SPOKANE, Wash. -- Mark Few hates the term, can't stand it, doesn't want to hear it and, quite frankly, doesn't understand why anyone would think Gonzaga is still a mid-major program.

"It's a very poor descriptor for college basketball and has nothing to do with describing the level of a team's play and everything to do with describing the capital campaigns of the university," the feisty Gonzaga coach said.

"I just laugh. If you're going to have a mid-major poll then you might as well have polls based on the color of the uniforms. It has nothing to do with who can put the best five guys on the court and play basketball. It's silly but everyone loves to jump on it."

	“	I just laugh. If you're going to have a mid-major poll then you might as well have polls based on the color of the uniforms. ... How many programs in the last 20 years have done what we have done? ”
		— Mark Few, Gonzaga head coach

He's right, but the problem is there has to be some sort of separation to breakdown the programs that do have the dough, the television exposures and the major conference cache from the teams and leagues that get their 15 minutes of fame for a game or two in March. But therein lies the problem, if you can even call it one, for Gonzaga.

The Bulldogs have crossed over into the mainstream by recruiting and signing top 100 players (Sean Mallon), producing a first-round NBA draft pick (Dan Dickau) and possibly more (Erroll Knight and Ronny Turiaf). Gonzaga is now a regular on the made-for-TV circuit, from getting into the final Great Eight event three years ago to the Great Alaska Shootout last season to a rare quadruple of high-profile games this season in the Maui Invitational (Utah and possibly Indiana in the first two games), Pete Newell Challenge (Stanford), the Delta Airlines Classic (Georgia) and the Jimmy V Classic (North Carolina State).

And, the Zags were in three straight Sweet 16s, including an Elite Eight, which will for the foreseeable future put them ahead of any bottom dwellers in high major conferences, let alone the majority of high-major teams.

"We're scheduling in all the major events and TV is the main thing," Few said. "How many programs in the last 20 years have done what we have done. Look at it any way you want, but the teams at the bottom of the mid-level or high-level football leagues would want to have done what we have.

"All everyone wants to focus on is the league, the facilities and how much money your league produces. What I say is, evaluate the program and what they have done."

Take out rival Pepperdine, which is trying to emulate what Gonzaga has done the past three seasons with an NCAA win over Indiana and regular-season wins over UCLA and USC, and the West Coast Conference is a mid-major conference. The facilities are mostly oversized gyms rather than arenas and hardly luxurious (outside of the new Craig Pavilion at the University of San Diego). The money pumped into the programs doesn't compare to a football playing conference.

Gonzaga, meanwhile, is building a brand new Kennel because they have outgrown the old barn. And, maybe, the Bulldogs will get new coaches' offices and locker rooms that don't have to be on equal footing with the cubicles for the rest of the sports at the quaint Jesuit school.

Gonzaga is clearly in the gray area. But, so too, are Tulsa and Hawaii and the rest of the WAC. An argument can be made that a number of programs in the Mountain West, the Atlantic 10 and certainly the MAC ride the fence, as well. There have been success stories in these leagues, like Tulsa's run to the Elite Eight in 2000; Massachusetts' Final Four in '96; Kent State's Elite Eight berth last season; and Utah's 1998 Final Four breakthrough.

But major Division I-A football, which is still a question for some schools in the WAC and MWC, seems to keep those schools out of the mid-major discussion. The lack of funds and a major television contract keeps the MAC schools in that category, too.

Some A-10 schools, like Xavier and Temple, clearly compete for some of the top talent in the nation. But others like Fordham and Duquesne of late would probably be more successful playing in a mid-major league like the MAAC. Take away the ESPN contract from the A-10 and a debate could surely rage as to where to place the Big East's little brother.

The Sun Belt (Western Kentucky), Big West (once former member UNLV's dominance ended in '92) and the Missouri Valley (Creighton and Southern Illinois of late) can't make a serious claim about leaping out of mid-major status. They don't have the television exposure, lack the big-time facilities and the overall funding to be categorized with, say, an SEC school.

The NCAA Tournament and regular season television games remain the great equalizer. So, far, Gonzaga is the only school to move up to high-major status without jumping to a high-level conference. But that won't stop the masses from still calling them a mid-major.

Few just won't listen.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.