2024-25 NCAAW Mid-Major+ User Poll Top 20: Week 8

[u/TallLatvianLad]

This is not the main NCAAW user poll, for that poll go here

Top 20 rankings of teams in all conferences excluding the ACC, B10, B12, BE & SEC

The "+" in the poll name is a nod to the varied usage of the term "mid-major", as there are teams in this poll sometimes discussed as outliers, high or low majors etc. and the scope of this poll includes ALL teams outside of the 5 conferences mentioned above. Mid-Major is not an official term used by the NCAA and is not interpreted the same by all. The primary purpose of this poll is for starting conversations about the teams themselves, not the concept of a mid-major. Remember have fun and be courteous to others!

# Team (1st votes) Score

1 Harvard (3) 153

2 George Mason (1) 144

3 South Dakota St (2) 140

4 Richmond (1) 136

5 Quinnipiac (1) 126

6 Portland 111

7 Columbia 87

8 UNLV 86

9 South Florida 75

10 Ball St 71

11 Middle Tennessee 70

12 Saint Joseph’s 68

13 Belmont 67

14 N. Iowa 66

15 Fairfield 60

16 Princeton 59

17 James Madison 27

18 UTSA 24

19 Grand Canyon 23

20 Buffalo 18

Others Receiving Votes:

Southern Indiana 14, FGCU 11, N. Arizona 11, Oral Roberts 8, Colorado St 5, Montana St 4, Missouri St 3, Norfolk St 3, Stephen F. Austin 3, Charleston 1, Coastal Carolina 1

Dropped from top 20: N. Arizona, FGCU, Southern Indiana

8 voters this week

Last week's poll

Additional comments from voters:

"Next four were: San Diego State, Duquesne, Green Bay, James Madison"

"It's kind of hard to sort these teams out by this point of the season...since it's essentially just prioritizing who had the "better" noncon losses at times..."

"My next out: 21. Southern Indiana 22. Temple 23. Murray St 24. Drake 25. Washington St 26. Montana St 27. Cleveland St 28. Duquesne 29. Buffalo 30. Stephen F. Austin 31. Oral Roberts 32. San Diego St"

[u/GoLionsJD107]

Sad to see FGCU fall

[u/TallLatvianLad → u/GoLionsJD107]

I'm wondering what the vibes are in the fanbase and program... skepticism or still optimism in the post Smesko era? Feel like the team will be under some scrutiny for awhile, to see how they handle new systems

[u/GoLionsJD107 → u/TallLatvianLad]

Skepticism. SW Florida has no teams of its own except for fgcu - the women’s team almost always makes the tournament - the men’s team occasionally makes it and had a run ten years ago. Usually they end up like 25-2, so this is a down year but considering their conference people still expect a big but not a contending bid like a 15 seed or something. A 7 for example is probably out of the question.

[u/TallLatvianLad → u/GoLionsJD107]

Indeed, similar thoughts in the short term. I was more alluding to long term vibes overall, but may be skepticism for that too considering the bumpy transition so far

Edit: though I think they can snag slightly better than a 15 seed potentially if they handle conference play ok

[u/GoLionsJD107 → u/TallLatvianLad]

13-15 range- like one loss really impacts their seeding because of the schedule. I’m hoping it’s just one down year.

[u/TallLatvianLad]

No major action until the weekend for teams from the top 20. Here are some notable games Sat and Sun (teams ranked in the poll in bold):

Sat 12/28: Portland @ Santa Clara

Su 12/29: South Florida @ Rice, Middle Tennessee @ Princeton, VCU @ Saint Joseph’s, Troy @ James Madison, N. Arizona @ Grand Canyon