Building A Top 25 Team With Mid Majors

We define a mid-major and eligibility as anyone, not in a top 10 Major Conference. There have been pretty distinct tiers in recent years developed both in money, average finish, and multi-NCAA bids.

Power 6: Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 10, Pac 12

Major: AAC, WCC, Atlantic 10, MWC

Mid Major: led by CUSA, MVC, CAA, WAC, MAAC, Big West, Sun Belt, SoCon, Horizon, MAC

I thought it would be fun to think about what the lowest-ranked conference you could realistically build a top-25 team from. We have UAB ranked #31 in the preseason, so you could certainly build a team IMO with their guys and some of the other top players from North Texas and WKU in that league.

Our Top 25

Let’s quickly take a few of the borderline top 25 teams by our rankings and see what where their top players ranked in the ADJeff model nationally of returners.

#23 UConn

12	Adama Sanogo
116	Tristen Newton
298	Andre Jackson

#24 Florida

10	Colin Castleton
130	Trey Bonham
159	Will Richard
280	Kyle Lofton

#25 Creighton

6	Ryan Kalkbrenner
162	Baylor Scheierman

#26 St. Louis

17	Francis Okoro
96	Javonte Perkins
221	Fred Thatch Jr.
231	Yuri Collins
251	Gibson Jimerson

#27 Texas A&M

29	Tyrece Radford
74	Henry Coleman

#28 Memphis

11	Kendric Davis
41	Deandre Williams
263	Keonte Kennedy

That gives you a sense of what kind of talent level you probably need to have a chance. Some of these teams were ranked lower because of coaching or continuity, but most have some high-end elite talent.

CUSA

Here is where CUSA players came in.

61	Tylor Perry	North Texas
75	Jordan Walker	UAB
92	Max Fiedler	Rice
112	Jamarion Sharp	WKU
157	Abou Ousmane	North Texas
198	Ladarius Brewer	UAB
203	Dayvion McKnight	WKU
236	KJ Buffen	UAB
253	Trey Jemison	UAB
260	Montre? Gipson	Charlotte
283	Tavin Lovan	UAB
297	Eric Gaines	UAB

A Tylor Perry, Jordan Walker backcourt, with Jamarion Sharp behind them on defense would be a Top 25 team in my estimation with all that other incredible depth and the coaching of Grant McCasland. Eric Gaines was a 27-minute-a-game player on a top-25 LSU team last year so when you can bring a guy like that off the bench you probably got a top-25 team. The depth and fit work here in the hypothetical.

Southern Conference

The SoCon possesses the best collection of high-end talent of any of the Mid Majors in my opinion. Where it falls apart some for them is the depth, on the wings and that some of this high-end talent is in the post is a bit overkill as they couldn’t all play together.

13	Jake Stephens	Chattanooga
30	Jalen Slawson	Furman
43	B.J. Mack	Wofford
127	Mike Bothwell	Furman
118	Ques Glover	Samford

A three-man post rotation of Stephens, Slawson, and Mack with Bothwell and Ques Glover in the backcourt and Bob Richie coaching would still be a serious team to deal with. I think they could find enough perimeter wing role players around the league to crack into the top 20 still. These were some of the nice additions they made this offseason that probably help fill out that hypothetical team and 6th man off the bench.

Keondre Kennedy	6-6, 180	14.8ppg, 5.1rpg	UMBC
Justice Smith	6-6, 190	20.6ppg, 7.0rpg (D2)	Mansfield
DeAnthony Tipler	5-10, 175	13.4ppg, 2.5rpg (2021)	Coastal Carolina

*Bubba Parham as well if his health is better as the wildcard. The Southern Conference would have the highest upside IMO.

These next few conferences, there best I think could contend for the top 25 but not as sure a bet.

MVC

86	Garrett Sturtz	Drake	MVC
94	Ben Krikke	Valpo	MVC
105	Rienk Mast	Bradley	MVC
143	Tucker DeVries	Drake	MVC
153	Roman Penn	Drake	MVC
176	Ben Sheppard	Belmont	MVC
178	Marcus Domask	Southern Illinois	MVC

A lot of depth here, star power isn’t as great though.

