I'm curious how it's decided what constitutes a major conference. According to the sportswriters I've seen, there were two "mid-majors" in the tourney--Butler and Southern Illinois, implying that the Missouri Valley and Horizon league are a step down from the Mountain West and Conference USA. I can only assume this is on some historical basis, because in its modern incarnation, Conference USA has only one good program. The Horizon League is probably as good. The last couple of years, the Missouri Valley has been very close to the six big conferences and better than the Mountain West. It seems to me that either you draw the line at the BCS conferences and consider anyone else a mid-major, or you include the Missouri Valley, Mountain West and maybe the WAC. I don't see how you can possibly consider Conference USA to be a major conference now that Louisville, Marquette and Cincinatti are gone.

it seems to me that a mid-major is any league that doesn't play D I-A football, with the possible exception of the Sun Belt and the MAC

and as long as you have Memphis in the C-USA, it won't be considered a mid-major