Mid-Majors Make 13 of Top 50 CBS Non-Con Games

Earlier this week, CBSSports released its rankings for the top 50 non-conference games for the upcoming 2016-17 college basketball season. It was an intriguing list that will be sure to create plenty of controversy.

The nation’s mid-major conferences found themselves well represented on the list with an impressive 13 games featuring mid-major teams, including one top five game and six of the top 15 games overall. This speaks to what is anticipated to be a great season across mid-major college basketball.

Here’s a full look at the list below.

Mid-Major Games On CBS Top 50 Non-Con Games:

• #4 - San Diego State at Gonzaga
• #10 - Monmouth at Syracuse
• #11 - Rhode Island vs Cincinnati
• #12 - Saint Mary’s at Dayton
• #14 - San Diego State vs California
• #15 - George Washington at Georgia
• #16 - VCU vs Baylor
• #17 - Rhode Island at Valpo
• #25 - Arizona vs Gonzaga
• #30 - Washington at Gonzaga
• #33 - Wichita State vs Oklahoma
• #35 - Middle Tennessee at Belmont
• #41 - Princeton at Monmouth

Some of the names to appear like Dayton, Gonzaga, and San Diego State should come as no surprise, but this list reached far beyond the mid-major royalty. In fact, a total of 12 teams from mid-major conferences made the list. Those teams came from across the country and have all kinds of projections for this season.

Perhaps the most intriguing game listed was No. 35, which featured a showdown between Middle Tennessee at Belmont. A few years ago, this wouldn’t have garnered much attention at all, but it’s now one of the nation’s best non-conference games. That’s huge for college basketball, mid-majors, and obviously, both teams involved.

Whether these games live up to the hype remains to be seen, but based on the games that made the cut, it looks like a safe bet to think mid-major fans will be in for some outstanding games this year.

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If you’re interested in reading the full list of 50 games, you can see it here.