College Basketball: Moving to Mid Majors

Now that we've wrapped up the 6 "Power" conferences, it's time to move on to the Mid Majors. We'll hit a tour of the best Mid-Major Basketball conferences in the country... at least in my opinion! The plan is to take on the Missouri Valley, West Coast, Horizon, Mountain West, and A-10.

Confession Alert. Being a former basketball player in the world of Mid Majors (I played at Drake in the late 90's), I have an affinity for these programs. I think this is where some of the best basketball in the country is played, and where some of the greatest coaches and teachers emerge from.

For Mid Majors, excelling in how they connect with prospective recruits is arguably even more critical. If they connect in the right way, at a conference and at a program level, they have potential to build a relationship with a recruit -- and take someone away from a Power Conference. And a couple of those recruits transforms a team.

Mid Majors have big success stories in marketing. Before 2003, one of the biggest challenges Mid Majors had was the lack of TV exposure or big wins close to the Tourney. And that's when one of the most innovative (and my favorite) stories in marketing happened. Doug Elgin, MVC Commissioner, and his team brought 98 teams across 14 conferences together. These 98 teams agreed to pair the best against the best on one weekend. And then ESPN came on board. As you can see below (or link here) now the best Mid Majors appear on National TV in February. That's enormous... plus it's a very inspiring way to look at marketing and exposure.


Most importantly, that power trickles down. This group of Mid Major conferences created a resource that helps their member institutions market themselves. See the image below from the Northern Iowa website. Bracketbusters became an event that schools want to hype. It helps recruiting. It rewards them if they play well (because if you play well, you get a tough matchup on National TV). And if you go on the road to play that game, you get a guarantee the other team will come to your house the next season.

In a sentence, the MVC showed us that conferences can do things that become recruiting and marketing assets for their programs. Nice!!!


Finally, I wanted to take a minute to give a shout out to one of my favorite sites, Mid Majority. This site (link here), put together by Kyle Whelliston, takes a look at Mid Majors - highlighting big games, key interviews, and teams to watch. The writing is packed with emotion and soul. It's worth a click and a follow. (Of course, they are on Twitter, here.) They have around 940 followers and keep you updated on Mid Majors through the season.



OK, come back Monday as it's on to the MVC!