RE: Are BYU and VCU "mid-majors" in college hoops
If you base it on resources and budgets, then besides the P5 and the Big East the following schools should be considered majors:
Memphis, Cincinnati, Gonzaga, SMU, Wichita State, Saint Louis, Tulsa, Brigham Young, Houston, Temple, San Diego State, VCU, Dayton
The above bakers dozen are consistently in the top 90, the first five names in the top 50.
There is a gray area group of schools that are a bit below the 76 power schools (I am counting UConn already as Big East, as by Basketball budget and resources they are top 20, with Memphis the only non power school above them in budget and not by much -- and yes 5 of the top 25 in resources allocated are Big East, so they belong in the power designation for Basketball). In this gray area would fall the following schools occupying a space $1m per year above those below but a $1m below the bottom of the power schools.
UNLV, Richmond, South Florida, Rhode Island, Colorado State, Dusquesne, St. Joe's, UMass, Fordham and Tulane. (I am reluctant to count Sand Francisco of the WCC, UAB of CUSA and Grand Canyon of the WAC in this group despite having on paper the same level of budget)
Below this group the top of the rest have budgets 50-60% of the very bottom of the power schools, or around $3m to the >$5.5m of a red lanterns Butler, DePaul, Washington State and Oregon State.
This is where New Mexico, Liberty, Wyoming, UTEP, ODU, ECU, UCF, JMU, GMU and so on reside. I'd probably put NMSU, St. Mary's and Davidson in this group as well, even though they budget lower.
Anyway, I think resources tell us all we need to know. The top "Mid-Major" schools are in fact majors in Basketball by any measure of resources. It should never shock anyone to see Houston, Memphis, Cincy, Gonzaga, San Diego State, Dayton, VCU or BYU in the tournament. This is not a new phenomena, these schools have been in the same budget and financial territory as the majors for decades. It's just football that separated them from the power schools.
(This post was last modified: 01-21-2020 01:57 PM by Stugray2.)
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