In an ever-changing college basketball landscape, mid-major hoops remains some of the most entertaining hoops you'll find.
In this piece, I ranked my top 10 mid-major squads in the country, including A-10 and Mountain West teams.
The one team that didn't crack the list is Gonzaga, well because it's Gonzaga.
The 10 teams listed have a chance to become darlings in the Big Dance, just like Yale last year and Princeton and Fairleigh Dickinson the year prior.
Without further ado, here's my top-10 mid-majors for the 2024-25 college basketball season.
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Grand Canyon Antelopes
The Lopes will look to finish their WAC tenure in dominant fashion. Grand Canyon, which is headed to the WCC in 2025, is probably the most talented mid-major (not named Gonzaga) in the sport.
I’d argue the most important detail for a mid-major team to achieve success is having an absolute star.
The good news for Grand Canyon is it has two stars, not just one. The first is Tyon Grant-Foster, who could easily start for most high-majors. Grant-Foster is known for his scoring, but his defensive ability is one of the most underrated skills of any elite player in college basketball.
Ray Harrison is the other part of that duo. Harrison isn’t the Lopes' best player, but he could easily drop 20+ points whenever they need it.
The Lopes' interior is incredibly underrated, as well. Lok Wur and Duke Brennan will provide lockdown interior defense, while TCU transfer JaKobe Coles adds some offensive firepower.
It would take a nearly flawless season for Grand Canyon to earn an at-large bid, but if any team from a traditional one-bid league can do it, it's the Lopes.
VCU Rams
I'm not sure if this opinion is unpopular, but I'm a huge fan of this VCU squad, which has a chance to win the A-10 title.
Ryan Odom's squads are known for having great offenses, but that wasn't the case last year, as VCU ranked 121st in offensive efficiency compared to 40th in defensive efficiency.
I see the split being a bit closer this season, as both units could slide into the top 50.
Max Shulga is a great player, but the Rams needed another guy to be an option in late-game moments. That's why Phillip Russell (UT Arlington) is such a big add. Russell instantly made UT Arlington a WAC contender last year, and he brought SEMO to the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago.
He's the perfect compliment to Shulga.
Keep an eye on VCU, which has a legitimate top-25 upside.
Boise State Broncos
I guess this is the final year we can truly consider Boise State a “mid-major," as it’ll leave for the new Pac-12 in 2025.
For now, the Broncos will look to win the Mountain West for the second time in four seasons.
Leon Rice and company can take home another regular season trophy. The reason for believing in the Broncos all comes down to the return of forwards Tyson Degenhart and O’Mar Stanley. The dynamic tandem will give the Broncos the interior advantage in virtually every game.
But there’s one glaring difference in Boise State’s personnel this season: It has a real point guard this year.
Once the Roddie Anderson and Jace Whiting experiments fell by the wayside, Boise resorted to running everything through its bigs.
The Broncos brought in a former foe in San Jose State transfer Alvaro Cardenas, who averaged 5.5 assists with the Spartans. That's over three more assists than any Boise State player in 2023-24.
Boise State adding a point guard of Cardenas’ caliber changes the complexion of the roster. The bigs should have an easier time getting looks since they won’t have to focus on creating their own shots.
Princeton Tigers
The Tigers have become a regular on top mid-major lists over the past four or five years, and their rise isn't done yet.
Princeton returns Caden Pierce and Xaivian Lee, who both battled for Ivy League Player of Year last year. Pierce ultimately snagged the award, but I doubt anybody would’ve complained if Lee earned it instead.
It’s quite a luxury for Mitch Henderson to return both players, who were surely courted by high-majors.
The question I have is, who steps up in Matt Allocco’s stead as the third scorer?
I’d lean toward Dalen Davis, who scored 6.6 points per game in just 15 minutes a night. He scored 21 points in the Tigers' Ivy League semifinals loss versus Brown and will look to make the strong freshman-to-sophomore leap.
McNeese Cowboys
To nobody’s surprise, Will Wade has turned McNeese into one of the scariest mid-majors in the sport.
Fresh off a 31-win year and an NCAA Tournament berth, Wade assembled an insanely talented roster for the Southland Conference. The Cowboys return three of their top four scorers from last year's squad, led by forward Christian Shumate and guards Javohn Garcia and DJ Richards Jr.
This year's McNeese squad features more top-end talent, with high-major imports Quadir Copeland (Syracuse), Brandon Murray (Ole Miss), Bryant Selebangue (Arizona State) and others — like Sincere Parker (St Louis), and Joe Charles (Louisiana) — vying for significant minutes.
The one knock I’d have on the Cowboys is, who's the Shahada Wells of this team? When times get tough, who’s hitting a shot?
