Notebook | Gonzaga, Western Kentucky aren't interested in "mid-major" label

PORTLAND — Hold that thought. Don't you dare use the description "mid-major" around either of the schools playing in the nightcap of the NCAA sub-regional here today.

To Gonzaga coach Mark Few, the adjective has long been like fingernails on a chalkboard. And his program has the evidence to refute that pigeonhole, going to 11 straight NCAA tournaments.

Ken McDonald, first-year coach at Western Kentucky, would prefer you do your research, too, before slapping that tag on his program.

"I guess you have to, because of the conference you're affiliated with," he sighed Friday. "But we're not a mid-major by any stretch of the imagination."

And he's right. The Hilltoppers have been to 21 NCAA tournaments. That's more than schools like California, Florida, Providence, USC and Wisconsin (all 15 appearances) and Washington (14).

"You don't have 21 [NCAA] tournaments and get that label," said McDonald. "I think of it as kind of a slap in the face. There's so many things we're proud about, and that's not one of them."

WKU also has won 40 conference championships, third only to Kansas and Kentucky.

The school was first put on the map by one of history's coaching giants — Ed Diddle, who was head man at WKU for 42 years from 1922-1964, winning 759 games.

This year's conference Ratings Percentage Index numbers suggest mid-major is a term best suited to leagues, not programs. The West Coast Conference was 15th in the computer rankings, the Sun Belt 17th, and given there are 31 Division I leagues, that's about as middling as you can get.

Diddle went to his second NCAA tournament in 1960, and since then, WKU has never been out of the field for more than six years. Lately, it's been a steppingstone job to the Southeastern Conference, as Dennis Felton left for Georgia several years ago, and last year, Darrin Horn opted out for South Carolina.

McDonald, 38, is a former assistant to Rick Barnes at Clemson and Texas and worked for Felton for six years, five at WKU, before succeeding Horn.

Gonzaga and Western Kentucky have met only once — early last season, when Gonzaga nosed out a 74-71 victory in the Great Alaska Shootout. That was a Western team that had first-round NBA pick Courtney Lee at guard, and it went to the Sweet 16 with wins over Drake and San Diego.

Gonzaga staffers say there isn't much carry-over stylistically from those Hilltoppers to these. Other than winning, that is.

"We play a little basketball down at WKU," said McDonald. "We have a lot of pride."

In his job interview, the name Gonzaga came up, as a model of how to sustain success. So the two programs want to be like each other: Western in being a consistent NCAA-tournament player, Gonzaga in developing a deeper history.

Note

• Few, making reference to close, competitive games involving heavily favored Memphis and Pittsburgh, said, "I think probably the solution to all of this is for the committee not to assign public seeds, because I think it really tends to confuse the masses. The coaches know you're facing really, really good teams in this tournament."

First-year coach at Western Kentucky on his Hilltoppers being called a mid-major team