Preseason Primer: The Mid-Majors

Preseason Primer is STF's guide to guide to some of most intriguing storylines heading into the 2007-2008 college basketball season. Today the primer checks out the best mid-majors.

Before an article like this can be written, terms must be defined. For our purposes, a mid-major shall be any conference that is a) not one of the BCS or "Power" conferences, and b) Can reasonably expect to garner additional bids to the NCAA tournament beyond the automatic inclusion of the conference tournament champion.

With that in mind, we will attempt to get to know the Mid-Majors that make the season, and postseason, so interesting. We'll look at how the conferences have attained the success they now have, and check out the perceived knock on each. The goal? To keep them on your radar where they belong.

Missouri Valley: The current M-M darling really sort of came out of nowhere. The biggest media markets in the MVC are Omaha, NE and Wichita, KS, which would seem to be a recipe for continued obscurity. But the MVC has mastered the art of finding hot young coaches (Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery and the recently departed Mark Turgeon of Wichita State) and quality retreads (Creighton's Dana Altman, formerly of Kansas State, and recently retired Tom Davis of Drake, who became a legend at Iowa) to teach a team game that can befuddle some star-driven Power players.

The MVC has made real strides in compensation for top coaches, with Dana Altman nearing $1M, and Chris Lowery recently entering that territory as well. Still, hot coaches move on, as evidenced by former big-money man Mark Turgeon taking his skills to Texas A&M this season. There are five new faces in the Valley, so the knock has to be turnover.

Conference USA: Conference USA is one of the most wide-spread leagues around, spanning from Tulane (New Orleans) to Tulsa, to West Virginia (Marshall). Still, there are several big media markets, including Houston, Memphis, and the Big Easy, so that brings revenue. Recently, Memphis has dominated, which leads some to devalue the conference as a whole, but C-USA is a proven multi-bid performer, getting four into the Big Dance as recently as 2005. The lack of a readily identifiable conference "style" seems to hurt the national profile.

Colonial Athletic Association: This conference is a real up-and-comer on most fans' radar. George Mason announced the CAA's presence with authority a couple of years ago, and then VCU derived a cult following from a timely upset of the widely hated Duke Blue Devils. Still, the conference struggles to get more than two entrants into the tournament, with their conference RPI hovering in the lower reaches. If the middle of the conference can catch up to the consensus top teams (VCU, Old Dominion, Hofstra, GMU, and Drexel), then the Colonial could live up to the hype. Sneaky fact: The CAA has enormous TV revenue potential due to a decade of thoughtful expansion - teams now reside in Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

Atlantic Ten: The A10 is sort of the wise old uncle of this group. With historically successful teams like UMass and Temple in the fold, it almost feels like it should be a bigger deal. Recent tournament successes by Xavier, St. Joe's, and Charlotte have reminded the world that the A-10 is alive and kicking, but it just doesn't have the cachet of the MVC or CAA right now. May not be as sexy, but they can still get the job done.

WAC/Mountain West: Yes, it is rude of me to combine these into one conference. But survivors of the WAC split are still the most notable teams, and the two conferences are more like fraternal twins than entirely new entities. Brigham Young, New Mexico and New Mexico State, Air Force and UNLV - these teams conjure up images of mountains and claustrophobic arenas. For most of us, it also means they play after we're tucked in bed, and that's the biggest knock on either one. Through no fault of their own, these teams get overlooked until late in the season. Recent shortcomings in the postseason haven't helped much. Send a team on a run, and either conference could get hot. Right now, the MWC probably has a tad more juice.

Horizon League: The most recent entrant to this august body is the Horizon. If Brad Brownell had not willed his Wright State squad to the conference tournament title last year, they'd still be a low-major, but nobody in Indianapolis could conceive of leaving Butler home, so the HL became a two-bid league. Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wisconsin-Green Bay have had success in the past, and the addition of Valpo for this season gives the conference a strong midwestern upstart feel. Look for RPI to rise, and for Horizon members to have a harder time getting games against the big boys from here on out (a sure sign that a M-M has arrived).

Honorable Mention:

West Coast Conference - still mostly Gonzaga and the dwarfs, though Pepperdine has had its moments. Have actually managed to get more than one bid in the past, so could conceivably do it again.

Big West - This all-Cali conference is paced by the Pacific Tigers and Long Beach State, each with eight NCAA appearances in the books. The remaining crew of Cal-hyphenates and Cal-directionals need to come ready to play if this league is to garner any national respect. Two-bid status would seem to be a flash-in-the-pan.

MAC - The MAC hasn't had multiple bids since 1999. However, strong recent play by the likes of Miami, Kent State, and the Michigan directional schools could change that.

So, those are your mid-majors. Each is somewhat held in check by the bias toward power conferences, but it will become more and more likely for a good CAA or MVC team to get in over a lackluster 8-8 ACC team if the former continue to exceed expectations. Many contemporary hoops fans are getting used to these teams, and looking forward to seeing them in March. Hopefully, you are among that group.

(For the most incredible resources dedicated to smaller conferences, head to Mid-Majority again this season. These articles would be ten times harder to write without Kyle Whelliston's site.)