Bradley and Wichita State may have been Cinderellas, but George Mason has become the center of attention at this year’s dance.

The Patriots’ come-from-behind victory against Connecticut marks the second time in NCAA tournament history that an 11 seed reached the Final Four.

But there’s a difference between the past 11 seed that accomplished this feat and the current underdogs. The team that found itself making headlines more than 20 years ago was Louisiana State — a team from one of the most power conferences in the nation, the SEC.

But the Patriots may have had the hardest road to Indianapolis out of the four remaining teams. The school from the nation’s capital had to beat three former NCAA champions in Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn so far.

George Mason’s story has accomplished more than just captivating audiences across the nation though. It has given mid-majors a respect that has never been known.

This year marked the first time in Northern Illinois history that the men’s basketball team beat both a Big East and Big 12 opponent.

NIU isn’t alone; a multitude of other mid-majors have proved the little guys can put up a fight, or even beat the big dogs.

The recent victories of these schools over power schools expose a general trend in college basketball.

Fifteen years ago the difference between the mid-majors and power conferences was as clear as the division between the governments of Soviet Russia and the United States.

As times have changed, walls have been broken down and governments have fallen. College basketball has changed with the times, and the general trend facing this institution is the leveling of the playing field.

Major conferences have seen their pool of talent shrink as more players decide to leave college early to enter the professional leagues, thus ending the monopoly these schools had over the mid-majors for years.

Then there’s the international factor. Basketball has quickly become a world sport. Need proof? The United States won bronze in the 2004 summer Olympics.

Mid-major schools have no problem using these foreign players, as many international players play a selfless, team-centered version of basketball — something not all American players do.

These two trends have helped to slowly erode the disparity between the mid-major and power conferences.

A fork in the road now stands for teams in major conferences in college basketball.

They can choose to continue to ignore the underdogs during the regular season and wait until March to have their tournament dreams busted.

That, or these power schools will have to face the fact their out-of-conference schedules might have to make a few more stops to schools in the middle of corn fields.

NIU basketball is a member of the new generation of college basketball.

In the past years the Huskies have strengthened their schedule and shown they have the personality, the heart and the talent to beat the big-time opponents.

The time is now for NIU to start calling those once invincible powers of basketball and asking them for our chance to prove that we, too, are ready to prove the power of the mid-majors.