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Post by kcfriar on Jan 23, 2014 19:18:16 GMT -5
During the PC/Butler game the announcer referred to Butler as a mid-major. Admittedly, when they were in the A-10 they were considered a mid-major. But now that they've moved to the Big East, should they still be referred to that way?
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Post by Free Weyinmi on Jan 23, 2014 20:26:53 GMT -5
They went to the championship game of the NCAA tournament in '10 and '11. Pretty good for a "mid-major".
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Post by wtm97 on Jan 24, 2014 6:14:40 GMT -5
Good question and one that will be important for the new Big east to shore up going forward. Also speaks to the importance of selecting the right programs if and when expansion takes place - and I do think it will sooner than later due to the pressure from Fox to build it out for additional programming.
Guess you could call Butler an emerging mid-major based on their play in recent years. Even with their storied history and the sacred storied ground of Hinkle Field House, in recent years to step up beyond ‘mid-major’ and then ‘Cinderella’ come tourney time, a program had to be in a major conference.
Major conferences have the national exposure, big media contracts and thus get multiple bids, as opposed to 1, maybe 2 on occasion. Even as conference such as the A-10 improve and get more than the conference champion +1 they are still perceived as ‘mid-major. Many times the lower half of these conferences have perennial weak sisters and some also play in smaller houses and also small media markets. It is not so clearly defined though - Gonzaga plays in a band-box BUT they do play a national schedule. Some other programs like St. Louis and Dayton do have solid legacies and do play before solid crowds yet they are still within the confines of that mid-major mind set.
Speaks to the importance of the all-basketball experiment of the new Big East keeping the name and MSG but also look at where most are located and where they play…
Even within the majors, there have always been some smaller programs benefiting by their membership - PC and Seton Hall come to mind as smaller colleges, yet both play in arenas seating larger crowds and they were both charter schools when the Big East was formed. For us, thank God it was Dave Gavitt who founded the league as it changed our course dramatically - even though we have largely been the 'weak sister' we do have 1 Final four and 1 Final 8 whilst being within the Big East.
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