They may not make many headlines, but college basketball runs on mid-major teams, meaning those teams that belong to conferences outside the Power Four of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.
Come March, we’ll be banking on them to provide us with some high-entertainment upsets, so it’s only right to take a look at two teams, in particular, already proving to hit above their weight class.
Fairfield Stags (2-0)
Through one week of women’s college basketball, the nation’s leading scorer is Fairfield wing Meghan Andersen. Andersen,
a 6-foot-1 junior, has already proven her ability to combine unreal efficiency with significant volume through her first two collegiate seasons. As a freshman, she led the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in 3-point percentage (36 percent on six attempts per game) and 2-point percentage (66 percent on six attempts per game). Her sophomore season saw much of the same, leading the MAAC in overall effective field goal percentage. Andersen averaged 15 points per game both years.
In Fairfield’s first game this year—an impressive away win at Villanova—Andersen exploded for 35 points in 33 minutes, missing only seven shots. She also brought in seven rebounds, two steals and one block. On Saturday, she followed up with another 30-point performance, but this time in only 26 minutes. Andersen’s 33-points per game on 60/56/78 shooting is far from sustainable, but she’s surely the heavy favorite to win MAAC Player of the Year after two straight All-MAAC seasons. If you’re looking for a new favorite mid-major hooper, you’ve found her.
Andersen’s star power aside, Fairfield looks like a team that could make noise once again. They won their conference tournament last March, but drew dead to a towering Kansas State team in the first round of March Madness. Early wins against Villanova and Lehigh are more than meets the eye, too. Villanova isn’t the best the Big East has to offer, but they’ve already beat both Lafayette and VCU by over 30 points. Fairfield beat Villanova by 12. Lehigh was a near 30-win team last season, and beat Power 4 Cincinnati in their first game. Fairfield beat Lehigh by 28. Fairfield has reaped double-digit wins from two more-than-capable teams, and has the nation’s leading scorer to boot.
Upcoming games against South Florida on Nov. 13 (6 p.m. ET, ESPNU) and North Carolina on Nov. 15 (6 p.m. ET, ESPN+) might be worth the watch.
Temple Owls (2-1)
Temple finished 20-11 last season, earning the No. 4 seed in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament and the right to be buried by Rice in the second round. This season, they’ve jumped out the gate with two impressive wins against formidable Atlantic-10 (A-10) opponents. They dramatically pulled ahead of George Mason—winners of 27 games and the A-10 championship last year—in overtime if their season opener. A few days later, they dog-walked George Washington in a 36-point blowout.
Temple is a top-30 scoring offense through two games, despite not feeding on any sub-Division I opponents like many other high-scoring programs. They have five players averaging double-digit points, and they’re shooting over 44 percent from 3 on the young season. Leading scorer Tristen Taylor looks like she could be one of the nation’s most fun small guards this season. At only 5-foot-5, she gets to the free throw line a lot, and has been a decent volume passer through her first few college seasons. Taylor hails from Duncanville High School, which has a prestigious women’s basketball program that produced WNBA talents in Tamika Catchings, Tiffany Jackson and Ariel Atkins.
Sans Jose Fernandez, who left his legendary tenure at South Florida for the Dallas Wings head coaching job, the AAC is in need of a new powerhouse. A Tuesday night loss at West Virginia, a Big 12 program that has made three-straight NCAA Tournaments, shouldn’t discourage from Temple’s ability to stand with the likes of North Texas, UTSA and South Florida towards the end of conference play, making them deserving of some attention in an always competitive mid-major conference.
