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DEL.ICIO.USNo middlin’ around
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ve got to go to downtown flyover country to find the best argument for the rising profile of mid-major programs. The absolute middle of Middle America, in fact.
The Missouri Valley Conference is making another run for multiple bids, sporting the fifth-best conference RPI. Southern Illinois and Creighton share the top spot with 9-3 in league play, and the AJC’s Tony Barnhart likes those two for the field of 65, along with Missouri State and Wichita State, an Elite 8 team a year ago. And Northern Iowa and Bradley on the bubble.
March Madness in Atlanta:
Check out the AJC’s Final Four pageRecall last year when the MVC got four teams, the same as the Pac-10, which sent Billy Packer into a nationally-televised conniption fit with NCAA selection committee chair Craig Littlepage, heatedly denouncing the mid-majors. To his credit, Littlepage, the AD at UVa, chastised right back. George Mason then romped to the Final Four, taking out North Carolina and UConn, and the cat somehow got Billy’s tongue.
There shouldn’t be a similarly heated denunciation if the MVC equals last year’s bids. For the moment, MVC teams are 15-12 against the “Big Six,” the BCS conferences, and all 10 teams will be involved in BracketBuster games later this month.
It may be that the MVC is to college basketball what Boise State was to the previously impenetrable BCS: taking the “mid” out of the mid-majors.
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