What do you all think are the top 5 mid major conferences. I'm still new to d1 but have seen the following been good. A10, CUSA, Horizon, Ivy, MAC, MWC, WCC. I'd put CUSA and MWC as the top 2 and the rest I'm unsure of. How would you rank them/is there a conference I'm missing?

A-10 first for sure, then MWC or CUSA, then Horizon, WCC

ranking them based upon what criteria?

Posted by dacj501 on 5/11/2016 2:52:00 PM (view original):
ranking them based upon what criteria?

If we are goijg on potential for all the schools, probably cusa-a10-mwc-sl-ivy

However utah and Zaga are the two best midmajors without a doubt. I think the mwc has the best top end midmajors with utah, new mexico, unlv, and then usually one of the Texas schools like TX southern all being able to be built very high, however it gets really tight in colorado with the schools there imo knocking it behind the cusa and a10.

Idk I personally have the cusa over the a10 but I might call them equal just would depend on the layout of the world.

They are not equal. It's the Baseline prestige that counts. And you are right about Utah and Gonzaga being the two best midmajors. So I think when going to a mid-major you consider two factors

1) Location
2) Baseline prestige

Utah is a great location. And it has a good Baseline prestige.

A10 has better baseline but I think cusa has better locations and spread out farther from each other than the a10 which is really packed in outside a few schools. Personally I think that puts the cusa over the a10 if you were going for how good you could build the conference up. If you are just focusing on yourself then yeh selecting a good location a10 like temple would be the best bet. But not if you were trying to fill the conference up.

memphis is B prestige, higher than any A10 school. i think that like, dayton, because old admin was a dayton fan, is like artificially boosted to something in that B range, and maybe gonzaga also? not sure. if colorado is down, any one of a handful of those MWC jobs can be fantastic openings.

i had great success recruiting quality players out of D baseline (D+ i think they all are actually? all the garbage schools?) san francisco. the west was pretty devoid of mid majors, was able to get some ridiculous bigs, i wasn't even trying to coach there, i was trying to run an experiment. seble had changed an aspect of the game without really telling us, and i kept getting burned by it, and i had to figure it out for sure. so i just recruited to not ghost ship, ended up having a big or two i would have used at kansas when they were seniors. i think the east coast tends to get really packed with mid majors and that can make it a lot tougher, IMO region is generally more important than baseline. it probably varies by world, where the best mid major openings are.

Posted by gillispie1 on 5/11/2016 4:02:00 PM (view original):
memphis is B prestige, higher than any A10 school. i think that like, dayton, because old admin was a dayton fan, is like artificially boosted to something in that B range, and maybe gonzaga also? not sure. if colorado is down, any one of a handful of those MWC jobs can be fantastic openings.

i had great success recruiting quality players out of D baseline (D+ i think they all are actually? all the garbage schools?) san francisco. the west was pretty devoid of mid majors, was able to get some ridiculous bigs, i wasn't even trying to coach there, i was trying to run an experiment. seble had changed an aspect of the game without really telling us, and i kept getting burned by it, and i had to figure it out for sure. so i just recruited to not ghost ship, ended up having a big or two i would have used at kansas when they were seniors. i think the east coast tends to get really packed with mid majors and that can make it a lot tougher, IMO region is generally more important than baseline. it probably varies by world, where the best mid major openings are.

Northern cal might be one of the best non major spots, few non major schools there rarely more than a couple of coaches as well. you have stanford and cal taking all the good prospects all you really have to deal with is Fresno State and maybe USC coming up north. Still leaves the PNW too especially if Zaga is empty too.

Looking specifically at the C-USA it's really only UTEP that is in a ****** spot, at best you get the best NM/AZ recruits and any western TX guys assuming the MWC mids are empty and Zona/ASU/TTU suck.

But then you have Tulane, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, UAB, UCF all really good spots. Memphis, USM, Marshall and ECU are average spots

A-10 has the 3 Philly schools(each really good on their own, but tougher when all taken. Xavier/Charlotte/STL probably the best, although Xavier is hampered by a strong Cincy/Louisville and human Dayton. GWU and Richmond seem okay, GWU probably solid with weak MD and G-Town. RI. Umass nice up north especially weak ivy. IDK billy can talk about the Bonnies(you have buffaloe and rochestor. and Cleveland nearby better than it looks i guess) Charlotte looks really good.

Seems A-10 is more dependant on having multiple weak schools where as C-USA is mainly a SEC rival(which is generally one of the weaker Big 6 conferences. Also a bit more spreadout compared to A-10 which really has only around 2/3 schools that doesn't have to fret about conference mates

1. So what conference would be 4th if a10, CUSA, and MWC are 1-3 in some order?
2. In a world in which all three are powerful, what would that do to the balance of power/is that possible?

Posted by therewas47 on 5/11/2016 5:03:00 PM (view original):
1. So what conference would be 4th if a10, CUSA, and MWC are 1-3 in some order?
2. In a world in which all three are powerful, what would that do to the balance of power/is that possible?

IVY/Summit probably just depending which power conferences are weaker.

I can't check right now, but I can later to see which world has the most midmajor conferences pretty strong, I don't think enough are full to have those 3 all really strong or close enough to make a difference without a concentrated effort made by elite coaches. And without those elite coaches I don't think it would make a difference even if you got some above average coaches because of how much disadvantage they are at.

I did alright with Marquette - depending on what you call alright... but I left for a C prestige Florida

Posted by dacj501 on 5/11/2016 6:49:00 PM (view original):
I did alright with Marquette - depending on what you call alright... but I left for a C prestige Florida

yes, lets listen to the guy who thought leaving Florida for Buttgers was a good move

Posted by the0nlyis on 5/11/2016 7:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dacj501 on 5/11/2016 6:49:00 PM (view original):
I did alright with Marquette - depending on what you call alright... but I left for a C prestige Florida

yes, lets listen to the guy who thought leaving Florida for Buttgers was a good move

my Phelan career is a joke

Posted by the0nlyis on 5/11/2016 5:24:00 PM (view original):

Posted by therewas47 on 5/11/2016 5:03:00 PM (view original):
1. So what conference would be 4th if a10, CUSA, and MWC are 1-3 in some order?
2. In a world in which all three are powerful, what would that do to the balance of power/is that possible?

IVY/Summit probably just depending which power conferences are weaker.

I can't check right now, but I can later to see which world has the most midmajor conferences pretty strong, I don't think enough are full to have those 3 all really strong or close enough to make a difference without a concentrated effort made by elite coaches. And without those elite coaches I don't think it would make a difference even if you got some above average coaches because of how much disadvantage they are at.

Do the Ivy or Summit have schools above a baseline of D? I thought the MWC, CUSA and A10 were the only ones who have teams above D.