A surprising Sweet 16 in 2006?

The Issue

With smaller-conference teams like George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association entering the Sweet 16, do smaller conferences deserve more respect?

POINT: Mid-majors can hang with the gang

By Weston Reeves

At this year’s ball, Cinderella is looking even better than usual. She’s either wearing a prettier dress or done something with her hair, but whatever it is, it’s working.

In every NCAA tournament there are upsets, and every year college basketball fans either destroy their brackets, or fall in love with themselves for calling the 14th-seed upset in the first round.

This month of March has seen the strong play of mid-major teams like No. 11 George Mason and No. 13 Bradley justify the selection committee’s push for more at-large bids from the conferences like the Colonial Athletic Association or the Missouri Valley Conference.

Thanks to those selections, the little-team-that-could has become a great storyline for this tournament, more so than most years.

Allowing smaller programs to have a shot at the national championship creates better basketball and a more exciting tournament. That is why the tournament is exciting; anyone can win.

In past seasons, a mid-major conference team like the Patriots hailing from the Colonial Athletic Association would not have had a shot to make the Big Dance because they didn’t win their conference tournament. No. 9 UNC Wilmington, the CAA tournament champions, lost to No. 8 George Washington in the opening round, but at-large George Mason has made it to the Sweet 16.

Larger program teams from the big conferences like the Big East or the Atlantic Coast Conference have too often flooded the tournament’s at-large selections.

The ACC, arguably the most dominant conference in the nation, sent four teams to the NCAA tournament and five teams to the NIT. As long as a team won at least seven of their 16 conference games they made a national tournament.

I acknowledge the strength of the conference, but George Mason’s win over No. 3 North Carolina, who finished second in ACC regular-season play, demonstrated that mid-major teams can play solid basketball and win against big teams in the tournament.

Stronger conferences deserve more bids, but it is nice to see the little guys have a shot. I’ll never get tired of watching David slay Goliath.

COUNTERPOINT: Creampuff conferences don’t belong

By Clive White

I have always hated Gonzaga. Never liked them and their powdered doughnut creampuff conference. And it is from this root hate that I have come to hate all mid-major conferences and the teams that represent them.

There are two different kinds of people sitting on the edge on their seat while the 15th seed dribbles down court to attempt that game-winning 3-pointer to upset the second seed. The person praying the 3 goes in and the one thinking, what the hell. I am the latter.

This isn’t random hate though, it has a strong base with three reasons. I hate Gonzaga. I like good basketball. I love great basketball. Rewarding a sub-talent team for taking advantage of a major team’s off game by sending them to the next round where they get stomped by an opponent that is not having an off game isn’t drama to me.

I’m so against mid-major teams being in the NCAA tournament that I even thought of a crazy radical theory, because of course a person isn’t really entrenched in hate and anger unless they have a theory.

Wait, let me get the suspense ready…

Here it is: Instead of having a field of 64 teams because of the damn conference tournament, cut it down to 32 with double elimination. This way every game should be a good game with the true 32 best teams in the nation. This would even make for a better regular season because teams would schedule harder, and teams making a living in a weak conference would petition for a move since their conference schedule would weaken chances of being invited.

Sure proponents of the mid-major teams can point to this year. And even I will give it up, the mid-major teams are representing. But there are only two mid-major teams I, up to this point, respect and that is Bradley and George Mason for beating top-ranked opponents twice in the tournament. The others (Wichita St. and, yes, Gonzaga) have just been lucky.

Just kidding – I love upsets, baby! But I really do hate Gonzaga.