Mid-majors Know How to Win
What are all those apologists for the power conferences thinking right now? Are they still insisting that a team that finished halfway down the standings in their conference is better than one that finished in the top two or three of another and made it to the championship game in the conference tournament?
With the first two rounds in the books, two of the four Missouri Valley teams have advanced to the Sweet 16, while Gonzaga has made it for the first time in five years (sorry, guys, you still play in the traditionally single-bid West Coast Conference) and George Mason from the Colonial Athletic Association has joined them. For that matter, what a moment for George Mason guard Tony Skinn, who sealed the win over the defending champions with three late free throws in the final minute.
For that matter, at least one team will be in the Elite Eight, as George Mason and Wichita State will match up in one regional semifinal in Washington, D.C.
There were enough wins and close calls in the first round as well to show that folks who think a few mid-majors got snubbed know what they’re talking about. The wins:
- Northwestern State’s win over Iowa will be talked about for a while, and not just in Iowa City.
- Bucknell made it to the second round for the second straight year.
- Wisconsin-Milwaukee won another first round game, this time taking out Oklahoma.
- Montana knocked off Nevada to cap a solid season for the Grizzlies.
The close calls:
- Winthrop, arguably the most dangerous No. 15 seed in a long time, almost knocked off Tennessee (a questionable No. 2 seed to begin with)
- Colonial champion UNC-Wilmington looked like they would run away from George Washington before a late run led to overtime and a George Washington win.
- Northern Iowa, which slumped in the final weeks of the season (oddly enough, starting the week they were ranked in the polls), gave Georgetown just about all they could handle before succumbing.
- Albany looked like they might become the first No. 16 seed to win a game, as they led Connecticut for most of the game before a late Husky run.
Having said all of this, one thing has to be kept in mind: the performance of teams from a conference in the tournament really doesn’t say that the number of bids was justified or not. The Big Ten’s performance – a donut in the Sweet 16 – doesn’t mean it should have gotten one or two fewer teams, or that the committee was right in keeping Michigan out. Similarly, just because half of the Missouri Valley teams that made it are in the Sweet 16 doesn’t mean they really should have had five or six teams after all.
But what this does show is that those who thought teams like Hofstra or Missouri State got snubbed aren’t coming out of left field. The coaches in the CAA who felt the conference was deserving of three teams know of what they speak. They weren’t being homers when they said the conference deserved three teams. As such, they don’t deserved to be dismissed the way a lot of people were in the days following the selection of the 65-team field.
Indeed, if there’s one thing that can be said of teams that come out of mid-majors perhaps moreso than power conferences, it’s that they know how to win. Teams don’t get at-large bids coming out of the Missouri Valley with an 8-8 record in conference play like they do from the Big East or the ACC. That just doesn’t happen, and it likely never will. Teams that get at-large bids coming out of a conference like the Missouri Valley or Colonial do so with a lot of wins on the season and having won a number of games in their conference. That shows that they know how to win games.
While there is something to be said for the competition a team plays, there is also something to be said for knowing how to win. Playing a tough schedule is impressive if a team wins games along the way. A team that plays ten teams from power conferences, nine of which are NCAA Tournament teams, has played an impressive schedule. But there is a big difference between going 8-2 against that schedule and 3-7 against it, no matter how many of those games are close calls that might have turned out differently if one bounce went the other way. There is an element of luck involved in winning, but that happens when a team plays winning basketball – if a team doesn’t play winning basketball, they won’t get those lucky breaks along the way.
So as we head into the regional rounds, four mid-majors that know how to win are still alive. At least one will advance to the Elite Eight, and perhaps one might go further. If it happens, one reason for it is that the team knows a thing or two about winning basketball games, and that’s what counts at this time of the year.
