Knudson: How Sweet It Is
FacebookBy Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
March 21, 2011
The first weekend of the NCAA tournament is in the books, and for the Mountain West Conference, a certain amount of vindication with both BYU and San Diego State advancing to the Sweet 16.
This was supposed to happen. Both teams were ranked in the Top 10 most of the season, so you would naturally expect them to be among the top 16 teams left standing, right? Those of us who cover the MWC certainly aren’t surprised, even if the east-leaning national types are. You hear the disparaging label “mid major” being attached to the MWC and you wonder what in the heck these people are watching. How many “mid majors” had two teams ranked among the top four in RPI most of the season?
Of course, the Eastern Bias dismissed both team’s chances to advance before the players had finished toweling off after their second round wins. According the EB, San Diego State didn’t have enough offense to get past Temple (wrong) and BYU didn’t have enough of anything to get past red-hot Gonzaga (wrong again). Now, of course, Florida will be way too tough for BYU and there’s no way the Aztecs can play with a team from the (gasp) Big East!
We should certainly be used to this by now. Even though the MWC ranked third in conference RPI this season, six conferences got more bids to the tournament. Yet only one conference has more teams moving on than the Mountain West, and it’s not the Big East.
But does more hoops success this season mean better things for the Conference moving forward?
Maybe, if facts mean anything. The facts say that only two of the teams from the 11-bid Big East Conference made it to the Sweet 16. A few of that league’s high profile members, like Villanova, Pitt, West Virginia and Louisville, got dumped early. It’s not been what the Eastern Bias was expecting.
How about the seven-bid Big Ten? Only Ohio State and Wisconsin survived. Despite ranking below the MWC in RPI, the SEC got five teams in, and just two are still playing. The Big 12, which also got five bids, saw only Kansas move forward, and the weak Pac 10, which ridiculously got more bids (four) than the MWC did, has just Arizona left in the tournament.
Only the ACC – which ranked below the MWC in conference RPI this season – has three teams left, with Florida State joining regulars Duke and North Carolina.
Meanwhile, after UNLV fell in the first round, the MWC has two of its three still playing. Not a bad percentage. And it’s hard to argue that the MWC was better than a three-bid league this season, with Colorado State fading down the stretch and New Mexico being young and inconsistent.
The challenge for the MWC is now about next year. With the face of the Conference changing so much, can the remaining Conference teams, plus the newcomers, maintain and even build on this season’s magic to try to get the Eastern Bias to pay closer attention? The goal needs to be getting at least three bids, and sometimes four, every year. That can only get done if the level of play stays where it is long after Jimmer Fredette and Kawhi Leonard have gone to the NBA. It will be up to the talented youngsters and big time coaches in the league to get that done.
Most certainly, the MWC should be forever rid of the insipid “mid major” label and start to be treated like the power conference it is.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
