It used to be easy. The Power 6 and then everyone else. The Power 6 always dominated and the rest fought for just ONE measly bid in their conferences. But times have changed. FLORIDA ATLANTIC went to the Final Four last year. FLORIDA ATLANTIC!!!! That’s why it’s time to ask the question. What the heck is even a mid-major anymore?

To understand that question we need to take it back to the beginning. The first conference ever, the Big 10, was founded in 1896, but the idea of a mid-major wasn’t really established until Jack Kvancz, the basketball coach at Catholic University used it in 1977. Back then, not many teams had made the tournament as the field didn’t expand from thirty two to sixty four until 1985. The first mid-major to seriously challenge their role was Gonzaga, becoming a perennial power after the hiring of Mark Few.

For a long time, other than Gonzaga, mid-majors stayed in their designated box of being pretty good every few years. But then VCU made the national tournament seven years in a row, making it past the first round every year but one. So they can’t be a mid-major, can they? Then we have Butler. They REALLY messed it up. They were in the Horizon League, definitely a mid-major conference, and made it to the national championship game twice in a row. So 100% not a mid-major. And then this year, FAU, undoubtedly, 100%, obviously, a mid-major (they had never even made the NCAA tournament before last year), made it to the FINAL FOUR. Yes. You heard that right. From never making the tournament. To making it to the Final Four. If they can do that, so can anyone. So is anyone really a mid-major?

First, let’s eliminate the obviously not mid-major conferences. The AAC isn’t a mid-major conference, they have two teams ranked in the Top 25. The A-10 has always been in between being a mid-major and a power conference, and no one would be surprised to see an A-10 go on a deep tournament run, so they’re out. Conference USA is on the cusp, but New Mexico State alone isn’t enough to push them into power conference territory so let’s keep them as a mid-major conference. The Ivy League has the name recognition but they are still a one bid league, so they’re in mid-major territory. The Mountain West is definitely not a mid-major conference, they’re a multi-bid conference every year! The last conference to be bumped up to power conference status is the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, and San Francisco are in the tournament as single digit seeds too often for the West Coast to be a mid-major conference. Okay so we figured that out. The teams in the rest of the conferences are mid majors. But wait. Are we really saying that Pacific is not a mid-major? By the current system that we established, they are a power school as they play in the West Coast conference, but they haven’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2012, and their highest seed in the current era was an 8. By that same logic we should still call Rice, Charlotte, East Carolina, UMass, FAU (despite that final four run), San Jose State, and many others mid-majors. But what if FAU goes back to the Final Four? A team going to two Final Fours in a row should never be called a mid-major. And then if any of these teams win a national championship they are immediately elevated to power school status. UGGGHHH!!!! Can we even use the word mid-major anymore? No we can’t. We NEED a new system. It can no longer be just a two tier system. We need more tiers. The Athletic did a pretty good job dividing up the classic power schools, but what about the rest? Or, if we get really crazy and just do away with the whole thing. No more tiers. No more blue bloods. No more mid-majors. There is so much fluidity in today’s college basketball to use outdated terms. Nobody is really surprised by classic mid-major defeating classic power schools anymore. So let’s just enjoy this great sport, and not divide things into tiers. After all, if FAU made the final four, can’t anyone?