In an era where mid-major college basketball programs have supposedly gained more respect nationally, take a wild guess at how many of these programs are one of the 25 in this week’s ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll. That’s right, none.

It continues to be a hypocritical bible-system that nationally ranked head coaches worship, which includes the theory of ‘we won’t go play them because they are good enough to beat us, but I can’t use my vote for this nobody.’

The NCAA Tournament always has teams distinguish themselves not as mid-major programs, but as nationally respected powers. However, should it take until March before we realize the respect these schools should get and then turn around and forget about them come next January?

To the coaches not voting for these schools, I got news for you.

They play basketball at Gonzaga, Southern Illinois, Creighton, Pepperdine, UNC-Charlotte and Vermont. And by the way, they tend to do it quite well.

Gonzaga just got embarrassed by Illinois in the John Wooden Classic in Indianapolis, but head coach Mark Few has lost four starters. But he will have his team solid, come time for the Bulldogs’ West Coast Conference schedule.

In that schedule, few will see a Pepperdine team that may be the best team on the west coast. Yes, that includes traditional powers Arizona, Stanford and UCLA. Besides having the most beautiful campus in the free world in Malibu, Calif., the Waves use its home-court advantage to defeat the 2004 Big Ten Tournament champion Wisconsin last week.

Creighton has already knocked off a Big Ten opponent (Ohio State) and a Big 12 NCAA Tournament representative (Missouri) on the road. For its effort, the coaches’ poll rewarded the Blue Jays with 26 points, whatever that means.

Missouri Valley Conference favorite Southern Illinois has already beat Vanderbilt by 15 and is off to a 4-0 start.

I’m convinced nobody in this newsroom knows what conference Vermont plays in or what its nickname is (America East Conference and the Catamounts). Not that we are stupid in our sports department, but the national media tell us not to pay attention. However, in the Green Mountain State, they have a first-round draft pick who could be the next Larry Bird once he graduates in Taylor Coppenrath.

The senior forward is averaging 24 points per game and is shooting 56 percent from the floor. Coppenrath led Vermont in scoring at the conference tournament last year after breaking his shooting hand the week before. Not a problem, the pre-season conference player of the year shot 14 of 19 from the field and 14 of 15 from the line scoring a career high 43 with his other hand. Not impressed? Go to the Rec and try it.

The Catamounts might have been in the poll if they beat then-number one ranked Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in the season opener. Vermont led the entire game, losing in the final minute 68-61, but the had the ‘Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk’ faithful saying to themselves ‘I thought we were playing Vermont’.

So here’s my mandate for big-time college basketball coaches in this country: if you’re not willing to play a team because you’re worried about losing the game and, eventually, your job, it would make sense to cast your ballot for that same team instead of stuffing the ballots with teams from the big conferences.