Detroit 15 seed

[agibson]

Put another way, the Horizon League has 19 NCAA Tournament victories since 2003 and 15 of them belong to Butler. With the Bulldogs, the H League rates as the second-best non-BCS league in the country by NCAA Tournament performance.

Surprising!  Riffing through it quickly myself, I see the A10 edging us out.  CUSA clearly above (e.g. Memphis), with Horizon w/ Butler in third.

Without Butler,  I have us in a three-way tie for eighth with the WAC and MAAC (!).  But, I could easily have made some mistakes in my quick tally.

I don't usually think too much about CUSA - they're above the red line!  So's the Mountain West.  But, yes, without Butler, the Valley would have us beat.  And the WCC (Gonazaga), and the CAA (George Mason, VCU).  And we'd be keeping company with e.g. the MAAC and WAC.

I would, admittedly, prefer to be keeping company with the A10, MVC, WCC, and CAA rather than with the WAC and MAAC.

It would, of course, hurt to lose Butler.

[dylanrocks]

Taken directly from our board (you're correct: sans Butler, the H League would tie the MAC and WAC for eighth among BCS leagues, but C-USA hasn't really been relevant since Calipari bolted for Kentucky). We also talk often there about what constitutes a major, mid-major and low-major and I have to say that the lines are currently as blurred as ever, rendering the label "mid-major" completely useless.

Here's an update of how non-BCS conferences have fared in the NCAA tournament since the 2002-03 season. This includes victories only by current conference members and doesn't include wins registered in the play-in game (through Sunday).

1, Atlantic 10 (23)
Xavier 14, St. Joe's 3, Richmond 2, Dayton, George Washington, St. Louis, Temple

2, Horizon (19)
Butler 15, Milwaukee 3, Cleveland State

3, C-USA (17)
Memphis 13, UAB 3, Tulsa

4, West Coast (16)
Gonzaga 10, BYU 3, St. Mary's 2, San Diego

5, Colonial (12)
VCU 6, George Mason 5, Old Dominion

6, Missouri Valley (10)
Southern Illinois 3, Bradley 2, Northern Iowa 2, Wichita State 2, Creighton

7, Mountain West (7)
UNLV 3, New Mexico 2, San Diego State 2

8 (tie), Mid-American (4)
Ohio 3, Central Michigan

8 (tie), WAC (4)
Nevada 4 (to Mountain West in 2012-13)

10 (tie), Metro Atlantic (3)
Siena 2, Manhattan

10 (tie), Ohio Valley (3)
Murray State 2, Morehead State

10 (tie), Patriot (3)
Bucknell 2, Lehigh

10 (tie), Southern (3)
Davidson 3

10 (tie), Sun Belt (3)
Western Kentucky 3

15 (tie), Big West (2)
Pacific 2

15 (tie), Ivy League (2)
Cornell 2

17 (tie), America East (1)
Vermont

17 (tie), Big Sky (1)
Montana

17 (tie), Big South (1)
Winthrop

17 (tie), MEAC (1)
Norfolk State

17 (tie), Southland (1)
Northwestern State

[agibson]

This includes victories only by current conference members and doesn't include wins registered in the play-in game (through Sunday).

Ah, good.  We used somewhat different methodologies.  That makes me feel better about our slightly different results.