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After weeks of maintaining the status quo, there was finally a shake up in the top 10 of The Other Top 25.
On the back of a 16-game winning streak, Dayton escaped the carnage as the top team, using losses by both Gonzaga and San Diego State to usurp the crown.
San Diego State’s undefeated season came to an end at the hands of a UNLV team that caught the Aztecs slipping. Despite finally dropping a game, San Diego State is still in good position for a 1 seed (they’re still on the 1 line as of this morning, according to Bracket Matrix), so there’s no need to worry about them long-term.
The previous week’s top team, Gonzaga, also got dealt a loss for the first time months. BYU’s raucous Marriott Center crowd helped take down the Bulldogs for the first time since they ended Gonzaga’s undefeated season in 2017. The Cougars still slot in at No. 4 in the poll as they continue to generate buzz on a national level.
ETSU also burst into the top five as its at-large bid potential incrementally improves with each passing win. The quest for #2BidSoCon will likely require UNC Greensboro or Furman to win the SoCon tournament, and their matchup will be one of the best games featuring two teams from The Other Top 25 this week.
Here’s the entire poll for the last week of February.
The Other Top 25
| Rank | School | Record | Change | Our reasoning | This week's games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | School | Record | Change | Our reasoning | This week's games |
| 1 | Dayton | 25-2 | 2 | The Flyers still haven't lost in regulation and their win streak is now up to a nation-best 16 games. They'll need some help from the teams in front of them to keep moving up the seed line, but one thing is clear: this team is good enough to win it all. | 2/25 at George Mason, 2/28 vs. Davidson |
| 2 | Gonzaga | 27-2 | -1 | There's no shame in losing on the road to a ranked BYU team. Gonzaga will probably still be on the 1 seed line when the next wave of bracketology hits, and their only concern should be staying healthy during the final week of the regular season. | 2/27 vs. San Diego, 2/29 vs. Saint Mary's |
| 3 | San Diego State | 26-1 | -1 | It finally happened. The Aztecs got caught slipping and lost to UNLV, which could be a blessing in disguise. Now the focus shifts from an undefeated season to making sure that an off-night doesn't doom them in postseason play like it did on Saturday. | 2/25 vs. Colorado State, 2/29 at Nevada |
| 4 | BYU | 23-7 | - | That sound you hear is the national media realizing what we've known all season: this BYU team is damn good and a potential second weekend team in the NCAA Tournament. Dropping 90 on Gonzaga shows just how potent the Cougars can be on offense when they're firing on all cylinders. | 2/29 at Pepperdine |
| 5 | ETSU | 25-4 | 3 | The quest for #2BidSoCon marched on as ETSU dispatched Furman last week in their biggest remaining test of the regular season. As of Monday, T-Rank projects the Bucs to have an 82.5% of an at-large bid. | 2/26 at Wofford, 2/29 vs. Western Carolina |
| 6 | Saint Mary's | 23-6 | 1 | Bracket Matrix projects them as a 9 seed, so the Gaels are comfortably in the NCAA Tournament with a Q1 and Q2 opportunity still on the docket. Saturday's trouncing of San Deigo was the Gaels' best offensive performance of the season. | 2/27 at Santa Clara, 2/29 at Gonzaga |
| 7 | Northern Iowa | 23-5 | -1 | UNI's at-large hopes continue to dwindle with each subsequent loss, but the Panthers are still in the driver's seat with a week to play in the Valley. Austin Phyfe is emerging as one of best bigs in the league following his 17-point, 18-rebound, five assist outing against Southern Illinois. | 2/26 vs. Evansville, 2/29 at Drake |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 19-7 | -3 | Rhody is still in bubble territory following a tough OT loss to Davidson in their lone game of the week. Save for a home game against Dayton, the Rams probably can't afford to drop anymore regular season games if they hope to stay on the right side of the bubble heading into conference tournaments. | 2/26 at Fordham, 3/1 vs. Saint Louis |
| 9 | Utah State | 22-7 | 2 | The Aggies continue to just handle their business, and have now won five straight. Sam Merrill is hitting his stride as of late as he's averaged 23.8 PPG during the win streak. | 2/25 vs. San Jose State, 2/29 at New Mexico |
