NCAAM Mid Major Top-25

Every Wednesday I will be posting my Mid Major Top-25, highlighting the top 25 teams from non-power conferences. These rankings exclude the A10, AAC and WCC. Also included each week will be a breakdown of all notable mid major topics around the country. Highlighted teams are in bold.

1. Nevada
2. Vermont
3. UT Arlington
4. Middle Tennessee
5. Boise State
6. Northern Kentucky
7. UNLV
8. SDSU Jack Rabbits
9. FGCU
10. Mercer
11. Belmont
12. Wyoming
13. Ltech
14. Grand Canyon
15. Valpo
16. UNC Ashville
17. Towson
18. SFA
19. Oakland
20. Portland State
21. Murray State
22. New Mex State
23. Bucknell
24. Loyola Chi
25. Princeton

Mid Major Headlines

• Portland State gets their fourth-straight win, this time over Utah State, to head into the PK80 at 4-0. In the first round of the PK80, they challenged #1 Duke and actually led at half, but they fell by 18. In the next rounds, they lost by only two to Butler, and got a fantastic upset win over Stanford.
• ULL upsets Iowa 80-71. The Ragin Cajuns have just one loss, coming from Ole Miss in week 1. South Dakota State also upset Iowa, and in the same tournament Wyoming gets their fourth straight win this time over ULL. However, Wyoming suffers their first loss getting blown out by #12 Cincy in the championship. The Cowboys have nothing to hang their head on starting the season the way they have. All this is the recap for the exciting Cayman Classic.
• Towson wins the Gulf Coast Showcase taking out Georgia Southern in the championship.
• Rider upsets George Washington to start the year 4-1 with one loss to Xavier.
• Bucknell finally played like I thought they would despite their tough Week 1 schedule. They beat Siena 115-92.
• Louisiana Tech has been impressive so far as they remain undefeated beating George Mason of the A10. Then, both sitting undefeated, Louisiana Tech and Evansville go at each other in a wild game for the Cancun Challenge Championship. Louisiana Tech comes out on top by 2 points to remain undefeated. Both teams should easily contend in their respective conferences.
• Middle Tennessee and FGCU clashed in a match-up between top mid major teams as Middle Tennessee comes out on top by 13. FGCU gets a rematch on December 2^nd.
• UT Arlington proved they can hang with big dogs and that they are easily one of the best mid major teams as they fall to #25 Alabama by 1 off of a missed buzzer beater.
• Nevada continues to roll as the new top mid major team beating Davidson by 13, and beating the best team out of the Big West in Hawaii also by 13.
• Georgia State has looked good this season up until a terrible loss to Prairie View A/M by 15. Prairie View A/M has not been above .500 since 2009, but they are leaders of the SWAC with a 2-4 record.
• UNC Ashville gets a great win over Monmouth at home by 11.
• Toledo falls to Syracuse by 8 to suffer their first loss, then they lost a shocking game to Cornell in an interesting start to the year for the Rockets as they jumped to the top of the mid major race only to fall completely out shortly after.
• Belmont gets beat by Providence on a buzzer beater that was identical to Florida’s in the NCAA Tournament last year. If you missed it go check it out! After this, Belmont suffered a terrible loss to Lipscomb after their great start.
• SF Austin goes back and forth with Mississippi State, but eventually lose by five for their first loss of the season. The Lumberjacks want to get back to being dominant in the Southland Conference.
• Northern Iowa is a sneaky good team with experience out of the Missouri Valley. They beat SMU in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, and beat NC State in the 2^nd round to reach the championship. They could not do anything to knock off #4 Villanova in the title game, but they still played a surprisingly good tournament.
• Western Kentucky has had an interesting beginning to their season, but they come away with a huge upset win over #19 Purdue and a win over SMU.
• Loyola Chicago finally get a very meaningful win by 24 over UNCW to move to 6-0, but they then fell to Boise State in a terrible loss by 34.
• Tenessee Tech sits at 6-1 on the year out of no-where, but they only have one decent win over New Mexico as the others wins came from irrelevant teams, and their loss comes from #22 TCU.
• Utah Valley’s only two losses are to blue bloods Duke and Kentucky in their first two games of the year where they challenged both teams. They have won 4 straight since, with a win over meaningful North Dakota in OT by eight.
• Northern Kentucky blows a lead and falls to Memphis by two for their second-straight loss, but they are still a very solid mid major talent.
• Penn is building quite the resume, as they beat Monmouth in a whopping fourth overtime 101-96.
• Akron loses their first game to Dayton as they look to battle in the MAC again this year even with a weaker team than last year.
• Valpo stays undefeated at 7-0 beating the struggling UNCW Seahawks as they look to win the Missouri Valley after changing conferences this summer.
• Murray State still only has one loss to Middle Tennessee as they hold off Southern Illinois.
• Illinois State, coming off a decent Charleston Classic falls to Charleston Southern in overtime by two.
• Grand Canyon loses for the first time this year to San Diego by 10 as they look to contend in the WAC where they are finally eligible to play in the tournament after being suspended by the NCAA.
• Central Michigan pulls out some nice victories to win the Great Alaskan Shootout beating Sam Houston State, Cal Poly, and Cal State Bakersfield.
• NC A&T keeps rolling as they beat ECU of the AAC by 6.
• UC Davis receives their first loss from Washington after challenging the Huskies all game.
• San Diego State upset Georgia, but fell to Washington State in a major back and forth game to lose their second game of the year.
• Albany takes a tough first loss as they fall to Monmouth, who erased a big deficit in a comeback win.
• Cornell has hit a solid two-game win streak, beating the hot Toledo Rockets, who were the MAC leaders, and knocking off Duquesne out of the A10. Cornell could be contenders in the Ivy League that is surprisingly open so far.
• South Dakota State led Ole Miss by 20 at half, but Ole Miss stormed back to send it to overtime where the Jack Rabbits gained another solid upset win.