MEAC Basketball And The Fight For Mid-Major Respect

by Ryal

So much fuss is made over the nation’s major conferences for men’s college basketball. Each year, Pollsters litter the preseason Top 25 Poll with the traditional powerhouses, hardly ever daring to whisper the possible exclusion of schools such as Duke and UNC (ACC), Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin (Big Ten), Kentucky and Florida (SEC), as well as the seemingly permanent staples of Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma State (Big 12) and Arizona and UCLA (Pac 10). And let us not forget Syracuse, UCONN, Georgetown and Louisville from the Big East. It’s sad but true, that year in and year out, pollsters choose to neglect the smaller and quickly growing conferences, and give annual praise to the powerhouse schools, whether the high praise is deserved or not.

Ask yourself this question. What do we, as college basketball fans, enjoy the most come March Madness? The answer nine times outta ten is a good Cinderella story – that unexpected and almost unbelievable triumph of David over Goliath – that shot at the buzzer that makes heroes out of soon-to-be-forgotten faces and forces tears onto the faces of those we constantly hear about.

The fact is, these schools don’t simply pop onto the 65-team tournament scene out of thin air. These are quality, battle-tested college basketball teams that can play with anyone in the nation, night in and night out. A perfect example is last year’s run by the Colonial Athletic Association’s George Mason University. With little respect, and not a single McDonalds All American (For reference: see Duke’s annual roster), George Mason road its glass slipper all the way to the Final Four, an elite achievement for any college program.

Like clockwork though, March gave way April and April quickly turned into November. It’s now that time of the year again. A time where the Jay Billis’ and the Dick Vitale’s of the world come out and cheer on the Dukies and neglect our smaller, yet deserving Patriots.

In an attempt to rid ourselves of such neglect, there’s an easy solution to this problem and it’s right here in Raleigh. Last march marked the first year for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) tournament to be held in Raleigh. The MEAC, which is comprised of 11 historically black colleges and universities, features teams like Coppin State and Hampton University, each having their own past date with Cinderella in the 65-team tournament.

Last year’s event was the start of something HUGE here in Raleigh. Over 25,000 people attended the tournament games, but more important is the fact that Triangle college basketball fans were given a first-hand glance at just how good these smaller teams truly are.

Do yourself, and thus NCAA college basketball, a big favor this year. Go down to the RBC Center box office and pick up a ticket to the MEAC basketball tournament. You won’t regret it!

For the sake of proving point, I’ve included below the current Top 25 Poll provided by The USA Today Coaches Poll. Please note the usual suspects.

1.Florida
2.North Carolina
3.Kansas
4.Ohio State
5.Pittsburgh
6.UCLA
7.LSU
8.Georgetown
9.Wisconsin
10.Duke
11.Alabama
12.Texas A & M
13.Memphis
14.Boston College
15.Washington
16.Arizona
17.Marquette
18.Texas
19.UCONN
20.Syracuse
21.Georgia Tech
22.Kentucky
23.Nevada
24.Tennessee
25.Creighton

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1. Nice article Ryal. Watch out for Bobby Knight and Texas Tech.
   Love Dad

   DITTO love, MOM

   
   — kris and nancy    Nov 16, 09:24 PM    #

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