Mid-major Basketball power rankings: SDSU, BYU and Richmond move up

Mid-major Basketball power rankings: SDSU, BYU and Richmond make gains

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 28: Matt Mitchell #11 and KJ Feagin #10 of the San Diego State Aztecs gesture to fans as they celebrate their 83-52 victory over the Creighton Bluejays during the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

7 of 9

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 26: The New Mexico Lobos react (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

9. Liberty Flames 16-1 (2-0 in Atlantic Sun)

One of the last unbeaten teams in the country, Liberty fell to LSU by 17 points before coming into ASUN action. They took care easily of both NJIT and Florida Gulf Coast, holding both to under 50 total points. There’s a strong chance that the Flames will run through the league without a loss but with still no quality wins outside of Akron and Vanderbilt, it’s hard to tell how formidable this squad really is. But as long as everyone else on the bubble keeps losing, this team still as at-large aspirations just in case they somehow slip up.

8. New Mexico Lobos 14-3 (3-1 in Mountain West)

The three-point loss to San Jose State was disastrous, especially since the Lobos were behind the entire game. But to put it into context, they were without two key starters (Carlton Bragg and JJ Caldwell) for that matchup. Good news is that Bragg is back and getting back into the rotation. Zane Martin and leading scorer JaQuan Lyle will share the lead ball-handler duties in the meantime, hoping that their offense won’t take a dip.

7. Richmond Spiders 12-3 (2-0 in Atlantic 10)

The Spiders rebounded from tough back-to-back losses to both Radford and Alabama at the end of the year with two straight wins in league play. The impressive one came on the road at Rhode Island, with Nathan Cayo (19 points and 11 rebounds) leading the way. Richmond has an at-large resume at the moment but it’ll be tested very shortly, with matchups against Davidson, Saint Louis and George Mason coming up.

Home/Mid Major Conferences