One week into the season, and we already have a change at the top of the Other Top 25. Saint Mary’s and San Diego State swapped in the top two spots with the Gaels ascending to No. 1.
Randy Bennett’s squad
is 2-0 with a pair of blowout wins. SMC routed Summit League favorite St. Thomas 84-58 to open the season last Monday. The Gaels followed that up with an 87-66 win over Chattanooga. They have games against Ohio and North Texas this week.
Saint Mary’s is 41st in KenPom. It is 32nd overall in adjusted defensive efficiency and sits 363rd (out of 365) in tempo.
Akron and High Point were a part of a four-way tie for 22nd in the preseason. Now, they each find themselves inside the top 11.
The Zips are No. 9 this week after they dominated Princeton 104-69 on Saturday. That game was preceded by an 85-71 win over James Madison. Akron sits 73rd in KenPom, which is 24 spots ahead of the next MAC team.
The Panthers, No. 11, put together one of the most impressive wins of the season. They topped SoCon contender Furman 97-71 to open that season. They raced out to a big lead at the half with 55 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Boise State, who lost to Hawaii Pacific by a point to open the season, barely hung onto still being ranked. The Broncos were No. 4 in the preseason and are now No. 24.
Six new teams joined the ranking: George Washington (No. 14), Northern Iowa (No. 18), Cal Baptist (No. 19), Nevada (No. T-20), New Mexico (No. 23) and UT Martin (No. 25).
Others Receiving Votes:
UC Santa Barbara 17; Kennesaw St. 16; Murray St. 16; Loyola Marymount 15; New Orleans 15; UC Irvine 14; UNLV 12; Troy 11; Idaho 10; Illinois St. 9; Loyola Chicago 9; Marshall 8; Belmont 7; Tulsa 6; Vermont 5; Towson 4; Bowling Green 4; Bradley 3, Oregon St. 3, McNeese St. 1; Marist 1
Dropped from Rankings:
UC Irvine – 12; UNLV – 14; Illinois St. – 16; Loyola Chicago – 17; Kennesaw St. – T-22; Towson – T-22
