#2Bid
Conference play is about to kick off in earnest... are there any small leagues legitimately pining for multiple bids in 2023?
Periodically, an imminence such as Joe Lunardi, Rocco Miller or Mid-Major Madness will be killing time in an airport and use their social media platform of choice to welcome the polite questions of a curious public desperate to probe the inner recesses of our foremost college basketball minds. These are, invariably, very incomplete snippets pumped out 280ish characters at a time while Gary Parrish or some other emblem of luminescence juggles a Starbucks run with answering questions from @FirstNameBunchaNumbers about why Iowa State is so disrespected.
This is, of course, mostly good fun and fan service and indicative of practically nothing. But on occasion, some gomer will fall from the heavens and ask if this is the year that such-and-such tiny conference with little to no basketball history is a two-bid league.
Lunardi et al. will give Upstart Young Coach his flowers, pay respects to the traditional league heavyweight and confirm that, barring absolute insanity, there’s no way in hell #2BidSoCon is happening.
I will also confirm #2BidSoCon is unlikely to be a thing this year; smash that subscribe button for more insights!
And I can already confirm that some of our small-league brethren do not have a prayer this season or in many others. Apologies to the ASUN, America East, Big Sky, Big South, Horizon, MAAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, NEC, OVC, Patriot League, SoCon, Southland, Summit, SWAC… I’d say there’s always next year, but history isn’t on your side on that front. Get a generational superstar to fall into the lap of one of your schools (or continue your aggressive realignment pursuits, we see you ASUN) and we’ll revisit this discussion.
Likewise is the emphasis for some conferences that on the “major” in “mid-major”; in its short life, the American has never NOT been a multi-bid league. The Mountain West is loaded this year and has put multiple teams into every tournament since 2017. The rising tide of Gonzaga has lifted the WCC into multi-biddom every year since 2012. The A-10 seems bound and determined to test whether the league as a whole has earned the respect necessary to receive multiple bids in a down year; the fall from such a lofty perch can be precipitous, as the Missouri Valley is learning through a combination of losing much of its standout basketball prowess (Creighton, Wichita State) from its halcyon run of multiple bids from 2012-16 and replacing them with quality basketball schools (Belmont, Murray State) who have been low-major darlings but have not (yet) graduated to being true mid-major threats who consistently force their way into the at-large conversation.
But there are other leagues—above the one-bid locks and below college basketball’s middle class which, true to life, is a much smaller congregation than the league’s that have and those that have-not. As conference play kicks off in earnest, these teams still harbor hopes of putting multiple teams into the Big Dance. For some, it’s merely a pipe-dream; for others, the path is clear and getting clearer.
Tier One Chance, Don’t Screw Up: Big West, Ivy, MAC, WAC
Three of the aforementioned leagues has a team with a better-than-decent resume’—Yale, Kent State, and Sam Houston to be precise. The quick look:
Yale - 10-3, 36th in NET, 1-3 vs. Quadrants 1/2; losses to Butler (by 10), Kentucky (by 10) and Colorado (by 3); win against Hawaii (by 3, in overtime, in Hawaii)
Kent State - 10-3, 25th in NET, 1-3 vs. Quadrants 1/2; losses to Gonzaga (by 7), Houston (by 5) and Charleston (by 2); win against New Mexico State (by 10)
Sam Houston - 10-2, 20th in NET, 2-2 vs. Quadrants 1/2; losses to Nevada (by 18) and Oklahoma State (by 14); wins against Oklahoma (by 1) and Utah (by 10)
The ideal situation, for each of these leagues, would be for all three of these squads to completely romp through the conference slate, enter the conference tournament with 27-28 wins and then lose a thriller in the title game. If Kent State rolls into March at 27-4, win three games and then drop an instant classic in the title game to Toledo to finish 30-5, they’re dancing. At that point, you’re talking about a team that had 60 percent of its losses come by single digits against likely tournament teams, including two that will probably be top-three seeds. That’s a great resume’.