Utah State was the top team in the Men’s Other Top 25 when conference play began in earnest at the beginning of the calendar year. Now that the conference tournaments are in the rearview mirror, the Aggies find themselves atop the poll once again.
Jerrod Calhoun’s bunch swept the Mountain West regular season and tournament championships. The Aggies knocked off San Diego St. in the title game, which gave them the auto-bid but denied the conference a second team in the NCAA Tournament. USU is a 9-seed
in the Big Dance and faces Villanova in the first round.
Miami (OH) and Saint Louis tied for second. They were in the top three in our last poll as well but were upset in their conference tournaments. The RedHawks suffered their first loss of the season against UMass in the MAC quarterfinals. They’ll play in the First Four this week against SMU. The Billikens lost to Dayton in the Atlantic 10 semis and claimed a 9-seed in March Madness. SLU faces Georgia in the first round.
Saint Mary’s, who No. 2 in the last Other Top 25, came in at four this week. The Gaels lost to Santa Clara in the WCC semifinals. Randy Bennett’s team is dancing for a fifth straight year, the longest streak in program history. It’ll open up against Texas A&M in a 7-10 game.
VCU rounded out the top five. The Rams won the A10 tournament to solidify their spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Selection Committee said it would not have had Phil Martelli Jr.’s team in the field as an at-large. This year marks the program’s first consecutive trips to the Dance since going to seven straight from 2011 to 2017.
Santa Clara held steady at six. The Broncos are dancing for the first time since 1996 and gave us a three-bid WCC. Herb Sendek and SC are a 10-seed and face Kentucky to open the Tournament.
The rest of the top 10 is filled by conference champions: South Florida and Akron tying for seventh, Northern Iowa placing ninth after not being in the poll, and High Point jumping to 10.
Here is the full ranking:
Others Receiving Votes:
Troy 4; Wichita St. 3; Liberty 2; Tennessee St. 2; Navy 1; North Dakota St. 1
Dropped from Rankings:
Stephen F. Ausin – 9; Liberty – 14; UNC Wilmington – 20; Saint Joseph’s – 21; Navy – 23
