Upsets! / Surprise results.

[Johnny B]

Honest question. What defines a mid major?  Is it any D1 school that is not in the Power 5 + BE +AAC? Or is it more refined?

It seems like a condescending term thrown around by alot of people. To be fair, I have watched a lot of college games this year and have yet to hear anyone say "power 6". I have heard 'power 5" a decent amount of times. However the big east has really never been considered "mid major" for what I've seen. If you Google what constitutes high and mid major for the most part you will see people say power 5 teams plus big east plus AAC so guess its somewhat arbitrary. I have no idea what itsDJO means by "technically" as if there is some form of criteria that must be met in order to be "high major".

[Its DJOver]

It seems like a condescending term thrown around by alot of people. To be fair, I have watched a lot of college games this year and have yet to hear anyone say "power 6". I have heard 'power 5" a decent amount of times. However the big east has really never been considered "mid major" for what I've seen. If you Google what constitutes high and mid major for the most part you will see people say power 5 teams plus big east plus AAC so guess its somewhat arbitrary. I have no idea what itsDJO means by "technically" as if there is some form of criteria that must be met in order to be "high major".

If you play in a mid major conference, you are by definition a mid major.  For a while, when declaring conferences high major, it had a very strong correlation with football results and whether or not the champion of a football league was invited to what has now been tabbed the New Years Six bowl games.  It wasn't an exact science, and there were some very misleading results (2010 a 8-4 UCONN team got blown out in the Fiesta Bowl by Oklahoma).  Obviously with the realignment and the new football playoff format this is no longer the case, but that's the general baseline for the origin and an explanation to the bolded.   

[MUEng92]

Dayton looks damn good in Maui.

Then they should stay there and have no more home games. 

(Only Midwestern Collegiate Conference era fans will get that one)

[We R Final Four]

Honest question. What defines a mid major?  Is it any D1 school that is not in the Power 5 + BE +AAC? Or is it more refined?

UConn was a high major....then became a mid major (which they are now), but the day that they play their first game back in the Big East......at that time they will once again become a high major.
Interesting criteria that some have placed on this term.

[Mr. Nielsen]

UMBC has the best twitter account in college basketball.


https://twitter.com/UMBCAthletics/status/1199548899800817665

CBSSN did a feature on the guy who runs it.

[Elonsmusk]

Dayton looks damn good in Maui.

Anthony Grant getting it done in Year 3.  Suspect he will get many overtures from high majors after this season, and would hope MU would reach out should we fail to make NCAA this year.

[MuMark]

Anthony Grant getting it done in Year 3.  Suspect he will get many overtures from high majors after this season, and would hope MU would reach out should we fail to make NCAA this year.

We aren't destroying this recruiting class by moving on from Wojo after this season...NCAA or not........sorry to disappoint.

[Pakuni]

Anthony Grant getting it done in Year 3.  Suspect he will get many overtures from high majors after this season, and would hope MU would reach out should we fail to make NCAA this year.

You want to dump Wojo for his lack of March success and replace him with a guy who has 1 NCAA win in 11 seasons, that coming in 2007?
OK.

[Elonsmusk]

You want to dump Wojo for his lack of March success and replace him with a guy who has 1 NCAA win in 11 seasons, that coming in 2007?
OK.

Think he would be an intriguing candidate.  While he's only made NCAA 3 times in his 12-year coaching career, VCU, Alabama, and Dayton aren't exactly tradition-rich programs and certainly don't have the resources, recruiting appeal, and tradition of MU.  He closes out Year 3 at Dayton strong and makes a dent in NCAA via a win or two?  I think you consider him - only if we miss NCAA this year in Year 6 of Wojo regime.  Keep Stan, and we'd likely keep the recruiting class.

[brewcity77]

Grant wouldn't make my top-5, personally. His star has fallen significantly since he was at VCU. We've seen at Alabama what he does at a high-major. Not at all convinced he'd be an upgrade. I'd rather take a chance on someone who shows the promise Grant once showed when he was at VCU because there's still the potential to be an upper echelon coach rather than perennially mediocre.

[Cheeks]

UConn was a high major....then became a mid major (which they are now), but the day that they play their first game back in the Big East......at that time they will once again become a high major.
Interesting criteria that some have placed on this term.

Yeah, cannot say I agree with the definitions here in this thread which I think is where you are going.  There are mid-major conferences, but that doesn't mean every program in that mid-major conference is a mid-major.  Gonzaga is a high major playing in a mid-major conference IMO.  I believe most pundits have also moved on from calling Gonzaga a mid-major. There are other examples like this.  Wichita State comes to mind. 

[Cheeks]

Anthony Grant getting it done in Year 3.  Suspect he will get many overtures from high majors after this season, and would hope MU would reach out should we fail to make NCAA this year.

Grant last time he was at a high major.  One bid in 6 years....isn't this what some of you are complaining about now and the current guy has a better mark than he did.

