Mid-Major Madness

It has been a crazy time for college basketball in the month of March. The saying “March Madness” has definitely lived up to its’ meaning. For the first time 68 teams were in the NCAA National Tournament. Instead of having one play-in game this year the tournament added three more play-in games, starting with the “First Four” and ending with the “Final Four.” I have never been more carefree with a NCAA Tournament before; usually I fill out a bracket and have at least one team in there that I route for. This year though I just kind of sat back and watched without much care. The caring part changed fairly quickly though. Early monumental upsets cleared the way for what could be one of the greatest tournament runs for mid-majors. VCU, one of the play-in teams, one of those “First Four” has made all the way to the Final Four. Ranked as an 11 seed VCU beat perennial powerhouses in basketball like Kansas and Georgetown. Butler, the 2010 NCAA Tournament Cinderella is making a sequel to their performance last year, again making it to the Final Four. It’s impressive to see teams like these two make it this far because in all reality they aren’t supposed to be able to compete with the teams that are; larger, have a higher revenue, and have a better recruiting base. Unfortunately Butler and VCU cannot meet in the championship game. They have to play each other in the semifinals. The good news though is that one mid-major for the second straight year will be in the championship game, maybe this year one of them can actually win it all. One of them winning it all could prove that in these modern times the gap between a mid-major and major program is not that far off.