| 10 | UNC Greensboro | 23-6 | -1 | A pair of close wins last week kept the #2BidSoCon hopes alive, but it's likely that UNCG's tournament hopes still rely on winning the SoCon tournament. Wednesday's tilt against Furman will likely determine who gets the No. 2 seed in the SoCon tournament. | 2/26 vs. Furman, 2/29 at Chattanooga |
| 11 | Richmond | 20-7 | -1 | Saturday's loss is likely to put Richmond on the outside looking in for the bubble. The Spiders are struggling from 3-point range in A-10 play, especially in February. They're hitting just 30.5% from deep in their six February games. | 2/26 at George Washington, 2/29 vs. UMass |
| 12 | Furman | 23-6 | - | As mentioned above, Wednesday's matchup against UNCG will likely determine who gets the No. 2 seed in the SoCon tournament. Bob Richey has now won at least 23 total games and 13 games SoCon play in each of his first three seasons on the sidelines. | 2/26 at UNC Greensboro, 2/29 vs. The Citadel |
| 13 | New Mexico St | 22-6 | 1 | The Aggies are tied with Dayton for the nation's longest winning streak at 16. Their offensive and defensive efficiency metrics in conference play are both the best marks in the league, which goes to show just how dominant they've been in WAC play. | 2/27 at Grand Canyon, 2/29 at Cal St. Bakersfield |
| 14 | Yale | 20-6 | -1 | Despite a 2OT scare against Cornell over the weekend, Yale escaped with a pair of wins to keep them atop the Ivy League standings with two weeks to play. | 2/28 vs. Penn, 2/29 vs. Princeton |
| 15 | Vermont | 22-7 | - | UMBC snapped their 12-game win streak, but the Catamounts have still locked up home-court advantage for the America East Tournament. | 2/29 at UMass Lowell |
| 16 | Saint Louis | 19-8 | 1 | Saint Louis still remains maddeningly inconsistent. They struggled on the road against a mediocre UMass team, but then proceeded to trounce VCU by 18. They still have an outside shot at cracking the top four of the A-10 standings before the conference tournament. | 2/26 vs. Saint Joseph's, 3/1 at Rhode Island |
| 17 | Liberty | 26-3 | 1 | With a win over North Florida, the Flames are now a half game up on the Ospreys and in control of their own fate for the regular season ASUN title. | 2/27 at Kennesaw State, 2/29 at Lipscomb |
| 18 | Loyola | 19-10 | 4 | The Ramblers are still a game back of Northern Iowa in the standings, and a road trip to Bradley to close the season could be the deciding game to determine who gets the No. 2 seed in Arch Madness. | 2/25 vs. Drake, 2/29 @ Bradley |
| 19 | VCU | 17-10 | -3 | VCU's first four-game losing streak since 2000 dashed its at-large hopes, which are at 0% per TourneyCast. It's Atlantic 10 tournament title or bust for the team picked to win the league in the A-10 preseason poll. | 2/26 @ Massachusetts, 2/29 vs. George Washington |
| 20 | Akron | 21-6 | 3 | Team Tyler Cheese is now tied atop the MAC East standings with five straight wins. The Zips will battle Bowling Green, the team they're tied with, Tuesday on the road. | 2/25 @ Bowling Green, 2/29 @ Buffalo |
| 21 | Stephen F. Austin | 24-3 | - | In a week where college basketball Twitter argued about SFA's at-large chances, the Lumberjacks won both of their games by an average of 19.5 points. | 2/26 vs. Northwestern State, 2/29 vs. Lamar |
| 22 | Louisiana Tech | 20-7 | NR | DaQuan Bracey's go-ahead basket against North Texas not only exacted revenge for the Bulldogs' 51-50 loss back in January, but also gave Louisiana Tech its first Quad. 2 win of the season. Another trip to Western Kentucky awaits this week. | 2/27 @ Western Kentucky |
| 23 | Harvard | 18-7 | NR | Harvard avenged its two losses to Penn and Princeton by beating them both at home this weekend. The Crimson seem to have righted the ship and are tracking toward another berth in the Ivy League Championship. | 2/28 @ Columbia, 2/29 @ Cornell |
| 24 | North Texas | 18-10 | -5 | Bonus play claimed its first victim in CUSA as North Texas fell by two against Louisiana Tech. It doesn't get much easier this week with a trip to FIU coming up Thursday. | 2/27 @ FIU, 3/1 vs. Western Kentucky |
| 25 | Belmont | 22-7 | NR | 2 games for Belmont last week and 2 great performances from Grayson Murphy. Against Morehead State: 16 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. Against Eastern Kentucky: 13 points, 7 assists, 7 steals. | 2/27 vs. Tennessee Tech, 2/29 @ Tennessee State |
Other teams receiving votes: Boise State 10, South Dakota State 7, Wright State 7, Nevada 5, Hofstra 3