Ranking the Mid-Major Conferences

What mid-major conference is performing the best? Which mid-major conferences should be on your radar for the NCAA tournament? Here are the best of the best.

The Mid-major conferences may not get the attention they deserve, but they are of the utmost importance to college basketball. Without the mid-majors, the excitement of an unexpecting Cinderella story in March is gone. Without the mid-majors, we lose Jon Rothstein’s famous “epitome of brutality” tweet year after year. Without mid-majors, college basketball just isn’t the same.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1194435208659030016

Before we can get to business ranking the mid-major conferences, we must define what a mid-major conference is. At CBB Review, Matt Waldman and myself took the time to define what we believe a mid-major is. A Mid-Major is an evolving term. One year a conference or a team may be considered to be a mid-major and the next season they could have established themselves enough to be considered a perennial national title contender, cough, cough…. Gonzaga.

With this in mind, we dove deep into the past to research teams and came up with the thought that a conference is a mid-major as conference if it sends ≤ 20% of their teams to the NCAA tournament in the past five seasons. We know finances play a major role, but we believe that this is a solid starting point. So for the sake of these rankings, using our definition, the AAC, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC were not rated.

Now, with the mid-major conferences decided, what’s next? I took the time to use this season’s metrics as a starting point. I compiled KenPom, NET, BPI, and Torvik ratings. I averaged them together and focused on conferences that were deeper, conferences that had better teams at the top, and lastly using the eye-test to divide the mid-major conferences into five tiers.

The first tier, are the conferences that have the potential to earn multiple bids to this year’s NCAA tournament. The second tier has multiple teams in each conference who could win a game in March. And the last three tiers, of course, could surprise us in March, but most likely have only one team who could make their own Cinderella story.

Tier One

Despite Gonzaga being in tier one of the mid-majors, the Atlantic 10 took the top spot due to a large part because of the depth of the league at the top. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the top seven teams in the conference were able to win the A-10 tournament. The WCC, MW, and MVC all have two teams for sure with some playing with a third quality team.

Atlantic 10

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Saint Louis	30	14	24	21	22.3
Richmond	50	52	40	47	47.3
VCU	61	47	73	45	56.5
St. Bonaventure	58	59	61	62	60.0
Davidson	65	72	43	64	61.0
Rhode Island	63	67	64	70	66.0
Dayton	75	107	84	81	86.8
Massachusetts	104	108	109	82	100.8
Duquesne	117	204	93	123	134.3
George Mason	145	175	175	132	156.8
La Salle	179	210	210	187	196.5
George Washington	206	266	189	203	216.0
Saint Joseph’s	186	239	268	172	216.3
Fordham	257	331	299	245	283.0
Average	139.7	177.9	153.4	135.9	151.7

West Coast Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Gonzaga	1	2	3	2	2.0
BYU	52	3	42	53	37.5
Saint Mary’s	83	76	101	74	83.5
San Francisco	82	88	93	88	87.8
Pacific	116	77	157	93	110.8
LMU	124	110	106	105	111.3
Sant Clara	131	120	133	141	131.3
Pepperdine	143	183	130	128	146.0
San Diego	188	288	199	179	213.5
Portland	296	290	329	283	299.5
Average	121.6	123.7	129.3	114.6	122.3

Mountain West Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
San Diego St.	43	43	37	33	39.0
Boise St.	56	15	38	54	40.8
Utah St.	48	46	57	39	47.5
Colorado St.	78	56	81	89	76.0
Nevada	108	125	138	111	120.5
UNLV	127	154	103	125	127.3
Fresno St.	126	225	218	198	191.8
Wyoming	197	199	295	191	220.5
New Mexico	272	293	282	279	281.5
Air Force	294	263	333	294	296.0
San Jose St.	326	339	341	316	330.5
Average	163.2	171.5	188.6	169.6	173.2

Missouri Valley Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Loyola Chicago	36	41	28	41	36.5
Drake	57	11	49	49	41.5
Bradley	101	113	75	86	93.8
Missouri St.	121	74	135	91	105.3
Indiana St.	150	128	187	127	148.0
Northern Iowa	152	212	140	153	164.3
Southern Illinois	192	179	245	175	197.8
Valparaiso	193	267	256	200	229.0
Illinois St.	261	269	272	246	262.0
Evansville	275	265	293	257	272.5
Average	153.8	155.9	168.0	142.5	155.1

Tier Two

Tier two contains some quality teams and conferences. These three mid-major conferences will be on the radar of every major program come March.

