Mid-Major Minutes: June 2

Good morning! If you’re reading this, you’re clearly starting your day off right with an effort to better yourself by becoming more educated about the goings-on in the mid-major world.

In a landscape so dominated by the biggest schools and conferences, it’s quite hard to winnow down the information you want and need to hear about your favorite mid-major programs.

Thankfully, Mid-Major Madness is here to aggregate the news and links for you, providing you with a brand-new, daily post about the world of mid-major hoops. Here’s hoping you find this new series enriching and beneficial. If you don’t, don’t tell me. Just let me have this, okay??

#Content to Read

Kyle Wiltjer brags on Gonzaga fans (The Slipper Still Fits)

The guy who went from playing for one of college basketball’s bluebloods to playing for the sport’s best mid-major team took the time to tell Darnay Tripp that the Zags have the best fans in the country. This could be seen by some Kentucky fans as a slight, and I’m sure they’ll tell you that the former Wildcat is flat-out wrong on this.

PK80 brackets revealed (Mid-Major Madness — shameless, I know)

The brackets for what could potentially be the best regular season college basketball tournament ever were released, and they’re giving us some fun Nike-on-Nike matchups. Portland, Portland State (you’ve got to admire Knight’s loyalty to the state of Oregon), and Gonzaga are all in the field.

Some very early Mid-Major rankings (Mid-Major Madness)

Our voters, a.k.a. us writers that spend all day arguing about GAP v. Express in the team Slack, compiled our early 2017 rankings for mid-major teams. Take a guess as to who number one is. (Actually, you might be shocked at how some of the votes fell.)

BYU pulled a recruiting switcheroo (Vanquish the Foe)

The Cougars are continuing their legacy of going after superb shooters, adding three-star guard Trevin Knell. As Vanquish the Foe’s Robby McCombs detailed:

Knell had originally signed with Cal in November, but obtained a release from his National Letter of Intent after former Cal Head Coach Cuonzo Martin left for Missouri. He quickly scheduled a visit to BYU after obtaining his release.

Jacob Wiley’s difficult path through adversity (CBS Sports)

Matt Norlander wrote a lengthy piece about Eastern Washington’s Jacob Wiley and the hardships he has encountered on his road to basketball success. A single snippet from this article doesn’t do the piece justice, but it’s a harrowing story that is most definitely worth the read.

Grading offseason moves for New York teams (New York Post)

Zach Braziller gave his grades to various New York-area teams for their offseason moves. Manhattan, Iona, Hofstra, Columbia, and Fordham are all teams that were evaluated for their spring roster moves.

BYU and UMass are headed to Brooklyn (Vanquish the Foe)

The Barclay’s Center Classic has finalized this season’s field, and both BYU and UMass will be participating. Minnesota and Alabama will also be taking part in the event.

3 Mid-Major players who shouldn’t have gone pro (CBS Sports)

Another Matt Norlander piece finds its way in here, as he discussed 10 players who are staying in the NBA Draft but probably should have just stayed in college. Three of the players he mentions are mid-major guys (Nigel Williams-Goss, Eric Mika, and Marcus Keene). Only time will tell who is correct here.

Samir Doughty is leaving VCU (NBC Sports’ College Basketball Talk)

After spending only one season as a Ram, Doughty has decided to seek out another school to play basketball for. His decision to transfer is another key loss for a program that already lost its successful head coach Will Wade to LSU earlier in the year.

Kobe Paras signs with Cal State Northridge (CSUN Athletics)

The former Creighton guard has decided to transfer to Cal State Northridge, where he will play in 2018. He was introduced at a press conference.

Adam Silver reconsidering the “one-and-done” rule (SLAM)

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver appeared on Colin Cowherd’s show to discuss the league he runs, and the one-and-done rule naturally came up. Silver went into great length in discussing the rule and the possible steps the league might take in regards to it.

Tweets of Interest

Some alarming Adam Silver comments

We did a Periscope!

Dayton’s hard at work with renovations

I think Lunardi is cooking up a bracket already