This is exactly why we don't need these silly mid-major labels. How do you consider Evansville and Drake low major when both are investing more into their basketball programs than Illinois State and most other schools in the conference. I thought budgets were the biggest factor in determining this make believe label for you? Budgets and conference affiliations, so again, why do you claim two of bigger budget teams to be at a lower level than the rest? I would give you a little latitude if your basing it on performance...Drake has been bad, and Simmons is quickly crashing things in Evansville, but Illinois State has the longest NCAA drought of any team in the league. Not bashing them, but questioning again why you claim some are low majors in our own conference.

Thanks for proving my point about all of this.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

I don't care if drake invests $1-billion per year. They have 4 winning seasons in the past 30 years and only 1 of those being a 20 win season. They are a low major program. Period.

[C0|db|00ded]

[quote="BirdsEyeView"][quote="C0|db|00ded"][quote="Jsnhbe1Birds"]Big East is definitely a major conference now.[/quote]

Uhhhhh... no it's not.

The Big Pee is filled with the previous dregs of the REAL Big East and a few mid-majors sprinkled in. Just watch their games; many do not pass the eye test. The Big Pee getting 6 at-large bids is laughable and a mirage - regardless if the last four were 9, 10, 11, and 11 play-in... BJ getting a 6 when we got a 10 is beyond laughable. They're getting their money's worth on the Big East name, I'll give them credit for that. But the clock is ticking and I predict sooner rather than later, Cinderella is gonna find her Lambo has turned into an overripe pumpkin. Their next television deal will be very interesting...

I think the AAC has the best chance to compete with the "big boys" if the name programs can get things turned around. There's a LOT of support and huge enrollments in many AAC programs. Several have billion dollar endowments. Schools like Memphis can print money with their FedEx backing.


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Lol. You sir are laughable. Bitter about Creighton much?

Look at this conference last year, beyond Depaul who in it does not have major conference pedigree? Georgetown had a major down year, but we all know they can be very good..

http://www.bigeast.com/standings.aspx?standings=2


Now look at your precious AAC Conference, and specifically look at their records against the top 25 last year, which was 7-36 last year across the conference. Add in your bottom feeders Tulane, East Carolina and South Florida drag on the conference similar to what most of the bottom of the MVC does where even playing them hurts your standing and well, AAC is far inferior.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... conference

Finally, I know Conference RPI does not mean much to you blind Shocker fans, but RPI last year was Big East #3 and AAC #7. Wherein the AAC was closer to 11th (only .0062 points away from that position and just one above MVC) than it was to #6 (.0316)

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... conference

So, yes the AAC is an upgrade for WSU and WSU will make those stats above better for them, however to call the Big East not a major conference is completely indefensible given their pedigree of teams and their performances.[/quote]

The Big Pee is not a major conference. It is filled with a bunch of mid-majorish type programs that are playing good basketball. Feel free to run this opinion by any of your Power 6 friends.


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