(01-29-2019 02:13 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-29-2019 12:40 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(01-29-2019 11:22 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  For the entire decade of the 1980s, there was not a single mid-major who made the Final Four.

In the 1990s, 4 or 5 mid-majors made the Final Four (UNLV, UNLV, Cincinnati, UMass, Utah). Cincinnati was arguably not a mid-major because they had been in a "major" conference for the past 15 years and had 2 national titles.

In the 2000s, 3 or 4 mid-majors made the final 4 (Marquette, Louisville, George Mason, Memphis). Louisville was arguably not a mid-major because it had previously been in a "major" conference and had 2 national titles.

From 2010-2018, 6 or 7 mid-majors have made the final four (Butler, Butler, VCU, UConn, Wichita, Gonzaga, Loyola). UConn was arguably not a mid-major because it had previously been in a "major" conference and had 2 national titles.

UNLV, UMass, and Utah were not mid-majors. UMass was in a conference with Penn State, West Virginia, and Temple up until PSU left and WVU went to the Big East. Utah in the WAC was a major program, and UNLV was a juggernaut.

Marquette, Louisville, and Memphis were not mid-majors. Neither was UConn.

Those are all major programs. If you want to make a distinction between power and major and mid-major conferences that’s one thing, but when looking at individual programs during certain eras it becomes a bit ridiculous.

This is called recency bias.

Utah, Marquette, & Butler were in mid-major conferences at the time and were considered mid-major programs. They've been promoted since then largely BECAUSE of their Final Four appearances.

You're right that Louisville, Cincinnati, and UConn don't exactly fit because they were previously in major conferences and had decades of tournament success.

The EAA/A-10 was a mid-major in the 70s & 80s. During the 80s they only had Sweet 16 teams once (Temple and Rhode Island in 1988). 3 of their 18 NCAA bids in the 80s (1.8 per year) were from schools who had already signed up to join the Big East (Villanova in 1980, Pitt in 81 & 82). At the time Pitt left, only 2 schools (WVU and Rutgers) played D-1A football. I find it funny that you use Penn State to justify them being a "major" conference. From 1956 until they announced their move to the Big 10, Penn State made 1 NCAA tournament.

Marquette won its national championship as an independent. Marquette did not join a conference until 1988 (and that was because Notre Dame and Dayton both decided to be part of the MCC). They almost immediately joined the GMC thereafter (along with Cincinnati, Memphis and Louisville). The 2003 FF run under Wade/Crean absolutely catapulted Marquette into the Big East.