Tiny Dancers: Numerous Examples For Why Mid-Majors Warrant At-Large Bids

When given an opportunity via an at-large invitation to the Big Dance, members from 10 different mid-major conferences have more than held their own against opponents from elite leagues. The greatest example was Virginia Commonwealth, which defeated members from five different power leagues en route to the 2011 Final Four. It was preposterous there were any questions at all about Middle Tennessee State as an at-large team after MTSU beat a Big Ten Conference member each of the previous two tourneys.

Power-conference setback totals against mid-major at-large entrants since 1992 include: Big Eight/Big 12 (22), Big East (19), SEC (15), Big Ten (14), ACC (13) and Pac-12 (11). In the last 27 years (all but 2009 and 2017), the following total of 38 different mid-major at-large entrants went on to win in the NCAA playoffs against a total of 53 different power-conference members (listed in reverse chronological order):

NOTE: Butler (Big East), Cincinnati (Big East), Louisville (Big East and ACC), Utah (Pac-12) and Xavier (Big East) subsequently joined a power conference.