Are there any "mid majors" anymore?

I had a great little post written that I intended to roll out about how much I was starting to think Cuonzo Martin of Missouri State would make a great hire.  Then, before I could even get the damn thing out he goes and takes the job at Tennessee, a program facing sanctions from the NCAA for the past transgressions of former coach Bruce Pearl.  That being said, I have my doubts Martin was going to get an interview as all reports seem to indicate that Mizzou's first choice is current Purdue head man Matt Painter.  While that still seems a bit strange to me, apparently Painter has expressed interest in leaving the school he played for and assisted under his mentor, Gene Keady.  It seems that there may be some friction between Painter and athletic director Morgan Burke.  So, although I don't know that I consider Painter to be the home run hire that some do, I have to remember that I don't really follow basketball closely enough to be any sort of authority on who Mike Alden should or shouldn't hire.

One guy I do know that suddenly hit the lottery yesterday is VCU coach Shaka Smart, as his rams pulled off yet another upset, beating top seeded kansas 71-61 in a game that really wasn't as close as the score indicated.  His team now will meet last years Cinderella, Butler in one semifinal game next weekend with the winner playing against the winner of Kentucky/UConn for the national championship.  We've had these so called "mid majors" getting close and frankly, I kind of hope one of them wins it all this year.  With so many good players around now, and so many good young coaches, there's no reason one of these upstarts shouldn't bring home the hardware.  Smart or Butler head coach Brad Stevens would both look good cutting down the nets as far as I'm concerned.

On the other side of the bracket, we've got the Huskies of UConn, coached by Jim Calhoun facing Kentucky and their head man John Calipari going at each other.  The best part of this match up is one of the cocksuckers is going down.  As far as I'm concerned, they're 2 of the biggest reasons to cheer for the underdogs, along with ku coach Bill Self and Carolina's Roy Williams.
So the coaching search continues and if we don't hear anything by Wednesday or Thursday, it's likely we won't hear anything until the final 4 ends.  There's an unwritten rule about teams doing anything to take the spotlight away from the 4 teams in the championship round.  I probably should care more about the upcoming hire, but I can't say that I do right now.  I do know that I hope we see a coach standing on a stepladder a week from tonight that makes America say, "Who the hell is that guy?" 
If you'd like to get some stories on Missouri from some pretty darned good journalists, I'm attempting to consolidate some daily to keep you informed.  I'll be adding a Big XII section as well as serious news as well as the bizarre.  Drop by my website and head to "Current Events" to catch the thoughts of Mike and Gabe DeArmond, Bryan Burwell, Dave Matter and others.