Conference USA

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
UAB	93	64	78	67	75.5
Marshall	86	87	73	94	85.0
Western Kentucky	88	89	80	102	89.8
North Texas	92	102	85	94	93.3
Louisiana Tech	106	124	105	112	111.8
Charlotte	163	143	174	147	156.8
Florida Atlantic	182	106	165	184	159.3
Old Dominion	151	153	172	166	160.5
UTEP	170	170	168	189	174.3
Rice	196	174	219	178	191.8
FIU	205	244	215	215	219.8
Southern Miss	251	242	231	213	234.3
UTSA	202	279	274	212	241.8
Middle Tennessee	254	306	243	262	266.3
Average	188.0	194.1	196.6	187.8	191.6

Mid-American Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Toledo	72	63	76	66	69.3
Buffalo	113	104	116	110	110.8
Kent St.	120	79	120	126	111.3
Bowling Green	115	93	125	124	114.3
Ohio	130	137	136	118	130.3
Ball St.	135	145	148	145	143.3
Akron	132	159	144	163	149.5
Miami OH	204	251	265	182	225.5
Eastern Michigan	223	312	260	196	247.8
Central Michigan	241	277	248	256	255.5
Western Michigan	236	303	269	223	257.8
Northern Illinois	319	330	327	315	322.8
Average	185.5	208.6	204.2	184.8	195.8

Southern Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Furman	79	50	82	85	74.0
Wofford	125	80	102	138	111.3
UNC Greensboro	122	122	95	151	122.5
Mercer	160	105	146	161	143.0
East Tennessee St.	158	152	177	150	159.3
Chattanooga	181	151	170	181	170.8
Western Carolina	195	186	159	190	182.5
VMI	238	196	255	199	222.0
Samford	265	214	232	214	231.3
The Citadel	298	193	209	244	236.0
Average	182.1	144.9	162.7	171.3	165.3

Tier Three

Tier three conferences may not provide the fireworks in March, although it is certainly possible. These mid-major conferences will provide excitement throughout the regular season, ultimately cannibalizing one another.

Big West

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
UC Santa Barbara	114	95	112	129	112.5
UC Riverside	134	91	121	113	114.8
UC Irvine	123	141	115	122	125.3
Cal St. Bakersfield	140	129	123	136	132.0
Hawaii	220	162	201	192	193.8
UC Davis	183	182	178	233	194.0
Long Beach St.	264	275	264	225	257.0
Cal St. Fullerton	305	250	216	289	265.0
Cal St. Northridge	287	247	263	292	272.3
UC San Diego	235	314	337	251	284.3
Cal Poly	342	334	328	324	332.0
Average	223.3	212.5	214.6	217.7	217.0

Sun Belt

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Georgia St.	111	62	77	106	89.0
Coastal Carolina	154	103	134	146	134.3
Texas St.	147	135	207	155	161.0
Little Rock	161	163	184	180	172.0
Louisiana	166	177	262	162	191.8
Appalachian St.	200	217	162	216	198.8
UT Arlington	184	226	202	202	203.5
South Alabama	214	207	208	221	212.5
Georgia Southern	270	274	251	265	265.0
Troy	291	285	281	302	289.8
Arkansas St.	291	313	298	309	302.8
Louisiana Monroe	307	320	323	306	314.0
Average	223.1	231.7	237.8	231.8	231.1

Colonial Athletic Association

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Northeastern	149	131	180	140	150.0
Drexel	162	176	150	158	161.5
Hofstra	174	174	156	156	165.0
UNC Wilmington	185	155	163	173	169.0
James Madison	229	168	154	197	187.0
Charleston	217	234	186	239	219.0
Towson	233	260	212	227	233.0
Elon	225	235	226	247	233.3
Delaware	248	262	277	249	259.0
William & Mary	286	268	304	290	287.0
Average	210.8	206.3	200.8	207.6	206.4

