With all of the conference realignment that has taken place recently, it’s often tough just to keep up with where some schools are playing from one season to the next.
As for keeping track of which conferences qualify as mid-majors on the collegiate hardwood, that’s easy: Any conference outside the Power 5 – or what used to be the Power 6 – ranks as a mid-major.
What isn’t so easy is a mid-major winning cutting down the March Madness nets. Several teams – Butler, Gonzaga and San Diego State – have come close in the last 15 years, but the most recent to do so was UNLV way back in 1990.
Are there any mid-majors that could cash championship tickets at top sportsbooks this season to break the 35-year-old drought?
Zags & Gaels Top Mid-Majors Odds
There are some polls that don’t include Gonzaga as a mid-major team, yet list the West Coast Conference as a mid-major league, which doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. If it does to you, then skip the next paragraph or two.
Mark Few’s Bulldogs lead the NCAAB futures list to win the NCAA Tournament, and that should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed college basketball the last quarter century or so. Gonzaga generally checks in around +3000, give or take, which places the Bulldogs just outside the top 10 favorites.
They are, indeed, showing up No. 10 in the latest Ken Pomeroy rankings, and it should also come as no surprise to see the Bulldogs trailed by Saint Mary’s in both the WCC and national rankings, as well as the futures.
Back-to-back losses by Gonzaga earlier in January have the Bulldogs behind Saint Mary’s in the league standings, and a huge game between them takes place to open February. The Gaels remain unbeaten in WCC play and will host the first of two meetings for the old foes.
Mountain West Could Send 4 to the Dance
Steve Fisher helped San Diego State become a perennial contender on the hardwood, and Brian Dutcher is intent on keeping the Aztecs in the national spotlight.
It has only been a couple of years since Dutcher and the Aztecs reached the finals, and much like Gonzaga’s stature at the top of the WCC, San Diego State’s success is beginning to trickle down and strengthen the Mountain West Conference overall.
The Aztecs are a solid bet to go dancing once again, but it’s Utah State and New Mexico that are trying to beat the NCAAB odds and wrestle command away from San Diego State in the MWC.
It’s a tight pairing between the Aggies and Lobos at the top of the current Mountain West odds, with Boise State and San Diego State on Tier 2. All four could get invites to March Madness, and Colorado State is trying to make it a quintet.
Penny’s Tigers Leading AAC
Much like Gonzaga doesn’t qualify as a mid-major to some, Memphis gets left off some rankings for teams outside the Power 5. Thanks to Penny Hardaway’s presence, however, the Tigers are popular among college basketball bettors on the futures market.
Memphis generally shows up behind Gonzaga, and slightly ahead of Saint Mary’s, among the mid-major listings for championship odds. The Tigers are being pushed by North Texas in the American Athletic Conference race, with those two tied atop the league standings as January draws to a close.
Tulane and UAB are also within a game of the top of the AAC, making for an exciting race. Memphis is a prohibitive favorite according to the odds, so it could take someone upsetting the Tigers in the conference tourney for the AAC to get a second team in the Field of 68.
Anteaters Might Be This Year’s Cinderella
Count me among the many who never thought we would see UC Irvine ranked ahead of any team coached by John Calipari. But there the Anteaters are in the latest KenPom rankings, one rung ahead of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Big West, in fact, is the only mid-major besides the AAC, MWC and WCC to have two teams in the top 60 of the Pomeroy, with UC San Diego joining Irvine from the conference.
Another great race is brewing in the Atlantic 10 where the action in the stands is just as hot as the action on the floor. George Mason holds a slim lead in the standings, but Dayton’s drawing the A-10 chalk and the Flyers are a popular pick to make it to the NCAA Tournament.
Lurking behind the Patriots and ahead of the Flyers in the standings are VCU and Saint Louis. The Billikens beat the Rams this week and stand tied for second in the league race, and a couple of their fans tried to beat each other up near the end of the contest to add to the highlight reel.
