Great Midwest Conference

The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference that existed from 1991 to 1995.

History

It was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State (now Memphis) from the Metro Conference, UAB from the Sun Belt Conference, Marquette and Saint Louis from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League), and independent DePaul. Dayton joined in 1993. Cleveland State and Detroit-Mercy had some interest from coaches, while Louisville and Tulane were heavily favored by athletic directors.

In 1995, six of the schools in the Great Midwest (except for Dayton, who joined the Atlantic 10 Conference) joined with UNC Charlotte, Louisville, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, and South Florida of the Metro and Houston of the dissolving Southwest Conference and formed Conference USA.

Chronological timeline

• 1990 – The Great Midwest Conference was founded. Charter members included the University of Cincinnati and Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) from the Metro Conference, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) from the Sun Belt Conference, Marquette University and Saint Louis University from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League), and D-I Independent DePaul University, effective beginning the 1990–91 academic year.
• 1993 – University of Dayton joined the Great Midwest, effective in the 1993–94 academic year.
• 1995 – The Great Midwest ceased operations as an athletic conference, effective after the 1994–95 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, effective beginning the 1995–96 academic year: Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Memphis, Saint Louis and UAB joined with the Metro Conference schools to form Conference USA, while Dayton joined the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10).

Member schools

Final members

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Joined	Left	Subsequent conference(s)	Current conference
Template:Sort	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819	Public	41,357	Bearcats	1991	1995	CUSA (1995–2005) original Big East (2005–2013) The American (2013–2023)	Big 12 (2023–present)
Template:Sort	Dayton, Ohio	1850	Catholic (Marianists)	11,186	Flyers	1993	1995	Atlantic 10 (A-10) (1995–present)
DePaul University	Chicago, Illinois	1898	Catholic (Vicentian)	24,966	Blue Demons	1991	1995	CUSA (1995–2005) original Big East (2005–2013)	Big East (2013–present)
Marquette University	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	1881	Catholic (Jesuit)	12,002	Golden Eagles	1991	1995	CUSA (1995–2005) original Big East (2005–13)	Big East (2013–present)
Template:Sort	Memphis, Tennessee	1912	Public	22,365	Tigers	1991	1995	CUSA (1995–2013)	The American (2013–present)
Saint Louis University	St. Louis, Missouri	1818	Catholic (Jesuit)	13,785	Billikens	1991	1995	CUSA (1995–2005)	Atlantic 10 (A-10) (2005–present)
Template:Sort * (UAB)	Birmingham, Alabama	1936	Public	17,999	Blazers	1991	1995	CUSA (1995–2023)	The American (2023–present)

Notes

• Dayton and Saint Louis are in the Atlantic 10 Conference
• Following the July 2013 split of the original Big East Conference into two leagues, DePaul and Marquette moved to the new, non-football conference that retained the Big East name, while Cincinnati remained in the football-sponsoring former conference, now named the American Athletic Conference.
• At the time of the Big East split, Memphis moved from CUSA to The American.

Membership timeline

<timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1991 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)

         id:line value:black
         id:bg value:white

         id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
         id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
         id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
         id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
         id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
         id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two

PlotData=

 width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

 bar:1 color:FullxF  from:1991 till:1995 text:Cincinnati (1991–1995)
 bar:1 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA
 bar:1 color:OtherC2  from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East (1st)
 bar:1 color:OtherC1  from:2013 till:2023 text:American
 bar:1 color:OtherC2  from:2023 till:end text:Big 12

 bar:2 color:FullxF  from:1991 till:1995 text:DePaul (1991-1995)
 bar:2 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA
 bar:2 color:OtherC2  from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East (1st)
 bar:2 color:OtherC1  from:2013 till:end text:Big East

 bar:3 color:FullxF  from:1991 till:1995 text:Marquette (1991-1995)
 bar:3 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:end text:C-USA
 bar:3 color:OtherC2  from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East (1st)
 bar:3 color:OtherC1  from:2013 till:end text:Big East

 bar:4 color:FullxF  from:1991 till:1995 text:Memphis (1991-1995)
 bar:4 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:2013 text:C-USA
 bar:4 color:OtherC2  from:2013 till:end text:American

 bar:5 color:FullxF  from:1991 till:1995 text:Saint Louis (1991-1995)
 bar:5 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA
 bar:5 color:OtherC2  from:2005 till:end text:Atlantic 10

 bar:6 color:FullxF  from:1991 till:1995 text:UAB (1991-1995)
 bar:6 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:2023 text:C-USA
 bar:6 color:OtherC2  from:2023 till:end text:American

 bar:7 shift:(-40) color:FullxF  from:1993 till:1995 text:Dayton (1993-1995)
 bar:7 color:OtherC1  from:1995 till:end text:Atlantic 10

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1991

TextData =

          fontsize:L
          textcolor:black
          pos:(300,30) # tabs:(0-center)
          text:"Great Midwest Conference Membership History"

</timeline>

Championships

The following were the locations of the GMC men's basketball tournament.

• 1992: Chicago Stadium; Chicago, Illinois
• 1993: The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
• 1994: Shoemaker Center; Cincinnati, Ohio
• 1995: Bradley Center; Milwaukee, Wisconsin

See also

• Great Midwest Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year