Mid-Major Madness in Week 9

Week 9 was a chaotic week for Mid-Majors across the board. Florida Atlantic and James Madison both took tough losses. The A10 is struggling. McNeese and Western Carolina continue to roll.

Conference play is officially in full force. With upsets across the board, ranked mid-majors taking losses and bracketologists trying to predict seedings three months out, college basketball is the driver’s seat. Let’s breakdown what happened in week nine.

Ranked Mid-Majors Suffer Tough Losses

Florida Atlantic has the most interesting resume in college basketball. After suffering a loss to Florida Gulf Coast, a couple of weeks ago, Florida Atlantic took yet another Quad 4 loss to Charlotte on Saturday. The Owls are now 3-2 in Quad 4 games, 2-1 in Quad 1 games, 3-1 in Quad 2 games, and 3-0 in Quad 3 games. On paper it’s a wild story that explains how difficult it is for ranked mid-majors to continue their hot streaks into conference play.

Florida Atlantic is still an excellent team with an impressive resume, but losing games to Charlotte and Florid Gulf Coast significantly affects their seeding in the tournament. However, perhaps it’ll be more beneficial in the long run. A higher seed in the tournament means they could see a more favorable match up if their team regains the momentum and can showcase their talent that took them to the Final Four last year. Regardless, the Owls can’t afford another slip up like this in conference play. If they take a loss to a ranked Memphis team, that’s forgivable, but any more Quad 4 losses and there’s going to be some interesting conversations among the March Madness committee.

James Madison also took a rough loss for their first loss of the season on Saturday against Southern Mississippi. Fortunately for them it does technically count as a Quad 3 loss, however, the Dukes are now 14-1 with just one Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins. I believe the AP top poll will remove James Madison from Week 10’s rankings, however, there is still a chance for an At-Large bid shall the Dukes not receive the auto-qualifying bid from the Sun Belt. That at-large resume will diminish if they lose another game in conference. This team cannot afford another slip up until they are in their conference tournament.

Colorado St took a 77-72 loss to Utah State on Saturday. The Mountain West is a blood bath this season in which some bracketologists are projecting the conference could see five bids come Selection Sunday. For the Rams, this is not a bad loss. With this win for Utah State, there is reason to believe that they will be ranked in the AP poll in Week 10. Colorado St now sits at 20 in the NET Rankings with a perfect record in Quad 3 & 4 wins, while Utah State sits at 26 also with a perfect record in Quad 3 & 4 wins.

A10 Struggles

There were many eyes on the Atlantic 10 this season believing that the conference could produce 3 bids or more in the NCAA Tournament this season. Dayton, Duquesne, Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure all had the potential to qualify for at-large bids. However, those chances are now looking bleak after just two conference games into the season. Duquesne is now 0-2 in conference after getting blown out by UMass and taking a loss to Loyola, while Saint Joseph’s is 0-1, St. Bonaventure is 1-1, and Dayton sits at 1-1.

Dayton should still be the pick to win the conference, however, George Mason is starting to make a name for itself in the conference. The Patriots are sitting at 13-2 on the season with their only two losses coming to a #17 Tennessee and a tough loss to Charlotte. However, with Charlotte knocking off a ranked Florida Atlantic team, that loss doesn’t look at bad on paper.

Unless something turns around for the A10, we are probably looking at two-bids at max and that’s going to be very generous from the committee. If I had to guess, that’d be contingent on Dayton not winning their tournament and securing an At-Large bid.

Fortunately, there is still time for the conference to turn it around as George Mason, Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, UMass, Duquesne, and Richmond all have NET Rankings under 100. Thanks to that, it’s not all doom and gloom for the A10, however, these teams are going to have to start feasting on the lower ranked teams to ensure that A10 can return to a multi-bid league.

Low-Major Teams Continue to Roll

Two of my favorite picks for 2024’s Cinderella story in the NCAA Tournament continued their hot streaks as McNeese opened their conference play with a win to move to 12-2 on the season, and Western Carolina defeated both The Citadel and Wofford this weak to start off 2-0 in the Southern conference.

McNeese is led by Shahada Wells who continues to dominate every game as he dropped 25 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the Cowboys’ 73-67 win over Texas A&M Commerce on Saturday. For the Western Carolina Catamounts, Vonterius Woolbright continued to post video game numbers with 22 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists against The Citadel, and 18 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists against Wofford.

Shahada Wells and Vonterius Woolbright are our picks for some of the most underrated Mid-Major players to watch. Both players are almost single-handedly putting their respective schools on the map. Any 3 or 4 seed come March Madness should be terrified to see McNeese or Western Carolina drawn as their match up.