Will UConn be Queen of the M-M's next year?

[DobbsRover2]

The question of what is and is not a mid-major college basketball program as opposed to a school in a MAJOR conference has been debated for more than a decade as a number of the less heralded conferences have posted more distinguished records in the NCAA tourneys on the men's or women's side than the big powers.

The Wikipedia definition of mid-major includes the "Power 5" plus the American Athletic Conference, consigning the Big East into the ranks of the mid-majors, which is interesting on the guy's side since the new Big East is the third ranked conference in the Sagarin ratings, where the AAC is at #7. On the women's side the AAC and Big East fill out the #6 and #7 spots in the Sagarin Central Mean ratings and #5 and #7 in the Simple Arithmetic listings. I think we can safely ignore any reference to the much discussed and ever ludicrous standard RPI ratings which have the UConn women at #3 behind Stanford and Duke, with the same old crudely constructed rating algorithm that should have been buried long before 2000 rolled around.

Anyway, on the women's side, at the beginning of the season Graham Hays was faced with the question of what teams should qualify for his nice weekly mid-majors ESPN ratings, and after the "P5" he just threw up his hands for this year and said that the AAC and Big East would be included among the Majors. And in the Sagarin ratings for this year you could use the 80.00 and 75..00 Central Mean average respectively for the men and women as the demarcation point for major and mid-major qualification.

But next year with Louisville leaving the AAC and meaningfully on the women's side to have Rutgers also leaving, the conference ratings are likely to slide down a bit, though the potential for a rebound in the years ahead is pretty good. On the Big East side, I'm not sure on the women's side what the fading connection with the old Big East will mean for its ratings, but it could well sink back.

I have no idea what Hays will decide what is a fair breakdown of the mid major conferences for his rankings (and it might be different from the men's side), but if the AAC is relegated downward then it could well have likely tw0-time reigning NC and #1 ranked and all-time dominant team at the top of the mid-major rankings, which would be a bit silly for both the M-M rankings and the whole concept of major and mid major. Having some former mid-major teams like Cinci and USF that at least have a few years of "major" designation will help, but the situation could be more problematic even than this year.

So what do you think. Will nest year UConn get to become like Butler on the men's side as the champion of all those underdog little-guy mid majors?

 

[doggydaddy]

You just gave me a headache.

 

[Icebear]

Huh?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Actually, well written and entertaining (informative too), but I'm not sure really significant at this point.

 

[AllHusky529]

Somebody needs a time-out...UConn is the Queen of the D-1 WCBB, period! To quote Vince Carter, "Shut it down...it's over!"

 

[Phil]

It may make sense to abandon the concept.

There's nothing inherent in the system that makes a conference major or mid-major. It is totally an artifact of the historical situation that there were a few conferences that were almost always at the top of the ratings, and, more importantly, there was often a gap between the Big 6 and the next conference.

However, that has changed, and will change again next year, and may change again the following year.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Somebody needs a time-out...UConn is the Queen of the D-1 WCBB, period! To quote Vince Carter, "Shut it down...it's over!"

But again, what does Graham Hays do next year if Wikipedia and ESPN consign everyone outside of the P-5 to mid major status as has been the not so subtle attempt by ESPN over the last few years with all of the Power 5 building? Sure, we can all get headaches and shut down or take time-outs in our fantasy places or shout out that conference ratings don't mean anything, but in the real world there are lines drawn based sometimes on real numbers, and sometimes on some corporation's marketing agenda. They may look ridiculous like when the new Big East is rated #3 but is assigned mid major status in the Wikipedia list, but they are there nonetheless. And sure next season is a long way down the road, but it will be here soon. Maybe Graham just won't do the M-M rankings anymore.

 

[doggydaddy]

But again, what does Graham Hays do next year if Wikipedia and ESPN consign everyone outside of the P-5 to mid major status as has been the not so subtle attempt by ESPN over the last few years with all of the Power 5 building? Sure, we can all get headaches and shut down or take time-outs in our fantasy places or shout out that conference ratings don't mean anything, but in the real world there are lines drawn based sometimes on real numbers, and sometimes on some corporation's marketing agenda. They may look ridiculous like when the new Big East is rated #3 but is assigned mid major status in the Wikipedia list, but they are there nonetheless. And sure next season is a long way down the road, but it will be here soon. Maybe Graham just won't do the M-M rankings anymore.

Or maybe Uconn is so unique, it doesn't matter what to conference they are in. At least the next few years.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Or maybe Uconn is so unique, it doesn't matter what to conference they are in. At least the next few years.

I was thinking something like that too. Just declare UConn to be a special case and class the
rest of the AAC as mid-major (next year).

 

[DobbsRover2]

I was thinking something like that too. Just declare UConn to be a special case and class the
rest of the AAC as mid-major (next year).

Could happen. UConn as sort of a unique independent of the mid major conferences. And again, there's no real affect on UConn's play, just how it's classified. In many ways I wouldn't mind if UConn was called the queen of the mid majors just to twit the ACC and all the mean P5 sisters who want to keep poor little Connderella at home while they glide off to the ball only to have her slap them down as usual with her glass slipper and walk off with the prize.

 

[jdubct]

Champion of the NCAA's! That's the affiliation that really matters.