NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top-25 mid-major rankings for 2021-22 season

4. Loyola-Chicago Ramblers

2020-21 season record: 26-5 (16-2 in MVC)

Taking Gonzaga out of the picture, the best mid-major program of the past five years has to be Loyola-Chicago. Including the Final Four run a few years ago and now the Sweet 16 this past season, they’ve achieved postseason success 99.9% of mid-major programs have yet to see. But with the two most important pieces of that run (head coach Porter Moser and MVC Player of the Year Cameron Krutwig) now gone, should we expect a drop-off?

I sincerely doubt it. Moser’s replacement, assistant Drew Valentine is a rising star and has a collection of veterans to work with out the gate. Lucas Williamson, Keith Clemons, Aher Uguak, and Tate Hall all took a 5th year, while point guard Braden Norris is back as well. The team also adds a pair of transfers from the Ivy League in Chris Knight and Ryan Schwieger, both of whom were double-digit scorers when they last played.

The only concern I have is that there aren’t any double-digit scorers returning and they may not be good enough to lead the country in scoring defense (56.1 ppg) once again. But there’s a culture that’s been created and even without the head coach responsible for that, the players who benefitted are. And that should be good enough to keep them in contention next season.

3. Nevada Wolf Pack

2020-21 season record: 16-10 (8-7 in Mountain West)

Remember when I mentioned Colorado State having the second-best duo in the Mountain West? The best returning set of players comes from Nevada in Desmond Cambridge and Grant Sherfield. These two former transfers had an outstanding past season, averaging 34.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg, and 8.5 apg while combining to take over 14 three-pointers a game.

Not only do the Wolf Pack get him back, but starters Warren Washington and Tre Coleman are back too, joined by offseason transfer pickups Kenan Blackshear and AJ Braham, who averaged 20 ppg at Robert Morris. And former top-50 forward Will Baker is set to play after coming over from Texas.

This is a team that has plenty of size up front, scoring and shooting production from the backcourt, and a star go-to guy in Sherfield. This is a team that has top-25 potential next season but rather than sneaking up on Mountain West opponents, they’ll have to get ready to get everyone’s best shot.