Tier Four

Summit League

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
South Dakota St.	96	94	97	117	101.0
Oral Roberts	165	164	169	165	165.8
North Dakota St.	156	167	197	160	170.0
South Dakota	173	172	221	164	182.5
UMKC	252	272	152	168	211.0
Nebraska Omaha	268	304	287	285	286.0
North Dakota	304	294	316	303	304.3
Western Illinois	333	321	314	323	322.8
Denver	335	341	340	341	339.3
Average	231.3	236.6	232.6	225.1	231.4

Big Sky

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Eastern Washington	133	138	143	137	137.8
Southern Utah	178	160	151	183	168.0
Montana	169	237	171	169	186.5
Weber St.	224	133	147	253	189.3
Montana St.	191	171	217	206	196.3
Sacramento St.	215	197	198	231	210.3
Northern Colorado	212	259	236	243	237.5
Idaho St.	277	261	232	280	262.5
Portland St.	306	283	290	310	297.3
Northern Arizona	322	328	301	330	320.3
Idaho	348	342	339	340	342.3
Average	244.2	237.1	228.2	254.5	241.0

Horizon League

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Wright St.	85	86	90	69	82.5
Cleveland St.	172	149	220	168	177.3
Milwaukee	222	191	189	194	199.0
Purdue Fort Wayne	199	189	182	255	206.3
Detroit	210	258	205	189	215.5
Illinois Chicago	218	209	237	207	217.8
Robert Morris	239	241	233	263	244.0
Northern Kentucky	236	240	258	261	248.8
IUPUI	278	252	275	259	266.0
Oakland	250	280	303	258	272.8
Youngstown St.	260	292	276	266	273.5
Green Bay	289	300	318	255	290.5
Average	240.1	245.2	247.6	240.7	243.4

Patriot League

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Colgate	107	22	66	116	77.8
Navy	167	106	175	174	155.5
Lafayette	189	115	160	167	157.8
Army	187	109	166	198	165.0
Loyola MD	249	203	227	228	226.8
American	253	194	246	235	232.0
Bucknell	266	220	222	286	248.5
Boston University	283	287	252	287	277.3
Holy Cross	337	219	315	325	299.0
Lehigh	315	278	324	307	306.0
Average	235.3	175.3	215.3	232.3	214.6

Ohio Valley Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Belmont	90	99	109	114	103.0
Eastern Kentucky	168	136	137	148	147.3
Murray St.	139	228	113	159	159.8
Jacksonville St.	219	192	194	177	195.5
Austin Peay	180	243	179	208	202.5
Morehead St.	208	198	228	188	205.5
Eastern Illinois	231	273	206	260	242.5
SIU Edwardsville	320	255	288	311	293.5
Tennessee St.	302	309	294	293	299.5
Southeast Missouri St.	325	299	305	301	307.5
Tennessee Tech	327	316	322	312	319.3
Tennessee Martin	345	335	338	342	340.0
Average	259.6	264.8	246.7	255.1	256.6

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Siena	136	90	119	142	121.8
Monmouth	164	147	153	152	154.0
Saint Peter’s	171	156	200	176	175.8
Iona	216	169	167	204	189.0
Canisius	240	223	203	217	220.8
Niagara	237	246	196	238	229.3
Marist	273	254	234	273	258.5
Quinnipiac	284	271	273	291	279.8
Manhattan	310	298	249	276	283.3
Rider	308	301	284	282	293.8
Fairfield	330	323	302	320	318.8
Average	253.3	238.8	226.1	242.9	240.3

America East

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Vermont	105	112	72	99	97.0
UMBC	177	139	145	171	158.0
Hartford	221	184	195	205	201.3
Albany	245	208	164	209	206.5
New Hampshire	226	216	204	232	219.5
NJIT	232	221	191	234	219.5
UMass Lowell	234	232	214	248	232.0
Stony Brook	262	257	223	252	248.5
Maine	240	297	307	321	291.3
Binghamton	247	332	325	335	309.8
Average	218.9	219.8	204.0	230.6	218.3

