Chase Swaringen

Yes, this article was written a few days ago and it’s not necessarily breaking news any more. But it took me a full day to analyze this because I really wanted to see if Fox Sports’ Jason Smith had a case when he said “Mid-majors shouldn’t be allowed in the NCAA tournament” because they play “easier schedules.” So I thought. For 24 hours. And still after 24 hours, this take is a flaming pile of bullcrap.

I get it. A tournament of all power conference teams would be exciting to watch and entertaining maybe once. But that’s what the early season warm island tournaments, like the Maui Invitational, are for. You have the top teams battle it out early on in the year. Without Cinderellas like Loyola-Chicago and UMBC, March Madness would be March meh. The greatest sports stories in history are usually underdog stories.

Secondly, I don’t understand how Mr. Smith can say that mid-majors aren’t worthy of being in the NCAA tournament because of their strength of schedule. It’s obvious that some of the better teams in tournament history have been seeded lower. His argument also becomes a little less valid when there are dumpster fire programs like Pittsburgh in top conferences like the ACC and teams like last years’ runner up Gonzaga play in mid-major conferences like the West Coast Conference. Plus, Jason, without mid-majors we wouldn’t have this sweet face on national television every day of the week.