Top Mid-Major Basketball Stories 2025: Year in Review Finale
Year in review finale: UC San Diego reaches NCAA Tournament, Drake upsets Missouri, Saint Mary's dominance continues. Top 5 mid-major stories revealed.
Welcome to our final day of our Top 25 Mid-Major basketball stories from 2025! It was nearly impossible to include everything that we wanted to, even when building a list of 25 different stories. However, these five stood out the most as they weren’t just popular across fans, creators, and supporters of traditional mid-majors and non-power conference programs.
These stories made national headlines, were discussed by some of the top broadcasters, podcasts, and those that cover traditionally power conference teams. It is stories like these that will continue to give the non-power conference programs and conferences chances to earn their spots in the spotlight.
Let’s dive in!
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1. UC San Diego’s incredible run
Our number one story of 2025 comes from the UC San Diego Tritons. The Tritons transitioned to Division I during the 2020-2021 season and in just five seasons they have grown into one of the premier non-power conference programs in the country. Last season, they finished 30-5 and reached the NCAA tournament as a 12-seed. They ran into a tough Michigan squad in the first round where they gave them a run for their money as they fell 68-65 in the first round. Ultimately, overcoming the two giants in Danny Wolf and was just too much.
Their lack of a run in the tournament shouldn’t overshadow what was one of the most dominant seasons in college basketball last year. They finished 39th in KenPom, and in the top-50 of many of the major statistical categories. Head Coach Erin Olen ultimately left to take the New Mexico job, however, new head coach Clint Allard hasn’t missed a step as the Tritons are 11-2 overall with their two losses being by six to Nevada and two to San Diego. Out of their 11 wins, seven have been to top-200 KenPom teams, so they haven’t played a cupcake schedule. Needless to say, it’s been quite the year for one of the fastest growing programs in collegiate athletics.
2. Chattanooga wins NIT Tournament
The Chattanooga Mocs were one of the best stories in college basketball last season. They finished the regular season on an eleven game winning streak, 23-8 overall, and looking like they could not only make the NCAA Tournament, but go on a run. Led by Frank Champion, Trey Bonham, Bash Wieland, and Honor Huff, the Mocs were a deep team.
They ultimately fell to Furman in the SoCon tournament, but headed to the NIT where they went on a run. They took down Middle Tennessee in a triple-overtime thriller, then Dayton by 15, Bradley, Loyola Chicago, and lined up to face one of the best defenses in the country in UC Irvine in the NIT Championship. For those of us that follow non-power conference basketball closely, we could not have asked for a better championship game. The Mocs and Anteaters went to overtime as Chattanooga ultimately won in a back-and-forth game. UC Irvine missed a tip-back as the Mocs prevailed 85-84 to win their first NIT Championships in program history.
3. The rise of Ben McCollum and Drake beating Mizzou
When Ben McCollum was hired in the offseason, most people thought that he’d have success at Drake, but it was nearly impossible to predict what he was going to do in just one season. After an incredible run in Division II, McCollum had been a popular name on the coaching carousel for years, but he waited for the right fit. He found that in the Drake Bulldogs and led them to a 31-4 record in year one.
The Bulldogs finished 52nd in KenPom, went to the NCAA Tournament and took down Missouri in the first round 67-57 before falling to Texas Tech in the Round of 32. They started 12-0 on the season before dropping back to back games in the MVC to UIC and Murray State. They ripped off a 15-1 streak over the last 16 games of the regular season then steamrolled their way through Arch Madness.
The rise of Ben McCollum and Bennett Stirtz led them to Iowa as they went from Division II to Iowa in just two years.
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4. Saint Mary’s Strong 2025 Showcase
The Saint Mary’s Gaels have been dominant the entire year of 2025. Since the turn of the calendar, they’ve lost just five games to San Francisco, Gonzaga, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Boise State. It’s hard to argue that what Randy Bennett has built is one of the most consistent, dominant non-power conference basketball programs in the entire country.
Last year, the Gaels were led by mostly seniors and veteran players in Augustas Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen. This season, they are young with Mikey Lewis, Paulius Murauskas, Andrew McKeever, and Joshua Dent that are leading the success in which none are seniors. They rank 31st in KenPom, sit at 14-2 overall, and they are well on their way to another NCAA Tournament appearance.
5. Nearly a Two-Bid Big West
We pushed this narrative hard, in fact it was our highest viewed post to date back in early March, but we were having legitimate conversations regarding whether or not we could have a two-bid Big West.
With the success of both UC Irvine and UC San Diego, both teams were in the top-70 of KenPom while UC San Diego was in the top-40. Unfortunately, UC Irvine suffered a couple of losses to Duquesne, UC Riverside, and CSUN that cost them some ground in their argument to secure an at-large bid. Looking back, I have doubts that the committee would have awarded UC San Diego with an at-large bid had the Anteaters won the Big West Championship.
While UC San Diego went dancing, UC Irvine went on a run in the NIT where they made it to the championship and fell to Chattanooga, solidifying themselves as the runner-up. Regardless, it was an incredible season for the conference that brought together fans of the underdogs in hopes of two-bids from a smaller conference.