Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Big 12 might not be a good men’s basketball conference this season, but it’s a great time to be a member of the league.
It’s as easy as ever for teams from power conferences to find NCAA Tournament bids this year. But the Big 12 bubble teams don’t have themselves to thank. That credit belongs to squads from smaller conferences that haven’t been able to make convincing cases for inclusion in the 65-team field.
In the past few seasons, mid-major and low-major conferences made strides in terms of competitiveness against major-conference foes. This season, larger schools strayed from scheduling low-tier schools for fear of picking up embarrassing losses.
That put a cap on mid-majors’ potential strength-of-schedules and damaged the tournament resumes of even the best small schools.
The Missouri Valley Conference sent four teams to the tournament in 2006 and three in 2005. The Colonial Conference earned two bids in 2006 and again in 2007. The Atlantic 10 Conference has sent more than one team each the past three seasons.
The success of those conferences dented money conferences such as the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10, but the pendulum is back in the hands of the powerful this season. There are only a select few mid-major teams with legitimate chances at at-large bids:
Memphis — The Tigers are boys among men in Conference USA, having won 53 consecutive conference contests. No matter what happens in its conference tournament, Memphis is in the tournament as a Sweet Sixteen contender.
Butler — Butler, a perennial Horizon League powerhouse, suffered a pair of embarrassing league losses last week but hopped back into the saddle by defeating Davidson handily Saturday. The Bulldogs finished 10-1 in nonconference play, their only loss coming at Ohio State.
Gonzaga — Like Memphis, Gonzaga has turned domination of its conference into a given. Even if the ’Zags fall in the West Coast Conference tournament, victories against Oklahoma State, Maryland and Tennessee should buoy their hopes.
Xavier — Perched at 22-5 and holding the Atlantic 10 lead, Xavier is a tournament lock.
Brigham Young/Utah/San Diego State — The Mountain West Conference is the most underrated of the nonmajors.
That’s why these three go together.
The conference’s best teams have spent all season beating each other up, and in the process have weakened their shots at NCAA bids. Onetime contender UNLV is already out of the picture, and Utah and San Diego State may soon fade.
That’s it. The smallest 25 conferences only have five guaranteed at-large bids. Close calls such as Siena (MAAC), St. Mary’s (WCC) and Utah State (WAC) have struggled with poor in-conference competition and injuries, leaving the power conferences plenty of at-large spots.
Some of the most exciting teams in the nation that nobody has heard of will stay unnoticed because of scheduling glitches, bad luck and the erosion of parity.
Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State and other inconsistent big name schools, it’s your turn to rejoice.
College basketball fans, it’s your turn to lament.
— — Edited by Susan Melgren
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