In college basketball right now, mid-majors are at the height of fashion. BracketBusters has become a much hyped event on ESPN. The No. 11, 13, 14, and 15 ranked teams in the Associated Press Top 25 are from outside the six major conferences. After making his most recent 'bracketology' selections for ESPN.com, columnist Joe Lunardi had to defend his choice to leave Old Dominion out of his projected bracket in favor of a number of major conference teams. At this point, I think it may be worth looking at whether the high popular opinion of mid-major teams has gone too far.

First, we have to understand how we got to this point, and that means the discussion has to begin with the forefather of all power mid-majors: the Gonzaga Bulldogs. When Gonzaga reached the Elite Eight in 1999 as a 10-seed, they were just another lovable Cinderella team, known mainly for being John Stockton's alma mater. But then they made the Sweet Sixteen again in 2000, still as a 10-seed, and made it for the third straight year in 2001, this time from a 12-seed. After that, it was impossible not to take the Bulldogs seriously as a basketball power, but one team does not make a trend. Instead, Gonzaga essentially became an honorary major conference team. They became nationally ranked, their games went onto national TV, their players were allowed to be seriously considered as All-American and NBA Draft candidates and they were granted high seeds in the NCAA Tournament. At this point, Gonzaga pretty much agreed to stop overachieving and everybody was happy.

The status quo lasted until last season when seven teams from the Missouri Valley and Colonial conferences had strong at-large resumes. The selection committee compromised, choosing Wichita State, Bradley, Northern Iowa, and George Mason but leaving out Missouri State, Creighton and Hofstra. On CBS' selection show, analyst Billy Packer questioned the worthiness of the mid-major teams and the rest, as they say, is history. Bradley and Wichita State made the Sweet Sixteen and George Mason made the Final Four. Along the way, the trio combined to take seven major conference scalps: Connecticut, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Michigan State and Seton Hall. Seven big wins are hard to ignore.

That mentality is governing 2006-07, giving impressive mid-majors the benefit of the doubt. For example, Butler rose into the polls by winning the Preseason NIT, defeating Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga in the process. An impressive streak, definitely, but two things stand out. First, Butler benefited by being the first of several teams to expose those opponents: none of the four are in the current Top 25. Secondly, those wins came in November. In 2007, Butler has played only three games against teams in the RPI Top 100. They lost to Southern Illinois at home, and split a pair of games with Wright State. Butler is a good team, but it is far from clear they deserve a protected (top four) seed.

Southern Illinois has also had mixed results against big teams. They have early-season losses to Arkansas and Indiana, and posted only one major out of conference win against Virginia Tech. The positive for the Salukis is that, unlike Butler, they are playing their best basketball of the season right now. They are currently on a nine-game winning streak, including four road wins against Top 100 opponents. But those games were against Missouri Valley opposition, and there is still a question of how impressive that is.

This season the league may be living off its reputation. Missouri State ambushed Wisconsin early in the season, but was unable to duplicate that success against either Oklahoma State or Winthrop'and both of those games were at home. Bradley lost both out of conference games against Top 50 opponents, and one of those was a 29-point decision at Michigan State. Even Creighton, who is second in the conference, lacks a single marquee out of conference win (unless you count Xavier, which around here we of course do not). Likewise, the four Colonial teams combined for only two big out of conference wins. By giving these conferences so much more attention this year, we are essentially letting seven games last March outweigh 20 to 30 games of regular season evidence over the past two years.

Due to last season's NCAA tournament, mid-major teams have attained the 'so underrated they're overrated' status that happens sometimes in sports. Last year, people looking for an upset in their bracket could pick the top teams in those conferences. But this year, as the best mid-majors have entered the national spotlight, you might be wise to find an upset in the teams playing against them. It already happened to Gonzaga.