With college football season over and the Super Bowl only two weeks away, many of the country’s sports fans will adopt what has become a familiar routine over the years — digging into men’s college basketball and counting down the days to the start of the NCAA tournament.
At least some of the excitement and joy from the madness of March comes from outside the sport’s biggest conferences, where smaller schools pull off the kinds of upsets that thrill fans and destroy brackets. It’s part of the beauty of NCAA tournament folk heroes, with previously little-known players, coaches, programs and schools become national darlings in an instant.
Those teams, though, can be enjoyed well before they become household names.
As March inches closer, USA TODAY Sports will do weekly rankings of the 10 best teams from outside of the five Power conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and SEC), so while programs like Gonzaga or San Diego State — both of which have made the national title game in the past five years — are nobody’s idea of a mid-major, they fall into this category for the sake of this exercise.
Where do teams from outside the biggest conferences stand as February approaches?
College basketball mid-major power rankings
1. Gonzaga (21-1)
Mark Few has made the Bulldogs a model of consistent success for any program at any level of the sport and this season has been no exception. Since a loss to No. 2 Michigan in the Players Era Festival on Nov. 26, the Zags have rattled off 14 consecutive wins, a run that has included victories over Kentucky (by 35), UCLA, Oregon and Santa Clara. Graham Ike and Braden Huff form one of the best frontcourts in the country, with the forwards averaging a combined 35.9 points per game.
2. Saint Louis (19-1)
If it weren’t for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in a 78-77 loss to Stanford on Nov. 28, the Billikens would be among the small handful of undefeated teams remaining in the sport. In its second season under coach Josh Schertz, Saint Louis has emerged as the class of the Atlantic 10, with a 7-0 conference record and only two of those games decided by single digits. College basketball folk hero Robbie Avila, who previously played for Schertz at Indiana State, is averaging a team-high 12.7 points and four assists per game.
3. Miami-Ohio (20-0)
The RedHawks are one of just three undefeated teams at the Division I level, with a 20-0 mark on the heels of a 25-win season in 2024-25. It marks the first time a Mid-American Conference team has ever won its first 20 games. Their nonconference schedule was the fourth-easiest among Division I squads, according to KenPom, but coach Travis Steele’s team has shown its mettle in pressurized situations, with overtime wins against Buffalo and Kent State, as well as a three-point victory over reigning MAC champion Akron.
4. Utah State (16-3)
The Aggies have become a launching pad for promising coaches to bigger, higher-paying jobs, with four coaches in the past six years. Through it all, though, they keep winning, with Vanderbilt transfer MJ Collins Jr. pacing this season’s team with 19.3 points per game on 42.4% shooting from 3. They’ve cooled off a bit lately, losing two of their past three after a 15-1 start, but they still look like the Mountain West favorite.
5. Saint Mary’s (19-3)
Like West Coast Conference rival Gonzaga, the Gaels win year after year and have continued it this season, with 10 wins in their past 11 games. Among the areas in which they’ve excelled? At the free-throw line, where they’re burying a Division I-best 81% of their attempts.
6. Santa Clara (17-5)
Under veteran coach Herb Sendek, the Broncos are on pace for their most wins in a season in a decade while collecting several impressive victories along the way — beating, among others, Saint Mary’s, Xavier, Minnesota, Nevada and McNeese.
7. San Diego State (14-5)
The Aztecs have found their footing after a 3-3 start, winning 11 of their past 13 games (with one of those losses coming to No. 1 Arizona). As always, they’ve been fierce on the defensive end, ranking 26th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.
8. New Mexico (16-4)
After winning 30 games last season at UC San Diego, coach Eric Olen has kept things rolling in his first season with the Lobos, who are 13-2 since Nov. 21 and have picked up wins against Santa Clara, VCU, Mississippi State and Nevada.
9. George Mason (18-2)
Tony Skinn helped lead the Patriots to the 2006 Final Four as a player and has excelled since returning to the school as a coach, winning at least 20 games in his first two seasons. This squad might be his best yet. Like Miami (Ohio), George Mason feasted on a weak nonconference schedule, but it still has quality wins over VCU and George Washington.
10. Akron (16-4)
Three of the Zips’ four losses this season have come by five points or fewer, with only No. 12 Purdue beating them by a larger margin. Senior guard Tavari Johnson is one of the most dynamic scorers in the country, averaging 20.3 points per game and shooting 38.7% from 3.