Ranking the Best Mid-Major Teams in College Basketball in 2014-15

Is Gonzaga for real? What about those two Missouri Valley Conference powerhouses, Northern Iowa and Wichita State?

And can we even call the schools in the Atlantic 10 mid-majors anymore?

Well, we can, and we do for these purposes. They're hardly working with the same resources as the likes of Kentucky, Duke, Virginia, Wisconsin and other schools from college basketball power conferences such as the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12, the Big Ten, the Pac-12 and even the revised, watered-down Big East and others.

Do you believe in Gonzaga? Well, ESPN Insider Jeff Goodman does, or at least he did. We can only assume he hasn't come off his preseason selection of the Bulldogs to win it all, which apparently raised the eyebrows of writer Drew Franklin at KentuckySportsRadio.com.

Franklin wrote: "Mark Few may have his best team at Gonzaga this season, but to predict a national championship seems a little aggressive to me. Jeff Goodman, on the other hand, has the Bulldogs as his pick in ESPN's 2014-15 college basketball season predictions. Goodman then went on SportsCenter and said Gonzaga has no weakness. He’s all-in."

Are you?

These rankings are based largely but not solely on overall records and conference records, as well as national rankings, head-to-head competition, level of opponents faced and overall strength of conference played in. And to some degree, they are based on a subjective judgment of the talent level of the individual teams listed. Click through to see who are the best mid-majors in the country. 

10. (tie) Davidson and Rhode Island

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The Davidson Wildcats and Rhode Island have made their points in the A-10 this year.

Rhode Island (19-6 overall, 11-3 and tied for first in the Atlantic 10) and Davidson (20-6, 10-4 in A-10) are two of several teams to keep an eye on in perhaps the nation's most underrated conference.

The two teams are studies in contrast, though, with Rhode Island doing it mostly with defense and Davidson doing it with offense.

Led by 6'7" sophomore Hassan Martin, who can jump out of the gym and averages a league-best 3.2 blocks per game, Rhode Island leads the A-10 in scoring defense (giving up only 58.7 points per game), opponents' field-goal percentage (.402), opponents' three-point percentage (.284) and blocked shots (5.8).

This is Davidson's first year in the conference after years of the Wildcats dominating the Southern Conference under coach Bob McKillop. The jump hasn't fazed McKillop's team, which leads the A-10 in scoring (80.6 ppg), field-goal percentage (.472), free-throw percentage (.723), three-point percentage (.394) and assists-to-turnover ratio.

9. Harvard

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Harvard plays smart basketball, as you might expect from an Ivy League school.

Only at Harvard.

When the Crimson suffered disappointing defeats to the likes of Holy Cross and Dartmouth earlier this season, senior Jonah Travis started thinking about what might be hurting the team. According to David L. Tannenwald of Harvard Magazine, he applied the theory of "responsibility diffusion," which he learned in Professor Ryan Enos' "Political Psychology" class, and ramped up his efforts to help his fellow seniors lead the team. 

Coach Tommy Amaker was glad to accept the assist, and now Harvard sits at 19-5 overall and first in the Ivy League with a 9-1 record. 

It helps that Amaker also is getting plenty of help from another senior, Wesley Saunders, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year who is averaging 15.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and nearly two steals per game, as well as junior point guard Siyani Chambers (9.6 ppg, 4.3 apg), whom Amaker calls "our most important player," per Tannenwald.

8. Stephen F. Austin

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Stephen F. Austin is making its presence felt on the college basketball landscape.

You may remember Stephen F. Austin from pulling off an upset of VCU in last year's NCAA tournament.

The Lumberjacks, then a No. 12 seed, sawed down the fifth-seeded Rams in overtime on the strength of an unlikely four-point play that tied it with 3.6 seconds left in regulation, leading SFA coach Brad Underwood to comment afterward (via NCAA.com): "Well, miracles truly do happen."

Underwood was looking for more help from the heavens after starting out this season 1-3. But the losses came to tough competition (79-77 in overtime to Northern Iowa, then road losses at Xavier and at Baylor), so he remained optimistic.

And with good reason. His team then reeled off 19 wins in a row and now stands at 22-4 overall, 12-1 atop the Southland Conference.

7. Valparaiso

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Valparaiso has been able to get a grip on the competition this season no matter who it is.

Valparaiso's quiet-killer efficiency lies in the numbers, and its style of play is a reflection of the team's coach.

Now 25-4 overall and 12-2 in the Horizon League, where it holds a half-game lead over Cleveland State, Valpo shoots .468 from the field, while holding opponents to 38 percent shooting and out-rebounding all corners by the whopping average of 8.3 boards per game.

So it's no wonder that coach Bryce Drew's team leads the league in scoring defense, giving up only 60.5 ppg, while scoring 72.1 (second in the Horizon). That's a winning combination in any league and bodes well for the Crusaders to surprise some folks come tournament time.

You might remember Drew, now 40, as the then-Valpo player who hit the miraculous game-winning shot to secure an NCAA tournament upset win over Mississippi State back in 1998.

6. Murray State

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Murray State's Cameron Payne is a force on the court and in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Last year was supposed to be a rebuilding season at Murray State. But its projected starting point guard, Zay Jackson, was lost for the season before it began because of a knee injury, making it seem it might even be much, much worse.

That's when point guard Cameron Payne came to the rescue. Now a sophomore, he's averaging 19.7 ppg after taking some early season advice from coach Steve Prohm when he was thrust into the starting lineup as a freshman.

"He has the ability to make a special play every possession, but (I told him to) just make the great play when you have to make the great play,” Prohm told NBCSports.com (via Rob Dauster of College Basketball Talk). “Hit singles and doubles, make the home run play when you have to.”

