Mid-Major Breakdown from ESPN

[Xaveriana]

No Mid-Major comments from me, just info...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2010/columns/story?id=5788744

Go X! :logo:

[Muskie]

Did I miss something? I don't see X listed in there?

[drudy23]

While they're at it, they need to take out Memphis and Butler.

[STL_XUfan]

They did it by conference so butler is going to be included but I am shocked that Conference USA was listed among the Mid majors and not in the awkward purgatory of the conferences to remain without a definition (MWC and A-10).

[GoMuskies]

C-USA and the WAC should be in the same group with the A-10 and MWC.

[smileyy]

My personal definition of conference categories are: (why the word "major" needs to be in all of them, I don't know...)

High-major: Multiple at-large bids every year
Mid-major: Best team receives at-large bid, occasionally receives other at-large bids
Low-major: Rarely receives an at-large bid

The stratigraphy can be broken down a little more:

All of the BCS conferences are high-major, and produce national championship contenders.
The Atlantic-10 and Mountain West receive multiple at-large bids every year, but tend not to produce national championship contenders, at least recently (UMass, Utah, UNLV).
The Horizon League receives fewer at-large bids than the A-10 and MWC. (I might need to fact-check this)
C-USA has had a spotty record of at-large bids, outside of Memphis dominating the league, but Memphis was a national title contender for a number of years.