Mid Major Top 25 Week 11
Bracket Buster's Mid Major Top 25 Week 9 on 01/15/24.
All rankings below are updated as of 01/15/24.
There was a lot of notable movement among both power schools and mid-majors. We saw Houston go from undefeated to taking back-to-back losses. We saw the Mountain West cannibalize itself as Colorado State took two losses, Boise State is on a hot streak, while Utah State is the new leader and Nevada and San Diego State are right behind. Drake got dismantled by Belmont, in which they then beat Indiana State in Des Moines. “High Major” Saint Joseph’s is now 0-3 in the A10, along side early A10 favorites Duquesne. Eastern Kentucky is 8-9 overall, but they are 4-0 in conference and sit atop the A-Sun. That’s not even close to all notable happenings among the world of college basketball.
As for our Mid Major Top 25 rankings, which seemingly is becoming just a ranking of the Mountain West schools now that Boise State has also entered the picture, there was plenty of movement as well. This includes a couple teams dropping out of the rankings, and our first familiar face to the rankings that has re-entered after being left off for several weeks. Let’s dive into this week’s rankings:
Shifts in the Top 10
Memphis remains at number one this week as they helped off SMU at home in a game that might be one of the best in their conference this season and dropping 100 points on Wichita State just moments before writing this piece. The Tigers have a real shot at seeing themselves in the Top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll this coming week.
There was some shifting as the Mountain West conference continues to eat one another. Utah State is our new #2 as they moved to 4-0 in conference after securing some impressive wins over Colorado State, Wyoming, UNLV, and Air Force. Overall, on the season, the Aggies sit at 16-1 with their only loss coming to a solid Bradley team that now sits at 12-6 on the season.
Colorado State fell to #5 after playing a gauntlet of a start to their Mountain West conference play. They took losses to Utah State and Boise State, which both should be ranked in the Top 25 of the AP Poll next week.
New Mexico jumped into the Top 10 to #8 after knocking off an impressive San Diego State team. Dayton leap frogged Indiana State as the Sycamores took a loss to Drake at Des Moines and Dayton continues to stay undefeated in conference play with wins over Duquesne & UMass.
Meanwhile, early cinderella story favorites James Madison, plummeted to #15 after taking another loss in conference to Appalachian State 59-55. It looks like the Dukes will now have to secure an automatic bid to the big dance by winning their conference tournament as their at-large bid chances have virtually evaporated.
Newcomers and the Fallen
Boise State has opened Mountain West play on fire. The Broncos are 3-0 with wins over San Jose State, #17 Colorado State, and Nevada. With that they immediately jump to #18 on our Top 25 rankings. We’ve been keeping an eye on Boise State for quite and while and there is just no denying how impressive their start has been in conference play. They are currently sitting at #44 in the NET Rankings and #50 in the KenPom. I’m not for sure if they will be ranking in next week’s AP poll, but I believe they should be. However, we’ve seen the voters continue to put in teams like Texas into the Top 25 who suffered an abysmal loss to West Virginia this week. No promise on the Broncos making it this week.
Richmond is another team that we have been keeping an eye on for quite some time. The Spiders have opened A-10 play 3-0 with wins over St Bonaventure, Loyola, and George Mason. Richmond’s had a bit of an up-and-down season with losses to Boston College, #18 Colorado, Wichita State, Northern Iowa, and Florida. None of those are a bad loss, however, you might be able to make the argument that you need to beat Wichita State and Northern Iowa despite both games being on the road. The Spiders are now 11-5 on the season and sit at #82 in the NET Rankings and #94 in the KenPom. Where they stand, they most likely won’t qualify for an at-large bid, so they are going to have to continue to go on a run in the A-10.
You might recognize UC Irvine as the first team that has ever returned to Bracket Buster’s Top 25 Mid Major rankings. The Anteaters are now 5-0 in the Big West Conference and have defeated UC Riverside, Bakersfield, Fullerton, UC Davis, and Hawaii. The Anteaters had a slight skid when they lose to Duquesne, Utah State, and #25 San Diego State all in a row. However, looking at their full season so far, outside of those 3 losses, they’ve lost to San Jose State and New Mexico. That means they had 4 losses to Mountain West teams, one to an A-10 team. They also currently sit as the only Big West school with an AP Top 25 win when they defeated #16 USC early in the season. Thanks to the hot start in conference play, they are currently sitting at #71 in the NET Rankings and #71 in the Ken Pom. The Anteaters should be the favorites to win their conference and return to the NCAA Tournament.
A couple of teams that have been on the rankings all year have officially fallen off in Liberty and Saint Joseph’s.
For Saint Joseph’s, you could not have asked for a worse start to the A-10 play. They are 0-3 in conference after losing to Rhode Island, Saint Louis, and Loyola which are all three teams that were picked to finish in the middle to lower end of the A-10. All of this comes after head coach Billy Lange classified Saint Joseph’s as “not a mid-major”. Anyway, moving on.
Liberty has also had a disappointing opening to Conference USA play with losses to Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State. The flames have now fallen to #100 in the NET Rankings and #95 in the KenPom. It looks like Western Kentucky might be the new favorites to win the Conference USA.
The last team to fall out was the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. The Bonnies are now 1-2 in the A-10 with losses to Richmond and Fordham. They are still right on the cusp for us in our rankings, so like UC Irvine, there is a great chance that we see the Bonnies back in the Top 25. They still sit at #84 in the NET Rankings & #78 in the KenPom. If they can turn it around quick and beat the low schools they need to, they will be right ack into it.
Notable Movement:
Utah State #5 -> #2
New Mexico #11 -> #8
James Madison #9 -> #15
Boise State NR -> #18
Richmond NR -> #20
Dropped Out:
Saint Joseph’s
St Bonaventure
Liberty
On the Bubble:
Southern Illinois
Akron
St Bonaventure
Weber St
Western Kentucky
Winthrop
Santa Clara
Previous Rankings: