Every season, a so-called “mid-major” school does its best to break free from that restrictive label and compete with the game’s elite programs. This season, that school is Old Dominion.

At 23-3, with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of 27 that ranks them ahead of, among others, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Texas, and Florida, coach Blaine Taylor and his Monarchs have done all they can to validate their talent and stake their claim to a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Yet despite all those wins (St. Joseph’s, East Carolina, TCU, and Kent State are among this season’s victims), Old Dominion has to face reality as the season winds into the madness of March. If the Monarchs don’t win the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, that Big Dance invitation isn’t likely to come.

Such is the bane of a mid-major program.

In basketball parlance, the mid-major is a Division I school that doesn’t play in one of the six power conferences. Operating in a sort of limbo, the mid-major is seldom able to rise above its status due to a modest budget that hinders its ability to pay coaches and recruit top talent.

Worse, if a mid-major enjoys some measure of success against teams on its own level, it becomes a victim of that success. Upper-level teams won’t dare play an upstart like Old Dominion on its home court for fear of an embarrassing loss. Quality opponents are therefore hard to come by, forcing mid-majors to play non-Division I schools just to fill out their schedule.

Ultimately, mid-majors are seldom able to build the sort of resume that might impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The RPI, which rates a team’s worthiness based on its strength of schedule and its opponent’s strength of schedule, becomes the mid-major’s enemy. Unable to play enough quality teams, a good team from a weak conference can’t possibly build the sort of RPI numbers that impress the selection committee.

That’s why Old Dominion’s accomplishments stand out. With a record of 6-2 versus teams in the RPI Top 100 – another of the measuring sticks the NCAA uses to determine a team’s tournament worthiness – the Monarchs have performed admirably against a schedule that was as strong as Taylor could make it. Should they be penalized because their schedule wasn’t stronger?

Perhaps they won’t, thanks to the NCAA’s recent tweaking of the RPI formula. Joe Lunardi, who has spent years studying the tournament selection process and served as ESPN’s resident “bracketologist,” thinks the Monarchs have a chance at the Dance, even if they slip up in their conference tournament.

“Both the newly weighted RPI, which emphasizes road performance, and the weaker-than usual seasons by the SEC and Big Ten are opening additional spots this year for the so-called mid-majors,” Lunardi told me. “We are going to see one or more regular season champions in the NCAAs who do not win their conference tournaments. I put Old Dominion solidly in this group.”

That’s good news, because it would be a shame if America didn’t get a chance to see this gritty team take a shot at an ACC or Big East school. Taylor has intelligently assembled the Monarchs, Taylor, successfully setting his team apart from the legions of other mid-majors by recruiting internationally. Old Dominion has players from Australia, Africa, Lithuania, and Canada on its roster.

The Aussie, 6-foot-9 junior Alex Laughton, is the Monarch’s answer to Utah’s Andrew Bogut. Like his countryman Bogut, Laughton is a big man with a wide range of skills. He leads ODU in scoring and rebounding, ranks second in steals, and he’s a good passer and shot blocker to boot.

Laughton gets help in the shot-blocking department from 6-foot-7 sophomore Arnaud Dahl, who hails from the Ivory Coast and leads the team with 45 rejections. Defense is Old Dominion’s calling card; the Monarchs are holding their opponents to 40% shooting on the season.

In addition to that solid front line, Old Dominion gets good guard play from shooter Isaiah Hunter, the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.3 points per game, and point guard Drew Williamson, who has an eye-popping 4-1 assists to turnover ratio (122 assists, 30 turnovers).

On a team full of interesting stories, Taylor’s is as compelling as any. As head coach at Montana from 1991 to 1998, he produced a 142-65 record and took the Grizzlies to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT. In 1998, when his friend and former coach at Montana, Stanford’s Mike Montgomery, offered an assistant’s job, Taylor left for the Pac-10.

Was it a risk to leave a head-coaching job to become an assistant? Sure, but Taylor believed it was one worth taking, as the limitations at Montana had placed a ceiling on what he could accomplish.

After three years at Stanford, Taylor rejoined the head-coaching ranks at Old Dominion in 2001. He’s steadily improved the program, from 13-16 his first season to this year’s 23-3 breakout.

Surely, Taylor’s next stop will be as a head coach at a major-conference school. But until then, he’s having a great time coaching Old Dominion.

As for the Monarchs’ chances in the tournament, while their record shows success against the RPI Top 100, they haven’t played a Top 25 team this season. How would they project against a No. 2- or 3-seeded team in the NCAA tournament?

Two barometers would suggest they could hold their own: defense and Williamson’s sure-handedness at the point. In a survive-and-advance situation, keeping the score low and minimizing mistakes gives a less talented team a chance, meaning Old Dominion has as good a chance as any mid-major to make a noticable run through the tournament.

Remember these Monarchs when you fill out your tournament bracket.

Mr. Dortch is the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.