The NET rankings came out Monday for the first time of the season.
While I was looking through the rankings, I realized some power conference teams are lower than I thought and some mid-majors are higher than I thought.
A Strong Mid-Major Presence Near the Top
23 mid-major programs are in the top 75 (excluding Gonzaga) .
It is important to point out that the rankings get more accurate when each team plays more because there are more data points. Alok Pattani, one of the creators of the NET and WAB rankings, talked about this in an interview with Andy Katz.
Utah State Climbing Fast at No. 20
The first team I noticed was Utah State at 20.
The Aggies beat VCU by three and Davidson by 34 in the Charleston Classic title game, but 20 is high for a Mountain West team, especially this early and with the amount of turnover the conference had in the offseason.
Yale Jumps to No. 25 Behind a Key Quad One Win
My fellow Busting Brackets writer Rodney Knuppel wrote a little bit about Yale being ranked 25th.
What helps the Bulldogs a lot is their quad one win against Akron (who we will get to soon). They also have five quad three wins and only one quad four win. A lot of mid-majors struggle with getting quad two and even quad three opponents, so the scheduling helps out Yale.
Belmont Leads the Missouri Valley Charge
The Missouri Valley usually has a team that can win a game or two in the tournament, and this year it looks like that is Belmont at 33.
Talking about Yale avoiding quad four opponents, the seven games Belmont has played are quad three and four games. The NET usesadjusted efficiency that takes into consideration who each team has played. It will be interesting to see how well the Bruins play when they face quad one and two opponents.
Tulsa Unexpectedly Leads the AAC
Looking further down the rankings, Tulsa was not just the highest ranked AAC team, but they started out being ranked 27.
The Hurricanes have not played a quad one opponent, but they are 2-1 against quad two. The AAC preseason favorites were Memphis and South Florida, while Tulsa was eighth. Just another conference flipped on it's head after the first month of the season.
Conference Boosts That Could Pay Off Later
Seeing Tulsa at 27, it is important to see where other mid-major teams land for potential quad one wins.
Santa Clara at 36 in the WCC and three A-10 teams (George Washington, George Mason and Saint Louis) in the top 50 helps each conference boost resumes once they start conference play.
The WCC will be vying for a third tournament spot and the A-10 is hoping to get an at-large spot for one of their teams.
Akron, UC San Diego and Cal Baptist Continue Surprise Starts
Some other teams to point out are Akron at 40, UC San Diego at 43 and Cal Baptist at 67.
Buffalo has started the season hot and Miami (OH) was neck-and-neck with Akron in the MAC preseason poll. The Zips are 48 spots ahead of the Bulls and 70 spots ahead of the Redhawks. Looks like the NET likes Akron more at the moment.
UC San Diego bounced back fast, losing their former head coach Eric Olen to New Mexico. The Tritons faced a lot of turnover, but are still drinking from the New Zealand well with Auckland native Tom Beattie leading the team in assists and rebounds. The spirit of Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones still lives within the Tritons.
Once Grand Canyon left the WAC, I thought the conference would fall into the oblivion as a constant 14 or 15 seed. Cal Baptist and Utah Valley are both in the top 75 and the Lancers are currently a projected 13 seed, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
Big Ten Struggles at the Bottom of the Rankings
On the flip side, a lot of people talk about the Big Ten having success in the NET rankings, but I noticed something when I looked deeper.
There are three Big Ten teams outside of the top 180. Rutgers is 184, Oregon is 192 and Maryland is 203.
A Snapshot of the Road to March
It is very important for the power conferences to have their teams in the quad one and two range to help during conference play. The mid-majors finding more success in the initial rankings helps spread out the level of quad wins to more conferences, which ultimately helps the mid-major teams case to get more at-large bids.
This is just the beginning of the race toward March, but it is a good snapshot at where each team (and conference) is at in December.