KO Short Term/Long Term

[UC990411]

Crap, I lost another post.

Gonzaga has been to 0 final fours. Their best season was an Elite Eight in '99. Memphis reached the final game under Calipari. The recruiting has been strong under Pastner, but the NCAA performance has been dismal. The AAC is an upgrade for Memphis. They return the most experienced talented roster since Calipari. I don't see them as a national power now or in the future.

The last men's basketball champion from a non power football conference that I remember is UNLV. They are a solid competitive program now, but nowhere near where they were under Tarkanian. There are good reasons why someone like Dana Altman leaves Creighton for Oregon. When a top flight career coach leaves, how likely is it that a mid major program gets back to its top level?

Shaka Smart is the latest hyped mid major coach. He's had opportunities to leave for more high profile jobs; he hasn't taken them yet.
However, remember Jim Laranaga. He had a lifetime job at George Mason if he wanted it. Still he took a Miami job with all the inherent problems with that school's athletic programs.

There is no good reason to believe that the so called mid majors will be competitive at the highest levels in the future. History is certainly not trending their way. The best experiment is the New Big East; that is unquestionably the strongest basketball only league in recent memory. I think 1980 is virtually ancient history in Collegiate Sports, but if any grouping of basketball schools has the ability to provide internal competition and reasons for the power schools to schedule them; it is the Big East. I think the AAC without Louisville is close to the Big East in power and competitiveness, but honestly I see it as a cut below.

I'd put my money on mid majors being successful than schools like A&M, Georgia, South Carolina, Va Tech, Oklahoma and every other crappy Power 5 school out there

 

[zymurg]

Which mid majors, and how many. If you cherry pick mid majors and turd capture the worst teams in the power conferences, you have a point. But take a team like Iowa State; they are pretty much a bottom barrel program; yet, they aren't that bad in basketball. I would think year in or year out, they would be competitive with the top 5% of mid majors.