For college basketball fans, there’s a few unofficial start dates to the college basketball season.
There’s the day that teams begin practicing, as well as their respective midnight madness events. There’s the first exhibition games, signaling the first time a team takes the court in a semi-competitive setting.
And then there’s the day that Ken Pomeroy releases his preseason rankings, which happened to be today. That sound you hear is college basketball fans bickering at each other on the internet about their team being too low and someone else’s too high. It’s extremely good.
SOMETHING TO REMEMBER: These rankings are merely projections, and KenPom’s system depends largely on last season’s statistics. It usually takes until around December or January to get a large enough sample size to phase out last season’s data. Take it as you will.
As far as mid-majors go in the rankings, Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are unsurprisingly ranked among the nation’s top teams. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 20, while the Gaels come in at No. 30. Both teams should start in or around the top 25 in most preseason polls, so those rankings feel about right.
Here are the rest of the mid-majors in the top-100:
62. Rhode Island
66. St. Joe's
71. San Diego State
72. BYU
73. Nevada
74. College of Charleston
75. Bucknell
76. Vermont
77. St. Bonaventure
80. Fresno St.
83. VCU
84. Yale
85. Boise St
86. Davidson
87. Illinois St
88. Princeton
89. Wyoming
90. Oakland
92. MTSU
93. Loyola (IL)
94. ODU
96. Louisiana Tech
99. Missouri State
The complete rankings can be seen here.