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Just a few comments first,
1. I am only posting as there are teams we will play in our upcoming season and some of the information is interesting.
2. I wish Wichita State would play more of these top rated “Mid-Major” teams, even in Home/Home arrangements.
3. Wichita State is unlikely to be mentioned in any of the more popular “Mid-Major Rankings” (like: Yahoo Sports; College Insider, Mid-Major Madness; ESPN; etc.,) Yes, there will still be individual writers and bloggers who mention Wichita State as a “Mid-Major”, but this will become less and less as this season develops and as our membership in the AAC (American Athletic Conference) matures.
4. I use to look forward every week when the new “Mid-Major Rankings” were published, because I was just excited to see the Shockers even mentioned. Now, I open my laptop each day and instead of “Mid-Major Rankings” I see full and lead articles and mentions like: Top 10 (ESPN, AP Polls, Coaches Polls, National Writers, Statisticians, and etc.,); Power Program; Elite Conference; Team to Fear; High Major; and on and on and on. It’s been a wonderful ride!
"2017-18 Mid-Major Preseason Power Rankings" - Yahoo Sports
by Raphielle Johnson, NBC Sports
October 30, 2017
https://sports.yahoo.com/2017-18-mid...182150969.html
"The question of what programs qualify as “high-majors” and which are “mid-majors” has been one that’s been up for argument since the late-1990’s (a gift given to us by the Bowl Championship Series).
For the sake of this post, members of the following conferences will be excluded: ACC, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC.
We’ll also be leaving out BYU and Gonzaga of the WCC, which is likely to fire up our readers with Saint Mary’s’ interests.
While it can certainly be argued that some teams within some of these conferences would qualify as mid-major, the split described above makes the below list a little easier to navigate.
While this portion of college basketball has taken some hits in recent years due to conference realignment, with Wichita State now in the American and many of the Atlantic 10’s gains (to make up for the losses of Butler, Temple and Xavier) coming at the expense of the CAA, there are still incredibly talented teams and players to keep an eye on.
Below are some of the best mid-major programs in the country entering the 2017-18 season.
1. Saint Mary’s
2. UT-Arlington
3. Missouri State – This ranking is probably their highest honor in the 21st century.
4. Oakland
5. Middle Tennessee
6. Yale
7. College of Charleston - we play them on Monday, November 13.
8. Vermont
9. Bucknell
10. FGCU - we play them on Friday, December 22.
11. San Francisco
12. Belmont
13. Mercer - "first season at Mercer, Ria'n Holland, who began at Wichita State before spending a season at Indian Hills CC, avg. 17.2 points."
14. Albany
15. Louisiana Tech
16. Harvard
17. Grand Canyon
18. Furman
19. Western Michigan
20. Western Kentucky…”
1. I am only posting as there are teams we will play in our upcoming season and some of the information is interesting.
2. I wish Wichita State would play more of these top rated “Mid-Major” teams, even in Home/Home arrangements.
3. Wichita State is unlikely to be mentioned in any of the more popular “Mid-Major Rankings” (like: Yahoo Sports; College Insider, Mid-Major Madness; ESPN; etc.,) Yes, there will still be individual writers and bloggers who mention Wichita State as a “Mid-Major”, but this will become less and less as this season develops and as our membership in the AAC (American Athletic Conference) matures.
4. I use to look forward every week when the new “Mid-Major Rankings” were published, because I was just excited to see the Shockers even mentioned. Now, I open my laptop each day and instead of “Mid-Major Rankings” I see full and lead articles and mentions like: Top 10 (ESPN, AP Polls, Coaches Polls, National Writers, Statisticians, and etc.,); Power Program; Elite Conference; Team to Fear; High Major; and on and on and on. It’s been a wonderful ride!
"2017-18 Mid-Major Preseason Power Rankings" - Yahoo Sports
by Raphielle Johnson, NBC Sports
October 30, 2017
https://sports.yahoo.com/2017-18-mid...182150969.html
"The question of what programs qualify as “high-majors” and which are “mid-majors” has been one that’s been up for argument since the late-1990’s (a gift given to us by the Bowl Championship Series).
For the sake of this post, members of the following conferences will be excluded: ACC, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC.
We’ll also be leaving out BYU and Gonzaga of the WCC, which is likely to fire up our readers with Saint Mary’s’ interests.
While it can certainly be argued that some teams within some of these conferences would qualify as mid-major, the split described above makes the below list a little easier to navigate.
While this portion of college basketball has taken some hits in recent years due to conference realignment, with Wichita State now in the American and many of the Atlantic 10’s gains (to make up for the losses of Butler, Temple and Xavier) coming at the expense of the CAA, there are still incredibly talented teams and players to keep an eye on.
Below are some of the best mid-major programs in the country entering the 2017-18 season.
1. Saint Mary’s
2. UT-Arlington
3. Missouri State – This ranking is probably their highest honor in the 21st century.
4. Oakland
5. Middle Tennessee
6. Yale
7. College of Charleston - we play them on Monday, November 13.
8. Vermont
9. Bucknell
10. FGCU - we play them on Friday, December 22.
11. San Francisco
12. Belmont
13. Mercer - "first season at Mercer, Ria'n Holland, who began at Wichita State before spending a season at Indian Hills CC, avg. 17.2 points."
14. Albany
15. Louisiana Tech
16. Harvard
17. Grand Canyon
18. Furman
19. Western Michigan
20. Western Kentucky…”
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