2009–10   Alabama   17–15   6–10   T–4th (West)   
2010–11   Alabama   25–12   12–4   1st (West)   NIT Runner–up
2011–12   Alabama   21–12   9–7   5th   NCAA Division I Round of 64
2012–13   Alabama   23–13   12–6   T–2nd   NIT Quarterfinal
2013–14   Alabama   13–19   7–11   T–10th   
2014–15   Alabama   18–14   8–10   T–8th   NIT Second Round*

[tower912]

Grant came home to Dayton.   It will take more than Marquette to pry him away. 

[StillWarriors]

Dayton looked really solid last night. Obi Toppin could end up in the top half of the first rd of the NBA draft, but they are solid all the way around and really get after it on D. Curious to see how they fare against Kansas today. Will be tough to play/shoot as well as they did yesterday v. Va Tech, but they look like a legit top 20 team. Agreed on Grant not being easy to pry away from UD. Truly hope that's not an issue for MU after this year and that this team finds its rhythm as new roles are sorted out.

[MU82]

Grant came home to Dayton.   It will take more than Marquette to pry him away.

We have a coach. Don't need to pry anybody away from anywhere.

And I have to admit I agree with hoopaloop on this one:

Grant last time he was at a high major.  One bid in 6 years....isn't this what some of you are complaining about now and the current guy has a better mark than he did.

2009–10   Alabama   17–15   6–10   T–4th (West)   
2010–11   Alabama   25–12   12–4   1st (West)   NIT Runner–up
2011–12   Alabama   21–12   9–7   5th   NCAA Division I Round of 64
2012–13   Alabama   23–13   12–6   T–2nd   NIT Quarterfinal
2013–14   Alabama   13–19   7–11   T–10th   
2014–15   Alabama   18–14   8–10   T–8th   NIT Second Round*

[We R Final Four]

Yeah, cannot say I agree with the definitions here in this thread which I think is where you are going.  There are mid-major conferences, but that doesn't mean every program in that mid-major conference is a mid-major.  Gonzaga is a high major playing in a mid-major conference IMO.  I believe most pundits have also moved on from calling Gonzaga a mid-major. There are other examples like this.  Wichita State comes to mind.

Right—I think there is a problem with some scooper's definition that UConn will be a mid major at 11:59 one day and the next day at 12:01 are to be considered a high major.
However, I don't know any definition or any pundit that considers WSU anything other than a mid major.

[Cheeks]

We have a coach. Don't need to pry anybody away from anywhere.

And I have to admit I agree with hoopaloop on this one:

We agree on so much more...it will come out...don't you worry yourself about it.  Enjoy the family.

[Cheeks]

Right—I think there is a problem with some scooper's definition that UConn will be a mid major at 11:59 one day and the next day at 12:01 are to be considered a high major.
However, I don't know any definition or any pundit that considers WSU anything other than a mid major.

ESPN had an article a few years ago how Wichita State is no longer a mid major.  538 called them the Gonzaga of the midwest.  CBS did something on them when the joined the AAC, calling it the P7 instead of the P6.   https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/adding-wichita-state-means-the-aac-must-be-counted-as-a-major-7-conference/  I get it, they are more of a stretch, but that's a few I can think of.  The big reason is they have a large financial backing. 

Definitely agree with you on UCONN.  Same could be said for Butler, Creighton, Xavier....all were considered "mid Majors" not long ago, but suddenly their conference changed when they were already good programs that were better than a number of the high majors in the traditional P5 schools.

The Athletic did an article last month on "Who are you calling a mid major" that is pretty decent.

[CTWarrior]

There is no technical definition of high major vs mid-major vs low-major.  It is whatever you think it is.

By the way, outside of the Power 5 and Big East, Gonzaga, UConn, Cincinnati and Memphis are high majors.  I could go either way on Wichita State, Temple, BYU and St. Mary's.

Any definition of high major that includes DePaul and Northwestern but does not include Gonzaga and Cincinnati is a dumb definition.

[Johnny B]

There is no technical definition of high major vs mid-major vs low-major.  It is whatever you think it is.

By the way, outside of the Power 5 and Big East, Gonzaga, UConn, Cincinnati and Memphis are high majors.  I could go either way on Wichita State, Temple, BYU and St. Mary's.

Any definition of high major that includes DePaul and Northwestern but does not include Gonzaga and Cincinnati is a dumb definition.

Well said

[The Sultan]

While I don't think there would or should be much mutual interest between Grant and Marquette, I think anyone who coaches at Alabama should have a big asterisk by his record. It's a terrible place to coach and one of the reasons I hope Nate Oates looked carefully.

[Cheeks]

While I don't think there would or should be much mutual interest between Grant and Marquette, I think anyone who coaches at Alabama should have a big asterisk by his record. It's a terrible place to coach and one of the reasons I hope Nate Oates looked carefully.

I'm curious why you say that?

[Uncle Rico]

Mid-majors, low-majors are like porn.  You know it when you see it

[MuMark]

Penn State blew a 20 point 2nd half lead and lost to Ole Miss

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Grant wouldn't make my top-5, personally. His star has fallen significantly since he was at VCU. We've seen at Alabama what he does at a high-major. Not at all convinced he'd be an upgrade. I'd rather take a chance on someone who shows the promise Grant once showed when he was at VCU because there's still the potential to be an upper echelon coach rather than perennially mediocre.

Huge failure in his one power 5 chance