CBB Review's Mid-Major Top 25
CBB Review’s Under the Radar Top 25

1 St. Bonaventure (1) – 49

Record: 9-1Previous Rank: 5Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week:W vs. George Mason 84-67
Upcoming:2/3 @ Saint Joseph’s2/6 @ Saint Louis

2 Boise State (1) – 47

Record: 14-2Previous Rank: 2Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week: L @ Colorado State 78-56W @ Colorado State 85-77
Upcoming: 2/5 @ Nevada2/7 @ Nevada

T-3 Loyola-Chicago – 44

Record: 14-3Previous Rank: 10Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week:W @ Bradley 65-58W @ Missouri State 72-46
Upcoming:2/1 @ Missouri State2/6 vs. Evansville2/7 vs. Evansville

T-3 Saint Louis – 44

Record: 7-2Previous Rank: 1Last 10 Games: 7-2
Last Week:L vs. Dayton 76-71
Upcoming:2/3 @ La Salle2/6 vs. St. Bonaventure

5 Drake – 43

Record: 16-0Previous Rank: T-7Last 10 Games: 10-0
Last Week: W @ Missouri State 68-61W @ Missouri State 78-73W vs. Illinois State 78-76 OT
Upcoming: 2/1 vs. Illinois State2/6 @ ValParaiso2/7 @ Valparaiso

6 BYU – 42

Record: 14-4Previous Rank: 3Last 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week:L @ Pepperdine 76-73W vs. Pacific 95-87 2OT
Upcoming:2/2 @ San Diego2/4 @ Portland

7 San Diego State – 39

Record: 13-4Previous Rank: 6Last 10 Games: 7-3
Last Week: W vs. Wyoming 87-57W vs. Wyoming 98-71
Upcoming: 2/3 vs. New Mexico2/5 vs. New Mexico

8 Colorado State – 36

Record: 12-4Previous Rank: 9Last 10 Games: 7-3
Last Week:W vs. Boise State 78-56L vs. Boise State 85-77
Upcoming: 2/4 @ Wyoming2/6 @ Wyoming

9 Western Kentucky – 34

Record: 13-4Previous Rank: 11Last 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week:
Upcoming:2/5 @ FAU2/6 @ FAU

10 Belmont – 31

Record: 18-1Previous Rank: 12Last 10 Games: 10-0
Last Week:W @ Austin Peay 81-76W @ Murray State 72-71
Upcoming:2/4 @ Eastern Illinois2/6 @ SIUE

T-11 Utah State – 29

Record: 13-5Previous Rank: T-7Last 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week:L @ UNLV 59-56W @ UNLV 83-74
Upcoming:2/4 @ Fresno State2/6 @ Fresno State

T-11 Winthrop – 29

Record: 16-1Previous Rank: 4Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week: W vs. UNC Asheville 84-80L vs. UNC Asheville 57-55
Upcoming:

T-13 South Dakota State – 23

Record: 10-3Previous Rank: T-14Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week:
Upcoming:2/5  vs. South Dakota2/6 vs. South Dakota

T-13 VCU – 23

Record: 12-4Previous Rank: 13Last 10 Games: 8-1
Last Week:W vs. La Salle 77-62
Upcoming: 2/3 @ Rhode Island2/7 @ Duquesne

T-15 Richmond – 22

Record: 10-4Previous Rank: T-14Last 10 Games: 6-4
Last Week:W @ Saint Joseph’s 79-56
Upcoming:2/2 vs. George Mason2/5 @ Dayton

T-15 Toledo – 22

Record: 15-4Previous Rank: T-16Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week:W @ Miami (OH) 90-81W @ Bowling Green 84-66
Upcoming:2/2 vs. Akron2/6 @ Ball State

17 Marshall – 18

Record: 9-4Previous Rank: T-16Last 10 Games: 6-4
Last Week:
Upcoming:2/5 @ Old Dominion2/6 @ Old Dominion

18 Furman – 16

Record: 11-5Previous Rank: T-16Last 10 Games: 6-4
Last Week:W @ Western Carolina 75-69
Upcoming:2/6 vs. Wofford

19 Eastern Kentucky – 15

Record: 13-2Previous Rank: 19Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week:
Upcoming:2/2 @ Jacksonville State2/4 vs. Austin Peay

20 Abilene Christian – 12

Record: 14-3Previous Rank: 23Last 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week: W vs. Stephen F. Austin 82-62W @ Incarnate Word 75-67
Upcoming:2/6 @ Lamar

