Mid-major top 10 rankings

Mid-major top 10 rankings

With the first full weekend of February in the books, it's time to look at the top 10 mid-majors. Or in less catchy parlance, the top teams that aren't in the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10 or SEC.

AP Photo/Wade Payne
Vivian Frierson and Gonzaga ring in at No. 6 in our rankings, -- but are in first place in the West Coast Conference.
1. South Dakota State (22-2): Entering Monday's game at IUPUI, the Jackrabbits are 8-0 in the Summit League since losing at Oakland on Jan. 5. Aaron Johnston's team beat Oakland 88-75 in the return game between the two conference leaders and beat five of its other seven opponents by at least 30 points. So much for the mid-winter doldrums. And if you want some proof of how good South Dakota State's team defense is, consider the Jackrabbits have exactly the same number of steals and blocks as their opponents, but they've forced 89 more turnovers than their opponents through 24 games.
2. Xavier (20-4): Speaking of teams on a roll, Xavier has yet to lose in 2009 after it improved to 10-0 in the new calendar year with a win at Richmond over the weekend. The Musketeers are understandably known for the defensive symphonies they can orchestrate (see: Rhode Island's 29-point performance), but on the offensive end, they're actually shooting the ball better than they did a season ago. Chalk that up to Ta'Shia Phillips and her 63.5 percent shooting inside the arc, but it's also true from long range. The team had just two players hit as many as 20 3-pointers last season; this season four players have already eclipsed that mark, and three of them are shooting better than 36 percent from back there.
3. Middle Tennessee (20-4): How do you lead the nation in scoring? Alysha Clark averages 5.0 offensive rebounds per game; the rest of her Middle Tennessee teammates average 6.4. Clark averages 8.5 free-throw attempts per game; the rest of her teammates average 8.1 per game. That's maximizing your looks. Not that Clark is a one-woman show in Murfreesboro. The Blue Raiders have five players averaging between 2.3 and 2.8 assists per game. One player might end up with the ball in her hands more often than not, but there's still a lot of sharing going on. Meanwhile, 15 consecutive wins, including a big overtime victory at Arkansas-Little Rock on Jan. 17, has Middle Tennessee in the Sun Belt driver's seat.
4. Wisconsin-Green Bay (19-3): I wasn't alive the last time the Phoenix had a losing season (the 1976-77 campaign, when the program was just four years old) and things just keep rolling along in Green Bay. Matt Bollant's team hasn't allowed an opponent to score more than 54 points since a 78-66 loss to DePaul in late December, a streak of 11 consecutive wins that has the team in control of the Horizon League. The problem for the Phoenix, despite a good non-league schedule, is that unlike the teams above, there isn't an RPI in the 20s to fall back on.
5. Utah (16-6): It has been quite a turnaround from a 1-4 start for the Utes, who pulled out two must-win results at home last week against TCU and Wyoming. Utah now has a two-game cushion in the Mountain West to help it through a closing stretch that features four of seven on the road and a gauntlet of BYU, New Mexico and TCU to survive at the very end. The Utes rank 15th nationally in field goal-percentage offense, but this team is also posting slightly better defensive numbers than last year's MWC regular-season championship edition.
6. Gonzaga (19-5): Sunday's loss at home against Portland ended hopes of an unbeaten conference regular season, but Gonzaga's at-large profile was never as dependent on that sort of thing as other mid-majors, thanks to wins against the likes of Virginia, Utah and Montana and a solid RPI. Meanwhile, Vivian Frieson continues as the unsung star in the Heather Bowman and Courtney Vandersloot show in Spokane. How many other complementary players can match numbers like 7.0 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 1.5 blocks and 2.2 assists?
7. Illinois State (18-4): The Redbirds aren't doing it quite the same way as last season, but the results in conference play are starting to look familiar. In fact, they're starting to look even better. The team isn't shooting the ball from 3-point territory nearly as consistently as last season, with the notable exception of senior Kristi Cirone, but it is rebounding slightly better and faring significantly better in field goal defense. Through 10 league games last season, seven opponents had scored at least 60 points. This season, only four have managed to reach that mark.
8. Arkansas-Little Rock (19-4): The Sun Belt sneaks a second team into the mix. Arkansas-Little Rock couldn't fend off Middle Tennessee at home, but a potential rematch in the conference tournament shapes up as one of the highlights of championship week. Chastity Reed's second-half surge continues; she's averaging better than 21 points a game in conference play, and Asriel Rolfe is a big reason the team ranks among national leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio.
9. Bowling Green (20-2): On the heels of a big win against Ball State, Bowling Green narrowly averted disaster, or at least severe slippage, in pulling out an overtime win Saturday at Western Michigan. As it stands now, the Falcons are riding a 20-game winning streak and control their fate in the MAC. Even by league standards, this isn't a good rebounding team, but the Falcons shoot the ball well from the field, the 3-point line and the free-throw line, and come up with the kind of steals and turnovers emblematic of an opportunistic defense.
10. Montana (19-4): The Grizzlies dropped a costly game at Portland State (what is it with the Portland schools tripping up teams on this list?) but otherwise held up well during a month-long stretch that included six road games and two games in Missoula. Now they get to finish with five of seven at home.