Top 25 Mid Majors: Saint Mary's Finishes No. 1
Saint Mary’s, VCU, and more—find out where your favorite mid-majors land in our final power rankings before March Madness begins!
It’s officially March and the madness is officially here. With conference tournaments starting this past Sunday, this will be our last ranking of the season. First of all, thank you all for tuning in throughout the season. It’s genuinely been an incredible season for Bracket Busters as we continue to grow and shatter previous view counts, subscriptions, etc.
This week saw some early March Madness as the Sun Belt finished with a four-way tie for first place, UC San Diego set a school record for their largest lead at halftime, Saint Mary’s extended their winning streak to seven games. Let’s dive into this season’s final rankings.
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The Saint Mary’s Gaels finish out the regular season as our number one team in the midst of a seven game winning streak. This week they took care of business against Loyola Marymount 58-55 and Oregon State 74-64. The Gaels finish the regular season 27-4 and 17-1 in the WCC which has them 19th in KenPom. The Gaels receive the largest bye for the WCC tournament and they won’t play again until Monday, March 10th. Congratulations on Saint Mary’s having an incredible season.
VCU took down Richmond and Davidson handedly this week, 78-60 and 80-56 respectfully. The Rams are in the middle of an eight game winning streak and will close out the season this week against Duquesne on the road and Dayton at home. The Rams are up to 29th in KenPom and are in the drivers seat within the A-10, however, George Mason is just one game behind in the standings. Pending anything crazy happening this week, the Rams should be claiming at the very least a share of the A-10 regular season title.
New Mexico split their games this week, taking a 73-65 loss to San Diego State on the road, but bouncing back against Air Force 92-71. The Lobos are 23-6 on the season and 15-3 in the Mountain West, good enough for first place with a one game lead over Colorado State. The Lobos are 40th in KenPom and will finish out the year against Nevada on the road and UNLV at home this week.
Memphis picked up an 84-72 win over Rice this week, as well as an 88-81 victory over UAB on Sunday. The Tigers are 24-5 on the season and 14-2 in the AAC as they enter their final week. They’ll finish out against UTSA on the road and South Florida at home. The Tigers are 18th in the AP poll and 47th in KenPom. They are cruising towards the NCAA Tournament and it’ll be fascinating to see how deep of a run they can make. This team has the potential to go to the Sweet 16 or even beyond, but whether or not that becomes realistic is up to them.
San Diego State picked up a couple wins against New Mexico 73-65 and Wyoming 72-69. The Aztecs cruised through February, finishing 6-2 to take their record to 20-7 on the season and 13-5 in conference. They’ll finish out this week against UNLV on the road and a visit from Nevada. The Aztecs have moved up to 41st in KenPom, once again thanks to their stout defense. The Aztecs defense continues to cause problems for other teams and that could bode well for a deep run from the Aztecs in the Big Dance this season. Keep your eyes peeled on the Aztecs as they finish out the regular season and gear up for the Mountain West tournament.
UC San Diego continues to fly through the Big West as they extended their winning streak to eleven games with wins over Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton. The Tritons set a new school record for largest lead in the first half when they were up 49-17 at halftime against Cal State Fullerton. The final score was a whopping 100-55. The Tritons are 35th in KenPom and look to finish out the year strong by taking down Long Beach State and UC Davis this week. Barring anything crazy happening, the Tritons will be dancing regardless of whether they win the Big West tournament.
Boise State is getting hot at the right time. The Broncos extended their winning streak to four games with an 82-65 win over Utah State and picking up a 66-61 road win over Fresno State. The Broncos are up to 21-8 on the season and 13-5 in the Mountain West, tied with San Diego State. They are up to 49th in KenPom and look like they have the potential to sneak their way into the NCAA Tournament. Keep your eyes posted on the Broncos this week as they look to finish out the regular season on a six game winning streak if they win out against Air Force and Colorado State.
The Drake Bulldogs finished up the last week of the regular season with a couple wins over Evansville and Missouri State. The Purple Aces gave the Bulldogs a scare, but couldn’t get over the hump. Missouri State ended up taking them to overtime, but scored just one point, allowing Drake to earn a 68-60 victory. They’ve been playing with fire, going to OT twice in the last two weeks, but they finish the year 27-3 and 17-3 in the Missouri Valley. The Bulldogs will be dancing and they are going to be a favorite pick for brackets in a few weeks.
Utah State has skidded a bit to finish out the year. The Aggies took a couple of losses this week against Boise State 82-65 and Colorado State 93-66. They are now just 2-3 in their last five games. They sit at 24-6 & 14-5 in the Mountain West with just one game left this week against Air Force at home. The Aggies are still 56th in KenPom, but they are starting to enter a nightmare scenario after having such an incredible season up until the last couple of weeks. They have to win this week as a loss to Air Force would be detrimental.
North Texas enters the top ten this week as they extending their winning streak to five games with a win over Florida Atlantic 71-61. The Mean Green still have three games left on their schedule, as they take on Wichita State and Charlotte this week, both at home. North Texas is 21-6 on the season and 12-3 in the AAC while sitting at 60th in KenPom. This is the type of team that could be sneaky if they are able to make it into the NCAA Tournament. If they can win their last three games of the season, we are going to have a narrative come Selection Sunday.
Looking at 11-15, George Mason split their games this week, taking down Fordham 74-64 and taking an 85-68 loss to Duquesne on the load. The Patriots have lost two out of their last three, but are still just one game out of first place behind VCU. They close out the year against La Salle at home and Richmond on the road.