I think Parker is best equipped for that role. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 15.9 points in 20 minutes per night in the A-10, including a three-game stretch with 30+ points per game.
Lacking a true “star” isn’t a bad issue when five or six players could be the go-to guy on any given night. If Wade allows Parker to get up 13+ shots per game, he could lead the nation in scoring.
It’s borderline impossible to find bad qualities in this McNeese squad. If Wade wants to play big, then the bouldering Selebangue can play next to Shumate and Charles. If he wants to go small, then Shumate or Charles can play the five with Copeland at the four.
That's an absolute embarrassment of riches in Lake Charles.
High Point Panthers
I already discussed a super deep mid-major in McNeese, but what if I told you High Point was even deeper? Well, the Panthers feature exceptional depth.
Alan Huss notched a Big South regular season title in his inaugural campaign at High Point. He returns three starters from last year's team — Kezza Giffa, defensive anchor Kimani Hamilton and 7-footer Juslin Bodo Bodo.
Back to the depth portion of things, High Point brought in five transfers who started at other schools, like Chase Johnston, who’ll add some shooting, and Terry Anderson, who’ll add some defense (which is an area of need for the Panthers).
Plus, Abdoulaye Thiam, Titas Sargiunas and Trae Benham return from last year's squad, so there are already 10 players in the Panthers' rotation.
Factor in Simon Hildebrandt — a transfer from the U Sports system in Canada — and the Panthers are an 11-deep rotation without any dead weight in the lineup. That's fairly unheard of in the mid-major ranks nowadays.
If you love explosive offenses, High Point is the mid-major darling for you. I'm certainly looking to back the Panthers during the year.
Bradley Braves
With so many hands changing in the Missouri Valley, one of the few constants is Brian Wardle at Bradley. Wardle ushered the Braves to 20+ wins in five of the past seven seasons, and he’ll likely have another 20+ win year in 2024-25.
With five of its top seven scorers returning, Bradley should have the continuity edge over most conference foes.
Duke Deen is the offensive focal point with his parking-lot shooting range, while the defensive success hinges on Darius Hannah, who recorded 2.5 stocks (steals and blocks) last year.
The biggest question is, can Bradley replace the multi-positional defensive prowess of Malevy Leons, who often found himself defending opponent's top scorer?
Maybe 6-foot-7 wing Christian Davis is the guy. He started only 11 games last year, but that’ll change in his senior campaign.
Bradley also has a pair of breakout sophomores in forward Almar Atlason and guard Demarion Burch.
Between the amount of talent and the rich winning tradition, Bradley comfortably secured a top-10 spot.
Ohio Bobcats
I touched on why Ohio is the best bet in the MAC in my conference preview, so I’ll keep it short and sweet here.
The best team in the MAC typically ends up as one of the 10 best mid-majors in the sport, and Ohio is the best team in my eyes.
It’s relatively uncommon for the best team in the MAC to finish outside the KenPom top 100 — it’s happened just once since 2015. If Ohio is the best team in the MAC, then the Bobcats should find their way into the top 100.
I’m a huge believer in teams with great guards, and Ohio has an electric trio in Jackson Paveletzke, Shereef Mitchell and AJ Brown.
UC Irvine Anteaters
You can honestly just take what I said about Bradley almost verbatim and slap it here in the UC Irvine blurb.
Since 2012-13, the Anteaters have finished second or better in the Big West in every season except for one, including eight first-place finishes.
The only problem is they turned those eight wins into just two NCAA Tournament bids, which likely keeps them out of the public eye.
The Anteaters benefitted from player retention this offseason, as four of their five best scorers return.
The biggest name is leading scorer Justin Hohn; however, keep an eye on 7-footer Bent Leuchten, who oozes with breakout upside.
While point guard Derin Saran transferred to Stanford, adding Chattanooga transfer Myles Che should alleviate some concern.
Russell Turner is a winner with a defensive system that stifles opponents yearly. He should lead UC Irvine to another 22+ win season and keep the Anteaters in the conversation as a top-10 mid-major squad.
Saint Louis Billikens
The Billikens made the hire of the offseason by plucking Josh Schertz from Indiana State. The sharp offensive mind of Schertz led the Sycamores to 32 wins and a runner-up finish in the NIT last season.
However, expectations are higher at Saint Louis, and Schertz can fulfill some of them with an NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Billikens have the best trio in the A-10. Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope followed Schertz, joining experienced sharpshooter Gibson Jimerson, who could have a Ryan Conwell-like blueprint to success.
Outside of VCU, Saint Louis is the next-best team in the A-10 and is criminally underrated in KenPom.
