The ALL-American conference

The days of small college athletic conferences seem numbered. The Pac-10 is becoming 12, the Big Ten (which actually has 11 schools) is expanding.

In the age of conference cannibalism the mid-majors should position themselves for survival, and join forces.

Conference USA is vulnerable. It's already been raided once by the Big East. If the major conferences try for mega-expansion, C-USA looks ripe for the picking again.

Out west, the Western Athletic Conference is a dead conference walking. On the verge of a coup, adding BYU in non-football sports, the Mountain West stole Nevada and Fresno State leaving it for dead.

This week the WAC membership committee will hear from the first of several schools looking to move up from I-AA to I-A. That's one option to survive.

Instead of trying to nurture new I-AA schools the WAC should set sail and push full throttle the radical idea of creating a true ALL-American conference, with teams from the Carolina coast to Hawaii and everywhere in between.

An 18-team mid-major conference would be a power player in the college landscape, able to leverage big TV deals and possibly able to negotiate a seat at the BCS table.

Here's how the true C-USA could work. There would be two separate 9-team divisions, basically a split down the Mississippi River.

The "Pacific Division" would include the Texas schools west: Hawaii, San Jose State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, UTEP, SMU, Rice, Houston.

The "Atlantic Division" would be every school to the east: Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, So. Miss, UAB, Memphis, Marshall, East Carolina, UCF.

Do the math and the farthest schools would have to travel out west is probably Houston to Honolulu. In the east, it's Tulsa to Greenville, NC. That true east-west split will help cut down travel costs, something that hurt the first mega-conference, the 16-team WAC.

Each division crowns its own champion through playing eight other schools. Then the only cross-over between east and west would be for the championship game, which could rotate between favorite bowl locations including Hawaii and Orlando.

That intra-division play, would set up a dynamic title game. Much like the rumors swirling now about C-USA and the Mountain West setting up a championship showdown, the true C-USA would pit two of the best mid-majors against each other on that final weekend.

That meaningful championship would give the schools one last shot to impress voters, which matters.

College football is all about big money and the BCS. And a true USA conference would not only survive but could thrive in today's game.

The Pac-1?

If you happen to glance at any March Madness bracket projections, you're sure to notice at least one thing. The premiere basketball conference in the West is absent.

The Pac-10 is dreadful this year.

Entering Saturday's games there was a glut of teams boasting a 6-4 record, all tied for first place. So is it possible the Pac-10 could have just one entry in the field of 64?

It's possible, but not probable.

I can't see the Pac-10 receiving fewer bids than the WCC (likely Gonzaga, St. Mary's), especially since the trend has been away from mid-majors getting at-large bids. Middling power teams like Arizona and Minnesota grabbed the final spots last year.

Currently, Cal is the clear favorite, Arizona's surge gives them life (having made 25 straight NCAA tournaments they could get a sympathy bid) and Washington, who briefly cracked the top-10, is sneaking back into consideration.

Rather than breakdown who could make the dance, the better question is why is the conference so down?

The answer is clear if you look at the last few NBA drafts. The league has been decimated by early entries into the pro-ranks.

The past two seasons, eight athletes from Pac-10 teams have been lottery picks. That's likely unprecedented.

USC's O.J. Mayo lead the 2008 class which also saw UCLA's Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love be selected in the top five. Arizona State's James Harden headed the '09 group which saw another five early entrants get drafted.

It's hard to recover when a league loses 21 players to the NBA in two years, 14 of whom left school early.

Imagine if Stanford still had the Lopez brothers; UCLA was starting the likes of Love, Westbrook and Jrue Holiday; USC still had Mayo, Taj Gibson and DeMar DeRozan and Arizona had Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill for their senior years?

The conference would be the deepest in the country, while devouring itself in league play.

That's happening again this year, but teams are being consumed by mediocracy. I don't expect that to last for long.

On the Bubble: Mid-Majors

The countdown to Selection Sunday is on!

Less than five weeks away to NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the regular season is setting up for a dramatic finish. Still, there’s lots of basketball left and the biggest thing for any team is to keep winning.

That rings especially true for teams sitting on the Bubble. FPS will break down bubble teams in the coming weeks and make predictions if they’ll make the field or not. A good place to start is with a deep field of mid-major’s that could grab 25 percent of the at-large selections.

