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The Mountain West landscape has started to solidify and it doesn’t quite look how we expected it to. Utah State and Boise State were both expected to be good and they top the standings, but they’re a combined 16-0 in conference games thanks to the Aggies’ sweep of San Diego State this weekend.
That sweep sent the Aggies up to No. 6 in The Other Top 25 as the Aztecs dropped to 10th. SDSU is also just 3-3 in the conference with a memorable loss to Colorado State. The Rams come in at No. 16 this week.
Elsewhere in The Other Top 25, we welcome Louisiana Tech to the fold. The Bulldogs have won three in a row and are fresh off a sweep of UTSA in which Amorie Archibald scored 41 total points and went 6-10 from three.
Here’s the full The Other Top 25 for the week:
Week 9
| Rank | School | Record | Change | Our reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | School | Record | Change | Our reasoning |
| 1 | Gonzaga | 14-0 | - | Saint Mary's gave the Bulldogs everything they had in the first half in Moraga, but Joel Ayayi and Co. righted the ship to stay undefeated and atop our weekly rankings. Gonzaga gets an upstart Pacific team in Spokane this weekend. |
| 2 | Saint Louis | 7-1 | - | Saint Louis hasn't lost in almost a month because, well, it hasn't played. UMass and St. Bonaventure will provide solid tests as the Billikens look to shake off the rust when they return to the court this week. |
| 3 | Boise State | 12-1 | - | The Broncos are still cruising atop the Mountain West, nabbing two comfortable wins against Wyoming this week. Boise State continues to look like the odds-on favorite to win the conference. |
| 4 | BYU | 11-3 | 1 | BYU had a sneaky good week for its NCAA Tournament resume, picking up a pair of Quad 2 wins on the road against Saint Mary's and San Francisco. Gonzaga is obviously in a different class, but the Cougars have the makings of a legitimate NCAA Tournament team right now. |
| 5 | St. Bonaventure | 6-1 | 1 | The Bonnies are grinding out wins in A-10 play, and after holding Fordham and Duquesne to 54 and 48 points, respectively, they're posting the best defensive efficiency mark in the conference. A brutal stretch awaits with VCU, Saint Louis and Davidson presenting opportunities for Bona to move the needle. |
| 6 | Utah State | 11-3 | 11 | A sweep of San Diego State has skyrocketed the Aggies into the top 10 and just outside the top 5. After early season disappointments, Utah State is looking more and more like a tournament team and a potential Mountain West champion. |
| 7 | Richmond | 9-3 | - | Richmond spent last week on pause due to COVID, but will be back in action on Saturday against La Salle pending testing results this week. |
| 8 | Western Kentucky | 11-4 | 1 | Charles Bassey turned in two monster efforts against Marshall, including a 21-point, 19-rebound and five-block showing in Friday's win. He's averaging a staggering 17.6 PPG, 12.1 RPG, and 3.3 BPG for the 11-4 'Toppers. |
| 9 | Loyola University Chicago | 10-3 | -1 | After demolishing Northern Iowa by 42 (!!!) points on Sunday, the Ramblers climbed to 35th in KenPom. They'll have five straight road games coming up to keep pace with undefeated Drake. |
| 10 | San Diego State | 9-4 | -6 | The Aztecs ran into a Utah State team that's playing as well as any team in the country right now, and only managed to score 45 and 59 points in their two losses in Logan last week. They'll have some work to do to catch the Aggies or Boise State in the Mountain West standings. |
| 11 | Belmont | 14-1 | - | Belmont is torching the OVC once again and has the league's best offense by a significant margin. The Bruins are projected to win out in the league and haven't lost since the first week of December. |
| 12 | Winthrop | 13-0 | - | Folks, there's a reason they're called Winthrop and not Losethrop. The Eagles improved to 13-0 last week and KenPom gives them a 20.1% chance of an unbeaten record with 10 games to go. |
| 13 | VCU | 10-3 | -3 | VCU is currently in the First Four Out on Bracket Matrix, but a road game against St. Bonaventure this week provides an opportunity for a Quad 1 win that would be a huge resume boost. |
| 14 | Drake | 13-0 | -1 | You can't ruin your undefeated season if you don't play. A COVID pause kept Drake on the sidelines last week and took away what would have been an awesome matchup with Loyola. |
| 15 | Furman | 10-3 | -1 | The Fur Men maintained their place in the SoCon driver's seat with a pair of wins against previously undefeated The Citadel and ETSU. Bob Richey's Paladins have a top-50 offense on KenPom for the first time in program history. |
| 16 | Colorado State | 10-2 | 5 | Colorado State crushed San Jose State in its two matchups last week by 33 and 27. The Rams are going to be put to the test in the coming weeks with a pair of back-to-backs against Utah State and Boise State that could make or break their MWC title hopes. |
| 17 | Abilene Christian | 11-2 | 2 | The Wildcats just do not lose. Sure, the Southland isn't the strongest conference right now, and they haven't played SFA yet. But you can only play the games put in front of you. A good matchup against Sam Houston State happens this week. |
| 18 | Toledo | 11-4 | -2 | Toledo lost by one in OT to a pretty good Akron team on the road, so they only drop a few spots. They'll have a chance to get those spots back next week with games against CMU and Kent State, which should be wins. Toledo beat Kent State by two in Kent to open up MAC play, so the Rockets will hope that the home matchup is better than the road counterpart. |
| 19 | South Dakota State | 8-3 | 3 | The Jackrabbits didn't play this week, but rise due to losses from teams around them. South Dakota State gets back in action with a doubleheader against North Dakota over the weekend. The Jackrabbits have already beaten the Fighting Hawks on a neutral floor, so they'll hope it's even easier with whatever home court advantage can be found. |
| 20 | Dayton | 8-3 | 3 | Dayton rode the Davidson win high to two more conference wins over a struggling Duquesne and George Washington. The Flyers have the return matchup against the Colonials on Wednesday before taking a life-altering trip, better than ten days in Europe, by traveling to VCU on Saturday, |
| 21 | Saint Mary's | 9-5 | -3 | Nobody in the WCC had a tougher week than Saint Mary's as it hosted and lost to the two best teams in the league in BYU and Gonzaga. The Gaels have now lost four of their last five and have a tough pair of road games on the docket this week against LMU and San Francisco. |
| 22 | UAB | 10-2 | 2 | UAB's weekend is the perfect example of how fickle back-to-back games against the same opponent can be. On Friday, they trounced Charlotte while holding them to 37 points. The following day, Charlotte won by 15. |
| 23 | Marshall | 7-4 | -3 | Despite being swept by Western Kentucky, the Herd are still expected to be a force in CUSA. A lengthy stretch of winnable games starts this week against FIU as they try to get back into the hunt. |
| 24 | Louisiana Tech | 11-4 | NR | La Tech is one of a handful of teams with 4-2 records in CUSA after sweeping UTSA last weekend. Amorie Archibald had season-highs of 19 and 22 points in the wins. |
| 25 | Bowling Green | 10-3 | - | Behind a season-high 25 points from Justin Turner, Bowling Green picked up a strong road win against Buffalo to keep pace with Toledo at 6-1 in the MAC. |
Also receiving votes: Siena, Georgia State, Wright State, Nevada, Navy, Liberty.