21 Saint Mary’s – 10

Record: 11-5Previous Rank: 20Last 10 Games: 6-4
Last Week:
Upcoming: 

22 Navy – 8

Record: 11-2Previous Rank: 24Last 10 Games: 9-1
Last Week:W vs. Loyola MD 70-52
Upcoming:2/2 @ Loyola MD2/6 @ American2/7 @ American

23 UAB – 5

Record: 14-2Previous Rank: NRLast 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week:W @ Middle Tennessee 70-59W vs. Middle Tennessee 63-52
Upcoming:2/5 vs. UTEP2/6 vs. UTEP

24 Liberty – 3

Record: 14-5Previous Rank: NRLast 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week:W @ Jacksonville 59-54W @ Jacksonville 64-58
Upcoming:2/5 vs. North Florida2/6 vs. North Florida

T-25 Dayton – 2

Record: 10-4Previous Rank: NRLast 10 Games: 7-3
Last Week: W @ Saint Louis 76-71 W vs. Rhode Island 67-56
Upcoming:2/2 @ Duquesne2/5 vs. Richmond

T-25 Grand Canyon – 2

Record: 12-3Previous Rank: NRLast 10 Games: 8-2
Last Week: W vs. New Mexico State 70-62W vs. New Mexico State 65-53
Upcoming:2/5 @ UTRGV2/6 @ UTRGV

Others receiving votes: Akron 1, Davidson 1

Dropped from the rankings: Missouri State 21, Siena 22, Wofford 25

Voters: Matt Karner, Matt Waldman

*Disclaimer: A Mid-Major is an evolving term. At CBB Review we define a mid-major as conferences that send ≤ 20% of their teams to the NCAA tournament in the past five seasons. Or, teams that are ranked in the AP top 25 < 30% of the time in a five-year span. With this under consideration, the power six, the AAC, and Gonzaga were not included for consideration this season’s Under the Radar Top 25.*

Feature Image Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

By Matt Karner

Big East hoops writer for NCAAM Review Bracketologist for Busted Bracketology (www.bustedbracketology.wordpress.com) Twitter: @karner44 Instagram: @karner44

2 thoughts on “CBB Review: Week 11 Under the Radar Top 25”
  1. A good read. Thanks.

    But the A10, according to your disclaimer, is not a mid major conference. It is on par with the AAC in terms of NCAA bids and AP rankings over the last several years. Dayton was slated to be a #1 seed last season in the NCAA tournament. If you include the A10 in this ranking, you should include the AAC and Gonzaga. I suggest you use the term “high major” to refer to teams and conferences that are near or on par with power 6 but not power 6, and include AAC teams in this ranking. Maybe even include some Big East teams. Call it a non power 6 ranking. High major basketball conferences would be ranked in the top 10 of the NET and RPI most years. A10 averages around 8 (currently NET 9).

    20% of 14 teams = 2.8 NCAA teams per season. Over 5 years = 14 Bids.

    2019 – Saint Louis, VCU
    2018 – Davidson, St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island
    2017 – Rhode Island, VCU, Dayton
    2016 – Saint Joseph’s, VCU, Dayton
    2015 – VCU, Dayton, Davidson

    14 Bids in last 5 tournaments.

    30% of 5 years (19 weeks each) = 29 weeks ranked.
    2015-16 to 2019-20 – Dayton 20 weeks, URI 12 weeks, VCU 3 weeks, GW 2 weeks. That’s 37 weeks A10 teams have been ranked, out of 95 weeks = 39%

  2. Thanks for the read and the comment. It is certainly challenging to come up with the best term and definition. Throughout our time working on this we felt this was the best and most evolving definition. We are aware that their is still possible kinks to work out and it gets really sticky when you start dividing teams and conferences into low mid and high major because in the end much of this is always because of money. Your math looks spot on but the A10 would still fall into the mid major category for us. They have sent 20% of teams over the last five seasons which is the cutoff but we are looking at less than or equal to 20%. As for the AP rankings it applies only specifically for each team individually. Only Gonzaga has been ranked more than 30% of the time. Running this math in past years not many programs have made the jump, but Butler and San Diego State would have had times in the past were they wouldn’t have been considered a mid major based on this definition.

    We appreciate your feedback and hope you enjoy the site. If you have any suggestions as to what can make our mid major definition better we would be happy to listen and take it into consideration. College Insider and Mid Major Madness both treat this differently as do we so there really isn’t quite a true definition of a mid major.

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