College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA.
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Conferences
These teams play in 31 different conferences, some of which are considered either major, mid-major, or conferences by the general public and sports media. Due to the term low-major having degrading connotations, some major media outlets and analysts have recently taken to calling the upper-tier of the non-BCS conferences "high-majors" while calling the bottom 16 of the 31 conferences "mid-majors".[1][2][3] These distinctions are all unofficial; in fact, there is no real definition as to what makes a college basketball conference a major, , or mid-major outside of being a BCS member in football. After all, the winners of all 30 conference tournaments (plus the Ivy League's regular-season champion) receive an automatic bid to play in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament alongside 34 at-large selections made by the selection committee during the selection process. Most of the 34 at-large selections on Selection Sunday go to major-conference teams. The following are currently considered by most experts to be the major conferences in college basketball: [4] [5] [6]
- Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
- Big East Conference
- Big Ten Conference
- Big 12 Conference
- Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10)
- Southeastern Conference (SEC)
The Atlantic 10 Conference has had "major" success since 1995, placing at least 3 teams in the NCAA Tournament from 1995-1996 to 2001-2002, including 5 teams in the 1996-1997 season and the 1997-1998 season. UMass reached the Final Four in 1996. As recently as the 2003-2004 season the Atlantic 10 placed 4 teams in the tournament, including two teams advancing to the Elite Eight that season. Since 1995-1996 the conference has produced 3 National Players of the Year (Marcus Camby, David West, and Jameer Nelson). No other non-BCS conference has produced as many in this time period. Only in 2001-2002 and 2004-2005 did the conference send only one team to the tournament and has experienced a "resurgence" to their national power form in 2007-2008.
Two schools from "mid-major" conferences have been accepted as "major" programs, despite their conference affiliation: [7] [8]
- Gonzaga University of the West Coast Conference
- University of Memphis of Conference USA
Gonzaga's present day situation in the West Coast Conference is much like UNLV's situation was in the Big West Conference in the early 1990s, as a widely recognized "major" program despite its conference affiliation. Since making the Elite Eight in 1999, the Bulldogs have made the tournament field every year, even in the one year they failed to win the West Coast Conference tournament. They play a nationally competitive nonconference schedule, frequently winning against teams from "power" conferences, and have been a fixture in the national rankings for most of the years since.
Memphis was arguably the biggest basketball victim of the cycle of conference realignment that took place from 2003 through 2005. The Tigers had previously been one of several perennially strong programs in Conference USA, which at the time was unanimously considered a major basketball conference. However, when the dust settled from the wave of realignment, all of the Conference USA basketball powers except for Memphis had moved on to other conferences, most of them to the Big East.
The current members of the six BCS conferences and the Mountain West Conference (MWC) have won every NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship since 1967, although some teams' championships predate their memberships in their current conferences (including all championships from MWC members).
The term "mid-major" is now used in two distinct senses. Some use it to describe all Division I schools outside of the recognized "major" conferences: the members of the remaining D-I conferences, plus independent schools not belonging to a conference:
- America East Conference
- Atlantic Sun Conference
- Big Sky Conference
- Big South Conference
- Big West Conference
- Colonial Athletic Association
- Conference USA
- Horizon League
- Ivy League
- Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
- Mid-American Conference
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
- Mountain West Conference
- Northeast Conference
- Ohio Valley Conference
- Patriot League
- Southern Conference (SoCon)
- Southland Conference
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- Sun Belt Conference
- The Summit League
- West Coast Conference
- Western Athletic Conference
However, the term is increasingly being used to describe a smaller group of conferences that generally produce quality teams, most of which frequently send at least one at-large team to the tournament field. This is the group of conferences that have routinely finished as the 8th through 15th rated conferences in recent years (post 2004): [9]
- Atlantic 10 Conference
- Colonial Athletic Association
- Conference USA
- Horizon League
- Mid-American Conference
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Mountain West Conference
- Western Athletic Conference
- West Coast Conference
Whatever the definition, no mid-major team reached the Final Four from 1979 (when Penn and a Larry Bird-led Indiana State both made it to the semifinals) until 2006, when George Mason of the CAA defeated two 2005 Final Four teams and 2006 regional top seed UConn on its way to the Final Four.
Three other schools from mid-major conferences made the Final Four during that period of time—UNLV in 1977, 1987, 1990, and 1991, winning the title in 1990, as part of the Big West Conference; Massachusetts in 1996, from the Atlantic-10, and Utah in 1998, from the Western Athletic Conference, who defeated Arizona and North Carolina, before losing to Kentucky in the championship game. However, all three schools were in a similar situation to Gonzaga and Memphis today, being widely recognized as "major" programs despite their conference affiliation. In addition, Utah has won several national championships in its history, as well as other Final Four appearances. (In an interesting sidelight, John Calipari, who coached UMass in 1996, now coaches Memphis.) Despite the rarity of mid-major programs in the Final Four, the trend in recent years has been towards parity among all the schools in Division I, and practically every year a perennial major-conference power loses to an unheralded low-major or mid-major team in the tournament.
