Tournament Musings

Self-Less Acts? If one thing is going to help Illini fans get through their grief at watching the U of I go down in the 2nd round, it's that the Kansas Jayhawks have now been upset in the 1st round in two straight years. See, KU's coach, Bill Self, left Illinois a few years ago, in a manner that left a lot of people very angry. Self had come to Champaign amidst a lot of excitement and optimism, and just as he was building a winner - he was gone.

I've got to believe that there's a strong chance that Self is fired before next season. I haven't read any KU coverage - but I imagine that two straight 1st-round exits are not tolerated in Lawrence. That is not what we think of when we think of "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk" - and I can only guess how pissed the fans are.

What goes around, comes around, Billy Boy. Looking forward to watching you try and resurrect your career in the D-1 sewers.

What's a Mid-Major These Days? I forget which game it was, but one set of announcers today referred to the increasing success of teams from mid-major conferences - and then cited Northwestern State as an example. Huh?!?! NW St is from the Southland Conference - which hasn't had a team make the Round of 32 since Karl Malone led Louisiana Tech there in 1985. The Southland ranked 22nd out of 31 in Conference RPI. In short: this is hardly a mid-major conference!

I think of a mid-major conference as one where (a) it's never unreasonable to think at least two teams will get bids, and (b) usually, at least one team gets to the 2nd round each year, if not to the Sweet 16, but (c) it's clearly not a power, i.e. "major" conference. The Missouri Valley, the MAC, the Mountain West, the WAC - these are mid-majors. Conference USA, also - though in previous incarnations, it was a major. Not the Southland, not the Ohio Valley, not the MAAC, not the SWAC, not the MEAC; these are the dregs of D-1.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Hey, I love that every D-1 team has a chance to shock the world. But they're not all mid-majors. It's ok to let them be the small fry.