Tier Five

Big South

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Winthrop	109	49	96	108	90.5
Gardner Webb	207	190	192	186	193.8
UNC Asheville	211	229	185	201	206.5
Campbell	263	230	224	226	235.8
Radford	242	222	253	237	238.5
High Point	267	241	241	250	249.8
Longwood	301	286	308	277	293.0
Hampton	318	296	297	299	302.5
USC Upstate	316	305	334	327	320.5
Presbyterian	346	324	336	343	337.3
Charleston Southern	341	343	331	338	338.3
Average	281.2	266.6	270.1	268.4	271.6

Southland Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Abilene Christian	119	73	128	98	104.5
Stephen F. Austin	159	215	156	144	168.5
Sam Houston St.	203	146	181	195	181.3
Nicholls St.	201	180	161	219	190.3
Central Arkansas	274	284	242	275	268.8
New Orleans	303	308	279	298	297.0
Texas A&M Corpus Chris	312	325	321	305	315.8
Lamar	323	319	310	326	319.5
McNeese St.	344	344	259	332	319.8
Northwestern St.	324	333	309	314	320.0
Incarnate Word	339	322	330	304	323.8
Southeastern Louisiana	332	310	326	334	325.5
Houston Baptist	343	329	319	333	331.0
Average	309.5	305.4	285.6	304.0	301.1

Atlantic Sun

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Liberty	102	75	89	92	89.5
Lipscomb	213	227	244	218	225.5
Bellarmine	230	224	270	242	241.5
Stetson	227	236	286	224	243.3
North Alabama	258	270	190	264	245.5
Florida Gulf Coast	281	295	250	269	273.8
North Florida	290	282	291	281	286.0
Jacksonville	300	281	280	300	290.3
Kennesaw St.	350	336	335	328	337.3
Average	250.1	247.3	248.3	246.4	248.1

Western Athletic Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Grand Canyon	141	132	91	143	126.8
New Mexico St.	118	256	132	90	149.0
UT Rio Grande Valley	209	205	238	222	218.5
Utah Valley	255	201	292	240	247.0
Seattle	285	253	240	270	262.0
Cal Baptist	297	264	247	271	269.8
Tarleton St.	331	311	317	322	320.3
Dixie St.	328	318	332	331	327.3
Average	245.5	242.5	236.1	236.1	240.1

Northeast Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Bryant	175	97	173	135	145.0
LIU	246	140	210	229	206.3
Mount St. Mary’s	247	173	230	211	215.3
St. Francis PA	269	202	271	274	254.0
St. Francis NY	288	195	257	296	259.0
Wagner	280	218	278	278	263.5
Fairleigh Dickinson	295	307	254	267	280.8
Sacred Heart	314	238	283	313	287.0
Merrimack	321	289	267	294	292.8
Central Connecticut	334	291	312	319	314.0
Average	276.9	215.0	253.5	261.6	251.8

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Norfolk St.	243	188	225	241	224.3
Morgan St.	282	161	229	236	227.0
North Carolina Central	259	157	261	254	232.8
Florida A&M	292	245	311	272	280.0
Howard	313	327	320	239	299.8
North Carolina A&T	317	315	296	317	311.3
Coppin St.	329	302	306	308	311.3
Delaware St.	351	340	342	336	342.3
South Carolina St.	335	345	345	346	342.8
Average	302.3	264.4	292.8	283.2	285.7

Southwestern Athletic Conference

Team	KenPom	NET	BPI	Torvik	AVG
Southern	256	211	239	220	231.5
Texas Southern	244	249	218	230	235.3
Prairie View A&M	293	233	266	288	270.0
Alabama A&M	336	150	299	318	275.8
Jackson St.	309	317	235	295	289.0
Grambling St.	311	276	289	297	293.3
Alcorn St.	338	326	314	329	326.8
Arkansas Pine Bluff	352	338	344	337	342.8
Alabama St.	353	337	343	345	344.5
Mississippi Valley St.	357	347	347	347	349.5
Average	314.9	278.4	289.4	300.6	295.8

All data was collected Tuesday afternoon.

Feature image photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

ByMatt Karner