Payne is knocking it out of the park this season and is the main reason the Racers are off to a 24-4 start overall, 14-0 to lead the West Division of the Ohio Valley Conference.

5. Dayton

SKIP PETERSON/Associated Press

Dayton coach Archie Miller knows his team can't sneak up on opponents this year.

Dayton lost 83-73 at Duquense Saturday, despite a third consecutive double-double from Dyshawn Pierre, who totaled 27 points and 12 rebounds.

The unexpected loss dropped the Flyers to 20-6 overall and 10-4 in the Atlantic 10. But before too much is made of the defeat, it should be noted that it was Dayton's second game in a 42-hour span, and the Flyers often looked weary and out of sorts.

Coach Archie Miller usually is much more organized and stingy on defense, having come into the game giving up an average of only 60 points per game—second-best in the conference. He'll have these guys ready to go by A-10 tournament time and for the NCAA tourney beyond that.

4. VCU

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Coach Shaka Smart believes the sky is the limit for his VCU squad.

Ranked 25th in the nation in the Associated Press poll, VCU continues to impress under the guidance of coach Shaka Smart.

He took the Rams to the Final Four in 2011 when they played in the Colonial Athletic Association. Now they're in the tough A-10, but they're still atop the standings (tied for first with Rhode Island with an 11-3 conference record after Saturday's hard-fought 78-72 win over Massachusetts).

VCU is 21-6 overall and has won four of its last six games despite losing senior point guard Briante Weber for the season when he blew his knee out on January 31 during a loss to Richmond.

Weber was a defensive demon who was just nine steals short of the NCAA career record when he went down, so his loss is obviously a long-term concern for a team that prides itself on its "Havoc" style of full-court pressure on defense.

Like the other A-10 combatants, the Rams could stumble in their own conference tournament and still do well in the NCAAs to follow. In fact, the difficult competition throughout the season should only make them, and others in the A-10, more tournament-ready than most other mid-major programs.

3. Wichita State

Stephen Lance Dennee/Associated Press

Coach Gregg Marshall appears to have his team fired up for a postseason run.

No, Wichita State is not unbeaten this season as it was a year ago when it started gaining national attention. 

But it's no surprise that the Shockers are still very, very good, with an overall record of 25-3 and a 15-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference that puts them right on the heels of league leader Northern Iowa. Both teams are nationally ranked in every poll.

After getting smoked by coach Gregg Marshall's well-balanced, aggressive club recently, Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson paid homage to Wichita State by telling ksn.com: "You gotta figure out what you’re gonna take away. ... We had to play, literally, a perfect game."

Hinson's team couldn't do that and trailed by as many as 27 points before losing by 22.

That's because the Shockers can score inside and out, and their attacking defense is relentless. They close out their regular season by hosting Northern Iowa this Saturday, and if they subsequently face the Panthers again in the championship game of the MVC tournament, it should be a classic.

2. Northern Iowa

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Northern Iowa hopes to extend its reach beyond the Missouri Valley Conference.

Northern Iowa soundly defeated Missouri Valley Conference rival Wichita State 70-54 when the MVC powerhouses met last month on the Panthers' home floor.

That gives UNI the edge, for now. The two teams will meet again this Saturday at Wichita State to decide who is crowned regular-season conference champion.

For the Panthers, who have won a school-record 15 games in a row, it's all about defense and depth. They've held their last two opponents, Loyola and Bradley, to 39 points each as coach Ben Jacobson continues to rotate players into games like he's coaching a poor man's Kentucky or something.

Jacobson said his players long ago bought into having more guys play fewer total minutes, and it has been a key to keeping his guys fresh, his defense hounding and the team winning. They're now 26-2 overall, 15-1 in the MVC, and ranked No. 11 in the nation in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Sports Coaches polls.

"I said 'Look guys. You're either going to be OK with this—15 to 25 (minutes) for eight or nine guys—and make this work, and we can get really good. Or it's going to hold us back," Jacobson told The Associated Press recently (via USA Today).

1. Gonzaga

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Gonzaga is determined to silence the naysayers this time around.

Whenever mid-major powers are discussed in college basketball, Gonzaga is sure to be mentioned near or at the top of the list.

After all, the Bulldogs soon will be making their 17th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and likely will be a No. 1 seed for the second time in three years.

But here's the rub: For all the regular-season success Gonzaga has had, it has never advanced past the Elite Eight in the NCAAs and hasn't been past the Sweet 16 since Mark Few replaced Dan Monson as coach for the 1999-00 season (one year after Monson guided the team to the Elite Eight). Few's teams have reached the Sweet 16 four times, but they have never been able to move beyond that.

This year's team hopes it ends differently. With a current record of 26-1, including 16-0 in the West Coast Conference, these Bulldogs are ranked No. 2 in the nation in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the nation in the AP poll. Their only loss came in overtime on the road at Arizona, now ranked No. 7, early in the season.

Every year it seems Gonzaga has one stud player who leads the way, and this season is no different. The team currently is led by 6'10" junior Kyle Wiltjer, a transfer from the University of Kentucky who averages 17.6 ppg to lead a contingent of six players averaging 8.6 points or more.

They're straight-shooters too, leading the nation in field-goal percentage (.527) while averaging nearly 80 points and beating their opponents by an average of nearly 20.

Wiltjer recently torched Pacific for 45 points, the most points scored by a Gonzaga player in 54 years.

Joe Menzer has written six books, including one about college basketball entitled Four Corners, and now writes about college hoops and other sports for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.