Finally, a small number of teams (currently 11) compete in Division I basketball as so-called Independents, unaffiliated with any conference. Typically, these teams have just moved up to Division I from a lower division and compete independently while hoping eventually to secure a spot in a conference. Unlike in football, they are generally among the least-competitive teams in Division I college basketball.
Relationship to professional basketball
In past decades, the NBA only drafted players whose collegiate class had graduated. This was a mutually beneficial relationship for the NBA and colleges—the colleges held onto players who would otherwise go professional, and the NBA did not have to fund a minor league. As the college game became commercialized, though, it became increasingly difficult for "student athletes" to be students. Specifically, a growing number of poor, under-educated, highly talented teenage basketball players found the system exploitative—they brought in funds to schools where they learned little and played without income.
The American Basketball Association began to employ players whose college classes had not yet graduated. After a season of junior college, a season at the University of Detroit, and an Olympic gold medal, Spencer Haywood played the 1969-70 season with the ABA's Denver Rockets. He signed with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics in 1970, before his college class graduation, defying NBA rules. Haywood pleaded that, as his family's sole wage earner, he should be allowed to earn a living in the NBA or else his family would face destitution. The ensuing legal battle went to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled in 1971 that the NBA does not have the same antitrust exemption enjoyed by Major League Baseball. Thereafter, collegiate players demonstrating economic hardship were allowed early entry into the NBA Draft. The hardship requirement was eliminated in 1976.
In 1974, Moses Malone joined the Utah Stars of the ABA (now merged with the NBA) straight out of high school and went on to a Hall of Fame career. The past 30 years have seen a remarkable change in the college game. The best international players routinely skip college entirely, many American stars skip college (Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James) or only play one year (Carmelo Anthony), and only a dozen or so college graduates are now among the 60 players selected in the annual NBA Draft. Fewer high schoolers will progress directly to the NBA without at least one year of college basketball beginning in 2006; citing maturity concerns after several incidents involving young players, the labor agreement between players and owners now specifies that players must turn 19 years of age during the calendar year of the draft to be eligible. Additionally, U.S. players must be at least one year removed from their high school graduation.
The pervasiveness of college basketball throughout the nation, the large population of graduates from "major conference" universities, and the NCAA's marketing of "March Madness" (officially the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship), have kept the college game alive and well. Some commentators have argued that the higher turnover of players has increased the importance of good coaches. Many teams have been highly successful, for instance, by emphasizing personality in their recruiting efforts, with the goal of creating a cohesive group that, while lacking stars, plays together for all 4 years and thus develops a higher level of sophistication than less stable teams could achieve.
Trivia
- Only nine schools have reached each of the last nine Men's NCAA Division I Tournaments. No major conference has produced more than two of those teams and one of the teams does not belong to a major conference. They are Arizona, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Texas and Wisconsin. Along with those nine, an additional three schools have reached each of the last six tournaments. They are Illinois, Pittsburgh, and Southern Illinois.
- The number 9 seed beats the number 8 seed more often than not.
- Unlike NBA Basketball, NCAA Division I Basketball features two 20 minute halves.
- Unlike college football and most professional leagues, the NCAA requires home teams in college basketball to wear white or light-colored jerseys while the visiting teams wear darker jerseys. This mimics the NBA having teams wear white at home, although the NBA is more in-line with the other pro-sports leagues and allows the home team to decide. NBA teams, however, generally wear white or light-colored jerseys at home simply for tradition.
Other divisions
While less commercialized than Division I, Division II and Division III are both highly successful college basketball organizations. Women's Division I is often televised, but to smaller audiences than Men's Division I. Generally, small colleges join Division II, while colleges of all sizes that choose not to offer athletic scholarships join Division III. D-II and D-III games, understandably, are almost never televised, although CBS televises the Championship Final of Division II, while CBS-owned CSTV televises the semifinals as well as the Division III Final. Many teams at these levels have rabid fan bases, though, and to those fans these games can be equally or more entertaining than big-time college basketball.
The NAIA also sponsors men and women's college level basketball. The NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship has been held annually since 1937 (with the exception of 1944), when it was established by James Naismith to crown a national champion for smaller colleges and universities. Unlike the NCAA Tournament, the NAIA Tournament features only 32 teams, and the entire tournament is contested in one week instead of three weekends. It is unknown as of March 2007 if the 2008 tournament will be held in the new Sprint Center.
Since 1992, the NAIA has sponsored a Division II championship, similar to the NCAA Division I and II.
The only school to have won national titles in both the NAIA and NCAA Division I is Louisville; the Cardinals have also won the NIT title. Southern Illinois has won NAIA and NIT titles. Central Missouri and Fort Hays State have won NAIA and NCAA Division II national titles.
See also
- NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
- NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship
- NCAA Women's Division II Basketball Championship
- NCAA Men's Division III Basketball Championship
- NCAA Women's Division III Basketball Championship
- College football
- College hockey
- Black participation in college basketball