2021: The year of the mid-major?
Since the cancellation of last year’s NCAA tournament, people have been anticipating this year’s edition. 12 teams — one of which was Utah State — earned an automatic bid after winning their conference tournament and another seven were awarded an automatic bid for winning the regular season title when their conference cancelled their own tournament. 19 teams were promised a ticket to the big dance while the remaining 49 spots were left open. 36 of those spots would have been filled by the usual number of available at-large bids. Those 49 spots were never filled, however, and the tournament was cancelled, leaving those 19 teams to wait until next season to try again.
This year those teams came back hungry to time earn another ticket, this time to a dance that would actually happen. Well, almost all those teams. The Yale Bulldogs, members of the Ivy League, after earning the automatic bid last year, would not return to action this year. The Ivy League opted out of this basketball season, therefore forfeiting their automatic bid. In order for the bracket to work, all the spots need to be filled, so the Ivy League’s automatic bid will be converted into an additional at-large bit that will be up for grabs after champ week.
This changes the number of at-large bids from 36 to 37 and this year, they won’t all be eaten up by blue bloods and other perennial programs. The term blue blood is not to be taken lightly. Winning is hard to do and blue bloods have done it a lot. It takes decades of domination just to be considered a perennial heavyweight. Being elevated to the status of blue blood takes more than that. Championships.
There are only six generally agreed upon blue bloods. In no particular order they are the Indiana Hoosiers, North Carolina Tar Heels, UCLA Bruins, Kansas Jayhawks, Duke Blue Devils and Kentucky Wildcats. Love them or hate them (and you probably do) these six teams are good. They combine for 38 NCAA championships. That is almost half of the 80 tournaments that have been played. This year, however, the blue bloods are not meeting expectations. They all seem to have taken a step back. UCLA and Kansas are okay, but not great. North Carolina is having a very slow year compared to its standards. That’s not the worst of it, though. Kentucky, Indiana — and most notably, Duke — are having uncharacteristically terrible years.
It’s not just the blue bloods that are down. Many teams that have become household names in the recent years have been struggling. Other notable teams having a bad year include Notre Dame, Kansas State, Xavier, Marquette, Washington and Michigan State. A few other perennials such as Florida, Syracuse, Arizona and Louisville are staying relevant with winning records but seem to be on the wrong side of the bubble.
With the Ivy League sitting this season out and so many blue bloods down, the 2021 season could be the year of the mid-major. The Mountain West just finished a season-long campaign to potentially be a three-bid league. It was a compelling case. It is a bit far-fetched but certainly possible. San Diego State, Utah State and Colorado State have all proven worthy of the dance. The MWC should definitely be a multi-bid league this, and every year. Ever since having five bids in 2013, the league has been hovering right around two. This year, the conference should be able to climb a bit higher, at least to thee.
It won’t be easy. Just because the powerhouses are down, doesn’t mean the Mountain West will just steal that extra bid by default. Other mid-major conferences will be fighting for that extra bid as well. Competition is steep at the mid-major level. Not to mention teams like Georgetown and Oregon State surprising everyone and winning their respective conference tournaments, giving an automatic birth to teams that would have certainly missed the cut.
With so many heavyweights and household names down, it might end up being awarded to a well deserving mid-major. If it does, the Mountain West is packed with those.
@pshark14
—sports@usustatesman.com