If you follow college basketball, you’ve probably heard the term “mid-major” tossed around. But what exactly does it mean? Unlike college football, where conferences are neatly divided between power conferences and Group of Five schools, the mid-major label in basketball is more subjective and often debated.
At MidMajorBasketball.com, we keep it simple:
We define mid-major programs as any team from a conference outside of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Big East.
That means every program from the Atlantic 10, Mountain West, Missouri Valley, MAC, Sun Belt, WCC and many more fall into the mid-major category in our coverage.
Some will argue that certain leagues, such as the Mountain West or American Conference, deserve high-major status based on their recent success or resources. Others may apply more nuanced definitions that take into account budgets, facilities or TV contracts. But for clarity and consistency, we draw the line based on conference affiliation.
At the end of the day, the mid-major label doesn’t define a program’s ceiling. Schools like Gonzaga, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic and Memphis have shown that mid-majors can crash the Final Four, earn top seeds and compete with anyone in the country. That’s what makes covering this level of college basketball so exciting and why we’re here to tell their stories.