The Mid-Major Elites and the Art of Bracket Busting

The term "mid-major" may be offensive to some teams not in the power conferences. Over the last two decades, many mid-majors have solidified their seat at the table among the power conferences. These mid-major elites have garnered top seeds, upset previous National Champions, and made many Final Fours and National Championship games in the NCAA tournament. The mid-majors have six Final Four teams in the last nine seasons and won one National Championship (1990 UNLV) since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams back in 1985.

We will start with the Gonzaga Bulldogs who have become the most prominent mid-major elite. When the bracket expanded to 64 teams, it opened up many more opportunities for mid-majors to prove themselves in the big dance. The first weekend of the tournament became a spectacle when many of these mid-majors started upsetting quality power conference teams causing many people to toss their projected bracket into the trash. Gonzaga was one of the first teams to garner the name "bracket buster." Many times, programs are unable to immediately build off of a tournament upset like Northern Iowa's monstrous upset of #1 ranked Kansas in 2010. It took Northern Iowa five years to get back to the tournament. For Gonzaga, their initial bracket busting was just the beginning. The Bulldogs continue to dominate the West Coast Conference regularly making the NCAA tournament and playing spoiler. Gonzaga regularly ranks in the Top 25 and continues to get a top seed every year in the tournament. This will be the Bulldogs 17th straight NCAA tournament appearance, which is the sixth best streak of all-time.

Gonzaga is not the only mid-major to take it to the next level in the NCAA tournament. The Butler Bulldogs have made a name for themselves as well over that same period. Everybody knows the history of Hinkle Fieldhouse, but the arena is not just home to history of the past. Butler continues to create new legacies for the Bulldogs program. In 2010 and 2011, Butler made back-to-back National Championship games and were a half-court buzzer beater away from defeating the Duke Blue Devils to win it all. Not only has Butler built off of their bracket busting success, it has improved the program's standing amongst other conferences. The Bulldogs moved out of the Horizon Conference and into the Big East Conference, which is a former power conference and remains a fringe power conference.

The most recent program to enter the frame of bracket busting is the Wichita St Shockers. Gregg Marshall has taken his team to new heights practically every season. The Marshall era went from a losing record to CBI to NIT to NIT champions to NCAA to NCAA Final Four to a 1 seed. There is no telling what this amazing group can do this season and beyond under the excellent leadership of Marshall. Fellow Missouri Valley Conference mate, Northern Iowa, is looking to be the next Gonzaga, Butler, or Wichita St. as they have been a consistent top 10 program this season. The Panthers have proven that they know how to bust brackets. Just ask Kansas. If Northern Iowa can build off of this season, the Panthers could help return the Missouri Valley Conference to its glory days when they regularly sent multiple teams to the NCAA tournament.

The path from mid-major to mid-major elite is tough to predict, but rest assured that it is only a matter of time before another team breaks into the realm of elite status. Will it be San Diego St. who has consistently competed for the Mountain West Conference Championship and made seven straight NCAA tournaments? Will it be Davidson who built on their success to move up from the Southern Conference into the Atlantic 10 Conference? The tournament starts tomorrow. We may soon find out.