NCAA Basketball: Final 2022-23 mid-major power rankings heading into postseason

These four teams not only look to make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, they all expect to win a game or two and even possibly make a Sweet 16 run.

No. 4 – Liberty

Conference: ASUN

Best Wins: North Carolina Central (79-63), Bradley (55-44), Bryant (82-62), Grambling Sate (75-56), Libscomb (77-48), Stetson (74-45), Florida Gulf Coast (74-57), Eastern Kentucky (83-73), at Queens (85-77), and Eastern Kentucky (79-73)

Number of wins over a power five conference teams: One

Notable Defeats: at Kennesaw State (66-67), at Libscomb (64-69), at Kennesaw (81-88), at Eastern Kentucky (59-62), at Oral Roberts (70-84), Northwestern (52-66), Southern Mississippi (72-76), and at Alabama (59-95)

Conference Record: 15-3

RPI Ranking: 34

KenPom Ranking: 47

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 38

Sagarin Ranking: 87

NET Ranking: 43

Quadrant 1 Wins: Zero

Quadrant 2 Victories: One

Quadrant 3 Wins: Six

Why is Liberty ranked in the top ten of these power rankings: Mainly due to the metrics, analytics, and system rankings that have the Flames ranked so high in many rankings. Liberty is projected to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament without winning their conference tournament and being from the ASUN conference which indicates that their resume is very strong. They are ranked in the top 50 in the NET and KenPom rankings which is considered the most important rankings for college basketball by many bracketologists. Liberty is also ranked considerably high by ESPN’s BPI rankings as well. Liberty has not lost on their home court this season and they have zero Quadrant four losses as well. They also have eight double-digit victories against teams ranked in the top 200 in the NET Rankings as well.

No. 3 – Oral Roberts

Conference: Summit League

Best Wins: At Tulsa (77-66), St. Thomas (81-69), at Texas Southern (82-64), Missouri State (80-77), Liberty (84-70), St. Thomas (70-65), at South Dakota State (69-65), and at St. Thomas (95-88),

Number of wins over a power five conference teams: Zero

Notable Defeats: At Saint Mary’s (70-78), at Houston (45-83), at Utah State (85-95), at New Mexico (75-82)

Conference Record: 18-0

RPI Ranking: 24

KenPom Ranking: 56

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 85

Sagarin Ranking: 75

NET Ranking: 37

Quadrant 1 Wins: Zero

Quadrant 2 Victories: One

Quadrant 3 Wins: Six

Why is Oral Roberts ranked in the top ten of these power rankings: Oral Roberts won both the Summit League regular season and conference tournament. The Golden Eagles were undefeated on their home court this season and won all of their conference games as well. Oral Roberts also has won 17 straight games and they have zero Quadrant two, three, and four losses. The Golden Eagles’ only losses were on the road to Quadrant one opponents.

No. 2 – Florida Atlantic

Conference: C-USA

Best Wins: At Florida  (76-74), Florida Gulf (85-53), South Alabama (84-59), at North Texas (50-46), UAB (88-86), Charlotte (71-67), North Texas (66-62), Middle Tennessee (85-67), at Charlotte (67-52), at Louisana Tech (76-72), Western Kentucky (75-51), Bryant (85-74), Florida Gulf Coast (85-53), Northern Kentucky (67-52), and Middle Tennessee (68-65)

Number of wins over power five conference teams: One

Notable Defeat: At Mississippi (67-80), at Middle Tennessee (70-74), and at UAB (77-86)

Conference Record: 18-2

RPI Ranking: 11

KenPom Ranking: 30

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 40

Sagarin Ranking: 47

Net Ranking: 15

Quadrant 1 Wins: Two

Quadrant 2 Victories: Three

Quadrant 3 Wins: Eleven

Why is Florida Atlantic ranked in the top ten of these power rankings: They have won their last six games and nine of the last ten. Florida Atlantic won the Conference USA regular season title and they have some impressive wins on their resume. The Owls in non-conference play defeated Florida on the road and were undefeated against teams from the state of Florida winning all five games. In conference play they defeated UAB and North Texas as well as beating Charlotte twice, Middle Tennessee twice, Louisiana Tech twice, and  Western Kentucky three times. Florida Atlantic also is ranked very high in the NET and RPI rankings as well.

No. 1 – Saint Mary’s

Conference: West Coast

Best Wins: North Texas (63-33), BYU (76-69), Oral Roberts (78-70), Hofstra (76-48), Vanderbilt (75-65), New Mexico State (81-68), San Diego State (68-61), at Santa Clara (67-64), Loyola Marymount (76-62), Missouri State (66-46), Wyoming (66-54), at San Francisco (68-59), at BYU (57-56), Gonzaga (78-70), at Portland (81-64), and BYU (71-65)

Number of wins over power five conference teams: One

Notable Defeats: Washington (64-68), New Mexico (65-69), Houston (48-53), Colorado State (60-62), Gonzaga (51-77), at Loyola Marymount (74-78), and at Gonzaga (68-77)

Conference Record: 14-2

RPI Ranking: 8

KenPom Ranking: 11

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 18

Sagarin Ranking: 16

NET Ranking: 10

Quadrant 1 Wins: Two

Quadrant 2 Victories: Seven

Quadrant 3 Wins: Eleven

Why is Saint Mary’s ranked in the top ten of these power rankings: The Gaels in Quadrant one and Quadrant two games have a combined nine victories. They only have two losses on their home court and those losses were by only two and four points. They defeated Gonzaga and San Diego State who both are ranked in the top 20 in the NET Rankings as well as defeating North Texas and Oral Roberts who are ranked in the top 40 in those same rankings.

Saint Mary’s are co-regular season WCC champions along with Gonzaga and the Gaels have 11 wins against teams ranked in the top 100 in the NET rankings as well as Saint Mary’s have defeated Santa Clara twice and BYU three times this season.