High Point’s Flynn Clayman Offers Must-See Defense of Mid-Majors Amid March Madness Discourse

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament would be nothing without the presence of mid-majors. This is intuitive to all fans, most coaches and quite a few administrators.

It was the influential minority who detests their presence in the name of 21st-century greed that High Point coach Flynn Clayman addressed after beating Wisconsin Thursday. Almost as soon as the Panthers finished off the Badgers 83–82, Clayman took aim at mid-majors’ critics—citing his team’s win and Miami (Ohio)’s victory over SMU Wednesday in the First Four as proof they belonged.

“It looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors during the season because they said we ain’t played nobody. We played somebody now,” Clayman said.

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Indeed, High Point went 30–4 in the regular season against a schedule entirely lacking in high-major opponents. The Panthers played an Atlantic 10 team (La Salle) and two Missouri Valley teams (Illinois-Chicago and Southern Illinois), taking two of three with a loss to the Salukis.

It was a problem similar to that of the RedHawks, who had a similarly difficult time finding high-major takers this season. The closest brand Miami (Ohio) played to a major-conference team was a dreadful Air Force squad that finished 3–29. Which is to say, they didn’t find a single Power 5 team willing to schedule them this year.

“I knew how good of a team we had. But nobody would play us,” Clayman said. “Just like they wouldn’t play Miami (Ohio). But they gotta play us in this tournament.”

The last high-major High Point played was Purdue in last year’s NCAA tournament, a team the Panthers gave a decent scare before bowing out 75–63. The last high-major High Point played in the regular season was Georgia in Dec. 2023—and the Panthers lost just 66–58.

On Thursday, it didn’t look good for High Point in the early going. The Panthers briefly trailed by double digits, and at multiple points in the second half Wisconsin looked posed to pull away.

High Point kept at it, however. The hero was guard Chase Johnston, who had not hit a single two-point field goal all season before a go-ahead layup in the closing seconds. To that, he added a 35-foot three point field goal in the second half—the most impressive shot of the tournament so far.

Next up for the Panthers? The winner of Arkansas’s game against Hawaii, against whom High Point will attempt to double its all-time number of conference tournament wins.

The Redhawks may be this tournament’s most well-known mid-major, but if Clayman and friends have anything to say about it, they’ll have to share the spotlight.

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