Punched Ticket Already: Memphis, Butler, Xavier, Drake, St. Mary’s, Gonzaga

On the Bubble…

Rhode Island (20-4) [A10] – The Rams boast nonconference wins over Syracuse and Providence and remain in the top 25 in RPI. Overall strength of schedule (SOS) is mediocre; Rhode Island avoided disaster in Fordham and should finish the year with at least 25 wins. Verdict: Rams get in, easily

Dayton (16-6) [A10] – The Flyers were a clear NCAA team before being hampered by injuries. They beat Louisville and Pitt out of the conference during a 14-1 start. RPI and SOS remain in the top 25, but Dayton is flirting with dangerous slope in the Atlantic-10 standings (4-5). Verdict: Flyers will make the field

UMass (15-8) [A10] – The Minutemen appear to be on solid ground when looking at RPI (24) and SOS (9). UMass has defeated Syracuse, BC, Houston, but got swept by St. Joe’s and lost to A10 leader Xavier recently. Verdict: UMass needs at least 20 wins to be the A10’s fourth team, they have the inside track

Saint Joseph’s (15-7) [A10] – Saint Joe's is currently tied with Rhode Island for second in the A10. Four of the Hawks seven losses were “quality,” two in overtime (Gonzaga and Creighton) and two more in the final-possession (Syracuse and Holy Cross). The Hawks cannot afford to go 4-3 in their final seven games. Verdict: Hawks may need to get to the conference finals…tentatively out

Charlotte (14-8) [A10] – The 49ers are the A10 dark horse to make the field, but the pressure is off them. RPI and SOS are mediocre at best; boast wins over Clemson, Wake Forest, Davidson and Southern Illinois. Charlotte must finish in the top four in the league. Verdict: Niners must get at least 20 wins and make the semis of the A10 tourney…to be determined, a complete wildcard

George Mason (17-7) [CAA] – Cinderella from two season’s ago is back, hoping to burst someone else’s bubble. The Patriots get another shot at Colonial leading VCU soon. GMU defeated a healthy Dayton squad, Kansas State and South Carolina, but have an unpretentious RPI and SOS. Verdict: If the Pats define themselves as the clear No. 2 in the CAA, a little love gets them in

Ohio (16-7) [MAC] – Ohio is a perfect bubble team. The Bobcats beat Maryland and St. John’s on the road, but got smashed by Kansas and lost to MAC bottom feeder Eastern Michigan. Inconsistent play has hurt, but Ohio has a real chance to improve its status with upcoming games against Kent State, Akron and George Mason. Verdict: RPI/SOS will be too much to overcome, bubble burst alert

Creighton (17-6) [MVC] – Hit a rough patch losing three in a row, but the Bluejays are a tournament favorite. Wins over DePaul, Nebraska and Saint Joe’s are respectable as is their RPI and SOS. Winner’s of three in a row, Creighton needs to finish strong. Verdict: Bluejays sneak into the field of 65

UNLV (18-5) [MWC] – The Rebels are a paper tiger. They have slightly better than their main Mountain West competition (BYU) on-paper, but nonconference losses to San Diego, UCSB and Arizona are easily forgotten. Best win, a 29-point drubbing of Brigham. Verdict: no chance for at-large bid, must win MWC tourney in Vegas

Brigham Young (18-5) [MWC] – The Cougars graced the AP top 25 for several weeks early in the season. Solid RPI and decent SOS paired with competitive losses to North Carolina and Michigan State has them in good shape for an at-large bid. Most importantly BYU has won six in a row. Verdict: Cougs will be a testy first-round opponent, stealing an at-large bid

Where do the mid’s really belong?

NCAA basketball is heading toward a frantic conclusion. Some teams will rise and lots will see bursting bubbles.

For everything that’s unsettled in the final month of the season, one thing is guaranteed; mid-majors will continue to occupy top 25 ranks. Get ready teams from those “minor” conferences will dramatically affect Selection Sunday, and rightfully so.

From George Mason's Final Four run in 2006 to Gonzaga's run in 1999, year-in-and-year-out mid-major's are among the best teams in the country. Unlike perennial powerhouses there’s high turnover of which teams return, but one or two squads have consistently made deep runs in March.

Currently, Memphis from lowly Conference USA is the only undefeated team in college basketball and is ranked No. 1 in both polls. One could argue the Tigers have moved to high-major status, but it doesn’t change the fact they also occupy the No. 2 spot in R.P.I. rankings.

The Ratings Percentage Index (R.P.I.) measures a team’s strength based on winning percentage and is normally a good indicator of how team’s stack up. As of today, one-third of the top 30 teams are from mid-major conferences. Seven of the 10 are rated in the top 25.

The resurgent Atlantic-10 conference leads the pack with four teams: Xavier (11), Dayton (17), Rhode Island (25) and UMass (26). The Flyers, Rams and Musketeers were all ranked in the AP top 25 in the same week, marking the first time that’s occurred for the A-10 since 2003. The A-10 is just adding to an extensive list of mid’s to crack the top 25 including Bulter who’s been ranked for 12-straight weeks, Gonzaga and St. Mary’s from the West Coast and Southern Illinois and Drake from the Missouri Valley.

Mid-major's deserve top consideration. And the quality of teams forms a list that ought to gobble up more of the field of 64 than ever.