CHICAGO -- In October, I talked with Iowa State coach Greg McDermott, who was about to begin his first season guiding the Cyclones. In the previous five he had worked at Northern Iowa, which plays in the Missouri Valley Conference, and in the previous three of those, he had led the Panthers to the NCAA tournament.

Naturally, the conversation touched on the differences between a conference labeled a mid-major, as the MVC is, and one labeled a major, such as the Big 12, Iowa State's home. "Some of these mid-majors aren't really mid-majors," McDermott insisted, and he clearly had the perspective.

"If you visit Omaha, Neb., where Creighton is, or Wichita, Kan., or Bradley, those are basketball towns and they've made commitments to their programs that some major schools would be envious of. There's such a broad range of mid-major schools that you could almost create a separation among mid-majors."

Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery, in fact, disputes MVC's mid-major status.

"We claim we're a major conference and I think it's clear that we are," he said. "We've been consistent the last five years [going to the NCAA tournament each time] and now the league is, too. We don't always have to talk about ourselves in recruiting anymore.

"That's an advantage leagues like the ACC and the Big Ten have always had. They just say, 'You're going to play so-and-so.' Now we can say, 'You're going to play against Wichita State.' "

Illinois State coach Porter Moser made the same point after the Redbirds completed their non-conference schedule. Illinois State is 8-4, and Moser sounded mildly disappointed because of what the Redbirds now face.

"Eighteen of our next 19 games are in the Valley, and every one of them is going to be a tough, tough game," he said.

So here, alive and simmering like a stew, is an issue first broached in the spring when the MVC placed four teams in the tournament -- the same number as the Atlantic Coast Conference -- and Bradley and Wichita State advanced to the Sweet 16, which was two more schools than the Big Ten got out of the first weekend.

With the success of the Missouri Valley and unheralded George Mason in March, the dreaded "P" word was all the rage. That word, parity, is still the rage and the reason that labels are now more anachronistic than ever. McDermott's observation confirmed that, and so did the streak run off by Wichita State, which on consecutive weekends won at George Mason, at then-No. 6 LSU, at then-No. 14 Syracuse and at Wyoming.

On top of that there were these other goodies you may have missed: Oral Roberts of the Mid-Continent won at Kansas. Butler of the Horizon defeated Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Tennessee and Gonzaga, but then lost to Indiana State (another MVC team).

Wofford of the Southern Conference won at Cincinnati. Old Dominion of the Colonial Athletic won at Georgetown. And Drexel, also of the CAA, won at Villanova Dec. 9 and at Syracuse 10 days later.