Overview
- Following NCAA Tournament wins by High Point and VCU and a First Four victory by Miami (Ohio), mid‑major coaches renewed claims that quality nonconference games are hard to secure and that metrics punish them.
- FOIA‑based reporting from Extra Points showed Miami (Ohio) sought Power‑conference opponents but failed to finalize games, reinforcing concerns about access to Quad‑1 opportunities.
- Purdue’s Matt Painter rejected the idea that high‑majors avoid strong mid‑majors, noting Purdue’s regular games against top MAC teams and calling NET‑driven scheduling a necessity.
- Alabama’s Nate Oats said his program turns down only opponents that would count as weak Quad 4 games, questioning mid‑majors that scheduled multiple non‑Division I foes.
- Independent scheduling tallies indicated many elite programs rarely face Top‑100 mid‑majors, underscoring the disconnect between mid‑major access complaints and high‑major metric strategies.