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I want to believe that mid-major basketball has a stable future but can't seem to put together an argument that it is likely to happen. So many things have changed so very quickly that I'm still struggling to find my bearings. Some high level of roster predictability seems essential for Valley fan base retention or growth. I like our newish and brand new Valley coaches but think they really have their work cut out for them. Do they need to reinvent the wheel or can they keep players around by going back to basics?

just ducky wrote:I want to believe that mid-major basketball has a stable future but can't seem to put together an argument that it is likely to happen. So many things have changed so very quickly that I'm still struggling to find my bearings. Some high level of roster predictability seems essential for Valley fan base retention or growth. I like our newish and brand new Valley coaches but think they really have their work cut out for them. Do they need to reinvent the wheel or can they keep players around by going back to basics?

I've mentioned on our forum a couple times but honestly. Mid Majors aren't going to go away. The NCAA wont allow that when mid majors make them a lot of money by sharing Cinderella stories every year. SEC may try to get rid of MMs but they just proved this March Madness that they have no right to speak on the matter when Bama is their only success story

The low majors are in trouble because they're losing their autobids but us, the A10, WCC and AAC are going to be just fine.

In fact, those 4 leagues need to band together to take back the term mid-major. We've allowed the national media to bump the low majors up to our tier and that's done big time harm to us. We've got to do something to re-create that distinction.

I would call us “midmajor-plus”. Along with the A10, WCC, MWC. Need to distinguish the MVC from the Horizon or MAC, because in fact there is a big gap.

BCPanther wrote:The low majors are in trouble because they're losing their autobids but us, the A10, WCC and AAC are going to be just fine.

In fact, those 4 leagues need to band together to take back the term mid-major. We've allowed the national media to bump the low majors up to our tier and that's done big time harm to us. We've got to do something to re-create that distinction.

Yep.

I was watching the DeVries press conference and some WVU media guy referred to both Dusty May (AAC) and Darian DeVeries’ (MVC) leagues as “lower mid-majors” even though both leagues are ranked in the top-10. The WVU AD corrected him in a hurry: “I got great respect for the MIssouri Valley. The Missouri Valley is a great, great league. You can go back in time and see a lot of postseason success and history and tradition in that conference.”

There need to be landing places for players even when everything shakes out. Athletes who are high majors will eventually find their way there. Mid-major players will still find that level along with the lows. It is building a team a different way, but if you can find the right group of guys, you can still have a special season.

Coaches are going to have different instincts into putting a team together than they did before.

They do need to fix the portal for all levels of basketball. I don't have a problem with transfers taking place, but they have to put some windows on these. For basketball, the window should be April 15-June 1 with maybe one other window. I believe the system becomes more equitable and a better lifestyle with a limited portal instead of always being open.

We need to take the term high major and let the power schools keep the term power. Power 6, high major, mid major, low major should be the distinction.

BCPanther wrote:The low majors are in trouble because they're losing their autobids but us, the A10, WCC and AAC are going to be just fine.

In fact, those 4 leagues need to band together to take back the term mid-major. We've allowed the national media to bump the low majors up to our tier and that's done big time harm to us. We've got to do something to re-create that distinction.

Agreed.

This is where those four leagues kind of have to get over themselves some. is the A10 a bit better league than the MVC? Sure. But it's not much of difference and forming a strong alliance with other similar leagues helps more than it hurts.

The WCC and A10 are way closer to the MVC than they are the Big East - no matter how much they fight it.