Tank's Take March 7, 2003

Mid Major Spotlight

Theatrically they have the same shot of winning the NCAA Tournament as Duke, Syracuse, Indiana, or Kentucky. They are all a part of Division 1, and can recruit the same as the big boys. However, in the big buffet of high school recruiting they are forced to settle for leftovers. Instead of playing in conferences like the ACC, Big East, Big 10, or SEC they play in the Big Sky, Ohio Valley, Patriot, and the Southland. They are the mid majors, and it's their time to shine.

With the NCAA regular season coming to an end, the conference tournaments are the last chance for large schools to impress the tournament selection committee for a seeding and a berth. However, for the mid majors it is the only chance. While ESPN, ignores the mid majors from November to February it enthusiastically supports them during what they call Championship Week.

The mid majors conference tournaments are in themselves mini-big dances. They are single elimination, and for the winner the school is catapulted into legendary status on campus as their school earns the right to play with big boys in the big dance.

However, they are a much purer form of Colligate Sports. Players from mid majors rarely get a tryout let alone make t to the NBA. Here they are truly student athletes, where phony A's and paid phone bills are never an issue, and where teams don't stomp off and have a temper tantrum, when the NCAA rules against them. Instead they play in small gymnasiums in front of friends and family, resembling High School crowds more then the NCAA's major schools whose arenas can rival the NBA complete with full coverage on Television all season long.

However, once the Conference Tournaments begin they get their once chance to shine often their only game would be the championship game, but just to get their the players give it their all often leading to exciting nail bitters that go down to the final shot at the buzzer.

When the game is over the players cut down the nets as the students rush the court to celebrate with them, for the winner goes on to the NCAA Tournaments and since they will be seeded 12-16 chances are it will be their last time to celebrate.

That does not mean they will roll over and die in the tournament for the afore mentioned big boys often the hardest game on the way to the Final 4 is against the so-called little guys. Unlike Duke, Syracuse, Indiana, or Kentucky the players from these schools are rarely on TV, and largely unknown. Schools like Valporasio from the Mid-Continent Conference have made it to the Sweet 16 as a 14th seed. Syracuse, South Carolina and Iowa State have gone into the tournament as a 2 seed and have exited with a first round loss to a 15th seed. Though no 16 has ever beaten a 1 seed, in 1989 Princeton came within 1 point of beating Georgetown who was the number 1 school in the nation. With more underclassmen joining the NBA, and inexperienced teams entering the NCAA, chances are that it is bound to happen sooner or later.

For all those who are disenchanted by the recent scandals the small conferences tournaments are the perfect antidote. It's also an appetizer to the NCAA Tournament which gets under way on March 20th, and where you can learn where the Tourney's Cinderellas learned to dance. However, it is the last bastion of sports in purest sense untouched by the professionals and agents seeking to get them into the draft early it. It is where the word student-athlete is not an oxymoron. It is the lone chance for glory for players who will only see the NBA from the stands or on TV. It is their time to shine in the spotlight.