Colorado State has been one of the hottest teams in the country and extending their winning streak to five games with wins over Air Force and Utah State. They dominated the Aggies as Nique Clifford dropped 26 points with six rebounds and nine assists. They are now 20-9 on the season, 14-4 in the Mountain West, just one game out of first. They’ll close out against San Jose State at home and Boise State on the road this week.
UC Irvine knocked off Cal State Fullerton 76-51and Long Beach State 70-60 this week, moving their winning streak up to three games. The Anteaters are 25-5 on the season and 15-3 in the Big West. They’ll close out against UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara, both on the road. They’ve fallen down to 71st in KenPom and will have to win the Big West Tournament to make the Big Dance.
High Point claimed their second consecutive Big South title this week while taking down South Carolina Upstate 88-66. They finished the regular season at 26-5 and 14-2 in the Big South, while on an eleven game winning streak. They have until Friday until they play again in the Big South Tournament.
San Francisco split their games this week, taking down Oregon State on the road 74-72 to complete the season sweep, but dropping a home game to Gonzaga 95-75. The Dons just couldn’t contain the Zags in the last game of the year, but they finish 23-8 on the season and 13-5 in the WCC.
Looking at 16-20, Liberty split their games this week, picking up a huge 59-55 win over Jacksonville State and dropping a five point loss to Kennesaw State at home 85-80. The Flames are 23-6 and 11-5 in the Conference USA as they close out the year against Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, both on the road. They are 67th in KenPom as they look to fight for the CUSA title this week.
Bradley finished out the Missouri Valley strong, taking down Valpo 76-65 and Northern Iowa 73-56 this week. The Braves finish 24-7 on the year and 15-5 in the Missouri Valley while winning six of their last seven games. Bradley will have the second seed in the Missouri Valley Tournament as Arch Madness kicks off this week.
Dayton picked up a couple of wins this week against Rhode Island and Richmond. The Flyers are now 4-1 in their last five games, however, they have a tough ask this week. They’ll take on Saint Louis at home and VCU on the road. The Flyers are 20-9 on the season and 10-6 in the A-10. They are 79th in KenPom and are going to have to win the A-10 tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament despite an impressive non-conference performance.
Yale split their games this week, dropping their first game in conference. The Bulldogs took down Dartmouth on the road 72-67, but lost to Harvard on the road 74-69. The Bulldogs are 19-7 on the season and 12-1 in the Ivy League, sitting at 73rd in KenPom. This is an ultra-dangerous team that could be a bracket buster this season. If you want to know why, check out our article here:
Lipscomb ended their regular season on a three game winning streak with wins over Austin Peay and Central Arkansas this week. They split the title for the A-Sun with North Alabama. The Bisons are 22-9 on the season and 14-4 in conference, good enough for 84th in KenPom. They’ll open up with their first game on the A-Sun Tournament today.
Rounding out the top 25, Santa Clara split their last week of the season, dropping a 95-76 game to Gonzaga, but finishing strong with a 97-66 win over Pacific. The Broncos finished the regular season 20-11 and 12-6 in the WCC, good enough for 55th in KenPom. The WCC has been incredible this season and the tournament is going to be must watch TV. You can catch Santa Clara in their first game on Sunday, March 9th.
McNeese extended their winning streak to eight games with wins over UT Rio Grande Valley and Lamar. They escaped a close one against Lamar, winning by two, 68-66. McNeese has been a hard team to grade all year. The metrics love them as they dropped a couple of close games to No. 2 Alabama by eight, South Dakota State by seven, Liberty by four, Santa Clara by seven, and No. 25 Mississippi State by three. However, they’ve had to narrowly escape games against Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Incarnate Word, SE Louisiana, and Lamar. I’m not saying they have to be perfect in the Southland because I always despise that logic, however, I’m more worried they could drop a game in the Southland tournament and be left out of the NCAA Tournament. Keep you eyes on them as they’ll wrap up their regular season against Stephen F Austin today.
Akron bounced back from their loss to Ohio last week, taking down Ball State 87-82 and Kent State 77-72. We did have to drop them this week, mostly due to the performance from other teams. The Zips are 23-6 and 15-1 in the MAC, where they sit at 101st in KenPom. The Zips could absolutely still be a bracket buster. They have the offense to do it, but I was hoping they could make it up to a 12-seed. However, I believe they’ll end up landing at a 13. The MAC tournament is going to be a blast to watch, but they still have two more games against Toledo and Buffalo this week.
Arkansas State finished out strong to make their way back into the top 25 this week. After scuffling a bit, they finished with a three game winning streak, good enough to nab a four-way slice for the Sun Belt regular season title. The Red Wolves finished the regular season 22-9 and 13-5 in conference, sitting at 87th in KenPom. They have a week to prep thanks to one of the coolest conference tournament brackets. They’ll take on a team in the semi-finals of the Sun Belt tournament on Saturday, March 8th.
Saint Joseph’s has also squeezed their way back into the top 25 rankings after firing off a four game winning streak and winning six of their last seven. This week, the Hawks took down St. Bonaventure and Fordham. Xzayvier Brown and Erik Reynolds II have put the team on their backs over the last several weeks to move them to 19-10 on the season and 10-6 in the A-10. They aren’t at the bubble, but it’ll be curious to see what a red hot Saint Joes team can do in the A-10 tournament. They’ll wrap up the regular season this week against Rhode Island and La Salle.
Notable Movement
Utah State - #3 → #9
Colorado State - #16 - #12
Dropped Out
Samford
Northern Iowa
On the Bubble
UNC Wilmington
Charleston
Utah Valley
Grand Canyon
Chattanooga