An updated look at the NCAA Basketball that is still unbeaten, while also not being ranked in the polls.
There are six remaining NCAA Basketball teams who are currently unranked and have a minimum of five wins entering week 6 play. Which ones are considered the most legit right now? There have been multiple mid-major NCAA Basketball programs that have done well this season due to major conferences unable to play at most seven multiple non-conference games.
Mid-majors teams such as Drake and SMU who are both still undefeated have not been given respect this year heading into 2021 by both of them not being ranked in the top 25. However, there are still two Power Five teams one from the SEC and one from the Pac-12 in these power rankings that have not been given the respect that they should deserve at this point of the season as they have all won at least seven games and are undefeated after week five play.
There also were teams like The Citadel and Winthrop who are entering this weekend undefeated and hope to remain undefeated after Saturday. Teams that lost this past week and are no longer undefeated are Georgia, Southern Illinois, and Chattanooga.
Let’s take a look at the six remaining teams and how they are ranked in this week’s undefeated unranked power rankings.
6. The Citadel Bulldogs
Team: The Citadel
Conference: Southern
Record: 7-0
Leading Scorer: Hayden Brown is averaging 21.2 points per game.
Victories: Presbyterian, Piedmont, North Carolina A&T, @ Longwood, Toccoa Falls, Columbia International, and Carver College.
KenPom ranking: 316
Why they are undefeated: The Bulldogs’ offensive attack is the number one reason that The Citadel is still undefeated. They have done an excellent job putting points on the scored board as they have scored 91 or more points five times this season and the Bulldogs have scored over 100 points two times thus far. Their defense has been very efficient this season specifically against non-division one opponents. The Citadel, for example, has had three games where they essentially shut down the opposing team’s offense and limited them to only 58 or fewer points.
Overall though, the Bulldog’s offense is the primary reason though why they have not been defeated yet this season and especially of late as they have scored 91 plus points in their last five contests this season. The Citadel has also been able to win a road game which a decent portion of division one teams have still failed to do this season.
Reasons to be Pessimistic: Based on the low KenPom ranking, it is not surprising that the level of competition for the Bulldogs has not been very good. The Citadel has played four non-division one teams this season which is very unusual in comparison to past seasons and their three division one teams that they have defeated have records of 3-9, 2-8, 3-3, which is a combined record of 8-20.
Next Opponent: Western Carolina on 01/02