Mid-major teams look for rare NCAA bids

Thomas Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association, is entering uncharted territory.

“It’s going to be a nervous week for us,” said Yeager, who has headed the Virginia-based league since its inception 21 years ago. “We don’t have the kind of history that would develop a real good comfort level.”

Yeager said three CAA men’s basketball teams, each with a Ratings Percentage Index of 38 or better, deserve an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament if they don’t win the conference tournament.

He also knows the CAA has received one such bid – and that was 20 years ago, Richmond in 1986.

The reality for teams such as George Mason (22-6), UNC Wilmington (22-7) and Hofstra (22-5), and most other mid-major programs across the country, is their season could come down to a win-or-else conference tournament.

“I would say if you take the names off the jerseys and just look at what they’ve done,” Yeager said, “the (NCAA tournament) selection committee would say these three are in.”

Schools outside the six major conferences – the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern and Pac-10 – have received an average of 7.7 at-large bids per season since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. (A 65th team was added in 2001.) There are usually 33 or 34 bids available.

The Missouri Valley has sent at least two teams to the tournament for seven consecutive years.

It wants six this year. All six are ranked in the top 43 of the RPI – only the Big East has more.