CAA

54	Aaron Estrada	Hofstra	CAA
91	Charles Thompson	Towson	CAA
98	Cam Holden	Towson	CAA
170	Shykeim Phillips	UNCW	CAA

The CAA is a little light on bigs but I think that’s at least better if these guys could play together. They probably have the next best chance behind the SoCon and CUSA.

MAC

66	Enrique Freeman	Akron	MAC
76	Sy Chatman	Buffalo	MAC
80	JT Shumate	Toledo	MAC

Dwight Wilson is another big-time name depending on their health. The problem is all of their talents is concentrated in the post. The fit would be an issue and a couple would be wasting away on the bench at all times.

48	Kevin Samuel	South Alabama	SB
101	Jordan Brown	Louisiana	SB
141	Felipe Haase	Southern Miss	SB
154	Austin Trice	Old Dominion	SB

The fit would be an issue on this team as well with all bigs. Greg Parham’s health would help a lot.

Other Top 100
42	Andre Kelly	UCSB
72	Antoine Davis	Detroit
82	Nelly Junior Joseph	Iona

These three mid-major players also cracked the top 100 in adjusted efficiency, but the rest of their conferences are light on the kind of talent you could see doing it. We’ve seen teams not do anything with Kelly and Davis with nothing around them too. I think there are a few conferences you could build a top 45 team and probably get an at large like those or the American East, or at least the bubble. There might be enough for that level.

Conclusion

I think you could build a top 25 team fairly easily with CUSA and Southern Conferences best. Maybe even a top 15-ranked one. The CAA and MVC would have a chance but not likely although they probably have enough for large teams. The MAC and Sun Belt would be long shots. That’s my take.

So could we build a team from the entire pool to challenge for the top 5?

Why not just for fun.

13	Jake Stephens	Chattanooga
30	Jalen Slawson	Furman
42	Andre Kelly	UCSB
43	B.J. Mack	Wofford
48	Kevin Samuel	South Alabama
54	Aaron Estrada	Hofstra
61	Tylor Perry	North Texas
66	Enrique Freeman	Akron
72	Antoine Davis	Detroit
75	Jordan Walker	UAB
76	Sy Chatman	Buffalo
80	JT Shumate	Toledo
82	Nelly Junior Joseph	Iona
86	Garrett Sturtz	Drake
91	Charles Thompson	Towson
92	Max Fiedler	Rice
94	Ben Krikke	Valpo
98	Cam Holden	Towson
101	Jordan Brown	Louisiana
103	Tosan Evbuomwan	Princeton
105	Rienk Mast	Bradley
112	Jamarion Sharp	WKU
115	Darius McGhee	Liberty
118	Ques Glover	Samford
119	Antwan Walker	Bryant
127	Mike Bothwell	Furman
141	Felipe Haase	Southern Miss
143	Tucker DeVries	Drake
151	Dylan Penn	Vermont
153	Roman Penn	Drake
154	Austin Trice	Old Dominion
157	Abou Ousmane	North Texas
163	Jordan Dingle	Penn
167	Xavier Pinson	New Mexico State
170	Shykeim Phillips	UNCW
176	Ben Sheppard	Belmont
178	Marcus Domask	Southern Illinois
179	KJ Simon	Tennesse Martin
183	Justin Amadi	JMU
184	Ahsan Asadullah	Lipscomb
190	Seneca Knight	Illinois State

Here are some of the players in the Top 190.

I think a team of some mix of…

Jake Stephens, Andre Kelly, Kevin Samuel, Aaron Estrada, Antonie Davis, Jordan Walker, Darius McGhee, Jordan Brown, Ques Glover and Tylor Perry could beat Gonzaga or UNC which are our Top 2.

C Stephens

F Brown

F Estrada

G Davis

G Walker

If you have a team good enough to bring players like Darius McGhee or Andre Kelly, or Tylor Perry off the bench you got a team good enough to compete for #1 I think.

#1 Gonzaga

4	Drew Timme
28	Malachi Smith
126	Rasir Bolton
177	Julian Strawther

#2 North Carolina

5	Armando Bacot
31	Pete Nance
193	R.J. Davis
266	Caleb Love