Midmajor leagues overrated

It really upsets me when midmajor basketball conferences feel they deserve more than one team to the NCAA tourney, especially when they do not play any competition regularly in the conference.

This year with San Diego winning the WCC it hurt the Pac-10, especially when you see that Gonzaga deserves a spot having a very tough non-conference schedule.

However, Saint Mary’s did not have the resume to get in the tourney with the end of the season it had, especially when you look at an Arizona State (Pac-10) and even a Syracuse (Big East).

The WCC is weak and in no way deserved three teams in the tourney. The Pac-10 was the toughest conference in the nation and deserved at least seven teams. At the end of the tourney take a look to see how many major-conference teams are in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four. Give all the mid majors and small conferences one bid and that is it and save the at-large bids for the teams that play the tough games all season in a major conference, not a bunch of patsies with one or two tough games.

We all like to see a Cinderella every now and then, but we are tired of seeing teams get in that truly don’t deserve it when teams that do are left out. This could be the year with the Pac-10 winning the NCAA and NIT championships.

Jeff Jurgensen

Spokane