Mid Major Top 25 Week 12
Bracket Buster's Mid Major Top 25 Week 9 on 01/22/24.
All rankings below are updated as of 01/22/24.
We saw a pretty wild week for Mid-Majors across the country. The Mountain West, which we discussed in detail in our latest Bracket Buster Podcast episode here, has continued to cannibalize with a Wyoming win over Nevada and a near UNLV win over Colorado State. All while Boise State defeated San Diego State. Western Carolina lost to a 9-9 Furman team with a 151 NET Ranking. Memphis suffered a loss to South Florida while at home and then lost to Tulane on the road. This is only scratching the surface.
Movement in the Top 25 rankings
You’ll immediately notice that Boise State jumped from #18 to #11 in this week’s rankings after their 67-66 win over San Diego State. The Broncos are now 4-1 in conference play with wins over #17 Colorado State, Nevada, and San Diego State. They have now jumped up to #51 in the NET Rankings and #53 in the Ken Pom. They are helping keep the dreams of a six-bid Mountain West conference alive right now, but Nevada’s loss to Wyoming sure isn’t helping that dream. You’ll note that the Wolf Pack has dropped from the Top-10 to #17 because of their three-game skid with losses to Boise State, San Diego State, and Wyoming. Rough stretch for the Wolf Pack which has seen their NET Ranking drop to 56 and their KenPom to 52. I’m sure most bracketologists will have them on the bubble now or on the last four in.
The Southern Conference’s hope for a two-bid league was crushed with Western Carolina’s loss at Furman. The Catamounts trailed by ten at half after shooting below 35% in the first half. They came back with force in the second half to tie it and keep the gaming going back and forth throughout the remainder of the game. DJ Campbell hit a dagger of a three with just seconds left to tie the game. However, JP Pegues followed up with a dagger of his own hitting a three with the shot clock expiring to give Furman the 65-62 win. It was a great basketball game, however, prior to this Furman’s NET Ranking was just 151. A brutal loss to top off a brutal week for Western Carolina which saw they also drop a heartbreaker to Samford 75-71 earlier in the week. The Catamount’s NET Ranking has dropped to 106, keeping the Southern Conference at a one-bid league this season.
Bradley has entered the ring again after having not been ranked in our Top-25 since their 5-game skid in December. The Braves started off the year 6-0 and were receiving AP votes, but they proceeded to lose 5 straight and now they’d turned it around again and have now won 8 in a row to set their record at 14-5. Connor Hickman is shooting lights out right now, averaging over 16 points in their last seven games. Senior Duke Deen has posted less than double digits points in just 5 games this season. Over his last three, he is averaging 22 points a game, including a 25/7/3 performance in their 95-72 win over Belmont. The Braves’ have raised their NET Ranking to 63 and their KenPom to 75. Their resurgence could help elevate the Missouri Valley to a two-bid conference if they keep up and Indiana State and Drake continue dominating their games. For this reason, the Bradley Braves have re-entered our Top 25 Rankings.
The MAC has had an up-and-down year, but Akron has seized the league after their 6-0 start in conference play. They have raised their NET Ranking to #85 and their Ken Pom currently sits at #93. Next closest MAC team in the KenPom? Toledo at 147. Rough year for the MAC, but that shouldn’t takeaway from what the Zips have done this season. Akron is currently 14-4, but their four losses are very impressive. They lost to Utah State who is now ranked and one of the best mid-majors in the country 65-62, UNLV of the same Mountain West conference 72-70, and Saint Bonaventure of the A-10 who has been featured in our Top 25 rankings 62-51. That’s three out of their four losses by three or less points. Their other loss was to Drake 79-59, but Drake is an excellent team that has the capability to blow out opponents. They just beat their Missouri Valley counterpart Evansville by nearly 50 this weekend. The Zips are led by Enrique Freeman who is posting 18.6-12.9/1.4/1/1.7 on average a game. That’s complemented by Ali Ali who’s averaging 16.5/3.3/2.6 a game. This has helped lead them to the #39 overall effective field goal percentage in the entire country. This is an excellent Akron team that has the capability of doing some damage in March.
Grand Canyon dropped down to #10 following their 86-79 loss to Seattle University. In the game, Grand Canyon had just six bench points. Tough loss considering Gabe McGlothan dropped 28 points and Tyon Grant-Foster 25 points. The Lopes are still 17-2 on the season and have a #49 NET Ranking to go along with a #61 Ken Pom. Their drop in our Top-25 is more about the strong showings from the other Top-10 schools that outweigh their second loss of the season. Grand Canyon, Drake, and Indiana State are all at an equal level in my opinion and the Lopes have a great chance to climb back up in the rankings as the Mountain West continues to eat itself.
Well, I’m now coming back on Sunday evening to add to this article because Memphis decided to lose to Tulane and FAU decided to go to overtime against UT San Antonio, all while Murray State gave a scare to Indiana State. I guess this is why you shouldn’t write your Top 25 for the week before all the games finish on Sunday.
Memphis oh Memphis, they built quite the resume to turn around and lose to both South Florida and Tulane in the same week both by one possession. Is this the end for ranked Memphis? Probably not, but they need to look in the mirror. Tulane is a very solid mid-major and Ron Hunter has done some great work for the Green Wave to build that program. This isn’t the worst loss in the world, the Green Wave are 12-6 on the season and have beat some impressive teams. Looking at their losses, they lost to Bradley by 3, George Mason by 3, and FAU by 1. NET Ranking wise, they sit at 110, so not the loss you want for Memphis, but it’s also not the end of the world. However, the problem lies at losing two games back-to-back in your mid-major conference to over 100 NET teams when you want to claim and have the status of those in the Power conferences. Memphis has some soul searching to do in the rest of conference play because this is the season to do so if they want to climb back into the Sweet 16. Unfortunately, we do have to move them from #1 down to #3, but if they rebound, they’ll be back at the one spot.
Notable Movement:
Nevada #7 -> #17
Grand Canyon #6 -> #10
Boise State #18 -> #11
Akron NR -> #23
Bradley NR -> #25
Dropped Out:
George Mason
Western Carolina
On the Bubble:
St Bonaventure
UNC Greensboro
Western Kentucky
Winthrop
Santa Clara
Drexel
Loyola Chicago