FanHouse Mid Majors

Congratulations Arizona, you are now a mid-major program. That is the only conclusion after Arizona canceled a home-and-home with North Carolina. Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood tried to put a happy-spin on the announcement, saying that it was a friendly agreement between Roy Williams between and Lute Olsen.

Livengood obviously didn't want the new coach to be burdened with an automatic loss next season. (Or any of that stuff you see in the picture on the right.) Now the troubled program is going to look to add "guarantee games" against lesser opponents, looking for some easy wins.

The only problem is, Arizona is more Washington Generals than they are Harlem Globetrotters right now. How low are they thinking of scheduling because many mid-major programs such as St. Mary's, Santa Clara, San Diego, BYU and Cal State would love to take a guarantee game to come to Arizona. Especially after that debacle against Alabama-Birmingham. You can already imagine Livengood trying to hook up a mid-major opponent in the future.

Admit it. Just once, you want to see this. You want to see some four-star prep hotshot, big enough to have his commitment decision broadcast live on ESPN, go through the usual bizarre tango of, say, putting on a Georgia cap, then saying, "Naah, just kidding" and whipping out a Florida State cap. The Seminole backers in attendance go wild, dreaming of the impact this kid will have once he sees the field in a year or two. They've got visions of conference crowns and a chance at a BCS title dancing in their heads.

The recruit picks up a pen, about to sign the letter of intent. The space between pen and paper shrinks down to a few nanometers as NolesFan4Life69 is already three paragraphs into the taunting post he's writing on a Georgia message board. You can practically see a drop of ink ready to flow onto the paper. Suddenly, the recruit stops. He sets down the pen, tosses the FSU cap over his shoulder and rips off his Nike windbreaker to reveal ... a William and Mary t-shirt.

"Everybody else wanted me," says the recruit. "William and Mary needed me. I'm ready to play now, not three years from now. And besides, William and Mary has a great history department."

Why? Why can't we see this just once?

To the winning the Big South Conference Tournament and freeing up one more at-large bid for a slew of bubble teams. The Winthrop Eagles beat UNC-Ashville 79-60 in their semi-final match. The Eagles actually were in a battle in the first half with Ashville, and only led by 4 at the half.

The second half was all Winthrop, as they simply outworked the Bulldogs on the boards. 17-3 offensive rebounding advantage was the reason. Neither team was that impressive in the game, but the extra opportunities for Winthrop.

Winthrop will face the Virginia Military Institute, which is a surprise. VMI was only 14-18, and 5-9 in the conference -- a 6 seed in the 8 team conference. VMI upset 3 seed Liberty in the opening round and then 2 seed High Point earlier this evening.

The Big South Championship game will be on Saturday afternoon at Winthrop.