[LU'sbestmanager]

http://southerncollegesports.com/bb_060 ... w_low.html

this site has winthrop as the top team low major team in the nation. they also have coastal in the fab 15 and Bradshaw on the first team all low-major squad.

[LUconn]

ugh, there is no such freaking thing as a low major. I might have even been able to except low mid-major, but I doubt it. Just a little peeve of mine.

[LUconn]

oh man, and he broke out the high-major label too.

[A.G.]

ugh, there is no such freaking thing as a low major. I might have even been able to except low mid-major, but I doubt it. Just a little peeve of mine.

I truely think the big south traditionally qualifies as a low major. Much like the SWAC and the MEAC. Think about it. If you have a classification called MID-major, there has to be a high major and a low major.

[LUconn]

But it's not logical like math. In fact, there's no TRUE definition of a mid-major. It's just a generic term that means not the traditionally good teams. It's a very subjective word. So the Big South can't really qualify as a low-major because there are no qualifications for it.

[A.G.]

Oh, come on, LUconn. The big south is just a 2-bit basketball conference and everyone knows it. (but it is OUR 2-bit conference). I think the definition of low major truely fits. Certainly, you can't lump the bsc in with the MVC, OVC, CAA and other true mid-major conferences.

[LUconn]

I don't think you're following what I'm saying. I'm saying there is no such thing as low-major. If there were, I have no doubt the BSC would be in it. But there is not.

[SuperJon]

A few years ago there was no such thing as a mid-major. I've been calling the Big South and SoCon low-majors since I got in college. A lot of people feel it is degrading to the true mid-majors to call the Big South a mid-major. Mid-major started somewhere, low-major has to start somewhere too.

[LUconn]

but if "mid-major" is so subjective and ambiguous, how could you possibly throw in another term? ESPN wrote a column on the term a few years ago but I can't find it. I did find this little tidbit from cnnsi even though it doesn't help much:

The 'Bag loves researching the history of language, and we got a kick out of trying to divine the origin of the term mid-major last week. The first mention we could find was in an article in the Nov. 30, 1977, issue of the Washington Post. Jack Kvancz, then the coach at Catholic University and now the AD at George Washington, had this to say about a game against Howard: "It was everything that basketball's about at the level of our program. For a game between two 'mid-majors,' or whatever you'd call us, it had anything you could ask for."

[SuperJon]

But see, if we start to classify teams as low-major, that will solidify the two terms.

[WinthropEagleFan]

What ever happened to just calling teams 'good', 'bad', 'awesome', 'decent', 'awful', etc. Those terms seem to work fine for me.

[ATrain]

Who the freak cares if the Big South is a low or mid-major? Truth is, no team from the Big South, SoCon, or the CAA and MVC for that matter is gonna win the NCAA tournament.

[LUconn]

I agree, since they're all in the same division, it's way to liquid to be putting any of these labels on the teams but I understand why it happened. It's already difficult to differentiate between whether Gonzaga is a mid-major of if the A-10 or CUSA is. We certainly don't need low-major in which teams could be that or mid-majors in any given year. I still stand by my original stance, though.

[A.G.]

I got it. How about calling the big south, et al, MINOR majors??

[WinthropEagleFan]

Who the freak cares if the Big South is a low or mid-major? Truth is, no team from the Big South, SoCon, or the CAA and MVC for that matter is gonna win the NCAA tournament.

Though neither is Northwestern or Oregon State or Ole Miss or Nebraska or Providence, yet they are all in 'major' conferences. I don't think you can put a blanket label on a conference to define all of the teams within it.

While the teams that I listed above are in 'more' major leagues than teams like Hofstra, Creighton, Gonzaga, or Nevada, I'd think that the chances of the second group of teams i listed winning the national championship are 10 times better than the teams I listed first.

[LU'sbestmanager]

they call it low-major because we only get one bid to the tourny.

[LUconn]

OK, well I'm going to call all of the teams that are ranked from 103-142 in the RPI security badge teams. The Big South is not normally a Security badge team conference but one day I hope LU can surpass this level. Or at least annually, be in the mix of security badge teams.

[A.G.]

We can call the ones past 300 VMI.

[LUconn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_badge_team