NCAA Basketball: Top 10 mid-majors from first month of 2018-19 season

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SALT LAKE CITY, UT – MARCH 21: Head coach Rick Byrd of the Belmont Bruins reacts in the first half while taking on the Arizona Wildcats during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 21, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

4. Belmont Bruins 6-1

Belmont has long been one of the mid-major programs in the country over the last 15 years and this year the Bruins and coach Rick Byrd are off to another good start. Belmont is currently 6-1 and has one of the better players in the country that the casual college basketball fan may not know in senior guard Dylan Windler. The 6-8 from Indianapolis leads the team in scoring (21.1), rebounds (8.4) and steals (1.9), but he is not alone in providing bigtime production for the Bruins.

Belmont’s offense has been elite this season, scoring no fewer than 87 points in any of their games and the 95 points per game is 4th best in the nation. They have five players averaging at least 10 points and three of those players, Caleb Hollander, Nick Muszynski, and Grayson Murphy are freshmen. The three have combined to net 39.4 points, 19.7 rebounds, and 11.0 assists. The Bruins are one of the more well-rounded teams in the country, ranking 13th in field goal percentage (50.7), 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.59) as well as 2nd in defensive rebounds per game (32.71).

They began the year with convincing wins over Illinois State and Middle Tennessee State before defeating fellow Nashville school Lipscomb 97-93 in the Battle of the Boulevard. Since then the Bruins have averaged 96.5 points per game in their next four contests. The rest of the month will really test Belmont with a rematch with Lipscomb and games against UCLA, Western Kentucky and Purdue before they open conference play.

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