Top 25 Mid-Majors: Dayton Flies to the Top
A wild week in college hoops: Dayton stuns Marquette, Memphis rebounds, and Arkansas State stages an epic comeback. Dive into mid-major updates.
The college basketball slate during the start of finals weeks for many colleges often leaves us with some lackluster games, however, this week did not disappoint. Dayton and Memphis picked up some key AP Top 25 wins, Arkansas State completed an incredible comeback over UAB to keep their momentum going, UC Irvine and Loyola Chicago both suffered their first losses, and the San Francisco Dons are assembling a possible three-bid WCC resume. Let’s dive in!
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We have a new number one team, the Dayton Flyers! The Flyers took down No. 6 Marquette on Saturday 71-63. This is the second Top 10 AP win for Dayton so far this season with the other being over No. 2 UConn. The Flyers are now 9-2 with their only two losses being to No. 12 North Carolina and No. 5 Iowa State. Against non-power conference schools, they are holding opponents to an average of just 60 points per game. In KenPom, the Flyers are now ranked 26th and 23rd in the NET Rankings. The Flyers were robbed of a special season from Covid, but this might be the year that Dayton fans find some revenge.
The top five this week was arguably the most difficult to rank thus far in the season. All five have an argument to sit in the top spot, but ultimately, we had to bump Saint Mary’s down after their 67-65 loss to Boise State. This wasn’t a bad loss at all as Boise State has been in our top five at one point in time and the Broncos have assembled a nice resume as well with a statement win over Clemson. The Gaels are still sitting at 33rd in KenPom and 43rd in the NET with a 2-2 record across Quad 1 & 2.
Memphis slots in at No. 2 this week after knocking off No. 16 Clemson 87-82. This was a nice bounce back win after falling to Arkansas State previously 85-72. Which we’ll get into the why here shortly, but the Red Wolves are once again a Top 25 Mid-Major this week. The Tigers are now 8-2 on the season with their only two losses being to the best team in college basketball in Auburn and a solid Arkansas State team. They sit at 34th in KenPom and 33rd in the NET with an incredible 4-1 Quad 1 record, which is the second most behind Auburn at the current moment.
San Francisco jumped up to No. 7 this week after handing Loyola Chicago their first loss of the season on Sunday at the MKE Tip off. The Dons are now 9-2 and in the midst of a five-game winning streak. Malik Thomas dropped 35 points against the Ramblers to lead the Dons to a 76-66 win. Their only two losses this season are to Memphis and Clemson, both AP Top 25 teams. The Dons are up to 53rd in KenPom and 52nd in the NET with a perfect 7-0 record against Quad 2-4 teams. The WCC is strong enough this season to earn three bids to the NCAA Tournament and San Francisco is looking like the team that could earn that third spot behind Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga.
UC Irvine was handed their first loss of the season by a tough Oregon State team, 67-55. It was a rough shooting performance for the Anteaters where they finished just 37% of their shots overall and a measly 30% from deep. Justin Hohn was the only player to finish with double-digit points at ten. Oregon State is quietly 7-2 on the season and SIUE transfer Damarco Minor had 19 points in this game. The Beavers only two losses came against Oregon 78-75 and North Texas 58-55, so this is a team that is just two possessions away from being 9-0 on the season. Not a bad loss for UC Irvine who would still have a chance for an at-large bid come March if they lost in the Big West Championship.
The St. Bonaventure Bonnies are now 10-1 on the season and have extended their winning streak to four games after knocking off Providence 74-70 this past weekend. Melvin Council Jr finished with 24 points, while Chance Moore posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Bonnies are 82nd in KenPom and 53rd in the NET with a 9-0 record in Quad 2-4 games. The A-10 is positioning itself for a potential three-bid season, and the Bonnies being a bit of a surprise this season is helping the cause.
Arkansas State is back in our Top 25 rankings this week after sweeping their two games against UT Arlington and UAB this week. I mentioned last week that they were at about 26th in last week’s rankings, so I was thrilled to see the Red Wolves pull it off this week. It looked bleak in the first half against UAB where the Blazers were up 53-28 at halftime. However, the Red Wolves bounced back and outscored UAB 56-31 in the second half to force overtime where Arkansas State cruised to a 98-89 win. They are now 9-3 on the season with a four game winning streak including that notable 13-point win over Memphis. The Red Wolves are currently 108th in KenPom and 114th in the NET. They already have two Quad 3 losses to Rice and Hofstra which really sticks out on their resume, but if they keep the hot hand going there’s always that slim chance they nab an at-large bid if needed. I certainly wouldn’t complain about a two-bid Sun Belt.
UC San Diego is in the middle of a seven game winning streak after starting off 2-0 in conference with wins over UC Santa Barbara and Bakersfield. The Tritons are now 9-2 and are sitting at a sneaky 78th in the KenPom and 72nd in the NET with a 7-1 record across Quad 2-4 games. The casual basketball fan probably isn’t fully aware of the potential of this team, but the Big West could actually be a two-bid league this year if both UC San Diego and UC Irvine where to end up battling it out in the championship this season. Key emphasis on the “could” as we saw what happened to Indiana State last season. The Tritons rank 84th in offensive efficiency and 89th in defensive efficiency while ranking 20th in the country in opponent field goal percentage. This is a potent defense in San Diego. Make sure to mark January 11th on your calendar as the two powerhouses on the west coast will go to battle in what will be an all out defensive battle (UC Irvine sits at 5th in defensive efficiency).
Notable Movement
Dayton - #5 → #1
San Francisco - #10 → #7
Arkansas State - NR → #19
Dropped Out
Saint Joseph’s
On the Bubble
Columbia
Belmont
North Dakota State
Samford
Murray State