You have to love the parity in college basketball.
Gardner-Webb beating Kentucky? Mercer beating USC handily? That's what makes college basketball ... especially March Madness, so much fun. On a given day, any team, no matter how small the school, can topple the big boys.
And though you have to give the Atlantic Sun Conference some serious props for two huge non-conference triumphs to start the year, there is one mid-major conference that, in the coming years, will rise up and join the elite conferences of the game.
The Missouri Valley Conference has already made some noise in recent years. Bradley, Wichita State, and Southern Illinois have reached the Sweet 16 in the last two years. Missouri State knocked off Wisconsin last year in dramatic fashion. And before there was Gonzaga, Creighton was the household name for upset specials come March.
However, thanks in part to George Mason's magical run, and the fact that the NCAA Tournament Committee decided to fill the brackets heavy with Big East and ACC teams, the national buzz about the Valley has subsided quite a bit.
That will end soon ... very soon. This basketball-crazy conference is destined for big things.
The Valley has all the pieces in place to be huge. It's got a seriously good team in Southern Illinois, whose smothering defense will give the best of teams fits. It's got fan followings that would open some eyes across America. Last year's tournament in St. Louis saw sellouts for the semifinal and championship games. That's over 22,000 fans a game ... not your typical "mid-major" attendance numbers by any stretch.
Creighton's averaging over 15,000 fans a game ... can Texas, Oklahoma, or Michigan top that?
Missouri State is building a brand-new, state-of-the-art arena that will seat just over 11,000. Auburn is also building a new arena ... that will seat around 9,500.
Why go to Auburn, Michigan, or some of the bigger names, when you can go play in front of bigger crowds in the basketball-crazy Missouri Valley?
There's talent in the Valley ... just look at Southern Illinois, for example, and more is on the way. With media centers in St. Louis, Des Moines, and Wichita, it won't be as hard for the MVC to garner attention then smaller conferences, and with more and more parody in the game, some real quality will be finding their way to the Valley in the upcoming years.
And finally, look at the coaches. Chris Lowery is a young superstar coach in the making. Gregg Marshall, whose Winthrop teams dominated the Big South, will take a rebuilding program at Wichita State, and no doubt transform it. Dana Altman was coveted by many of the big-name programs in America, after transforming Creighton into a household name. And don't look past Missouri State's Barry Hinson, a man whose Bears have received the NCAA shaft the past two years (MSU's RPI was no lower than 33 both years). He's made the Bears into a dangerous team, and no doubt he'll throw a wrench into someone's season.
Things are slowly setting into place in America's heartland. Don't be surprised if five years from now, we'll all be talking about the Valley.
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