The Other Men’s Top 25: Utah St. jumps to No. 1

We have our third No. 1 team in the men’s Other Top 25 for this season, with Utah St. jumping Saint Mary’s for the top spot in this week’s ranking.

The Aggies completed the month of November a perfect 7-0. They defeated VCU by three during the first week of the season. USU won the Charleston Classic with wins over Tulane and Davidson. It then defeated Montana St. in overtime on Saturday in its lone game of last week.

Utah St. is 22nd in the initial NET ranking, 34th in KenPom and 51st in BartTorvik.

Saint Mary’s dropped to second. Dayton, who claimed one first-place vote, moved up to No. 3. Saint Louis and George Mason tied for fourth. VCU elevated from 12th to sixth.

The biggest jump of the week belonged to Belmont, which went from 23 to No. 9. The Bruins are undefeated at 8-0. They won three games last week, including winning the Coconut Hoops tournament by knocking off Saint Francis and Toledo. They rounded out the week with a W at Charleston.

Belmont is top 100 in all three metrics: 35th in the NET, 75th in KenPom and 92nd in Torvik.

Six teams joined the ranking after receiving votes last week: UC San Diego (12th), Buffalo (16th), Tulsa (19th), New Mexico St. (T-20th), Rhode Island (23rd) and St. Bonaventure (T-24th). They replaced Loyola Marymount, Boise St., South Florida, Troy, UNLV and Wichita St.

Here is the full ranking:

Ranking

Team (First-Place Votes)

Points

Last Week

1

Utah St. (2)

121

2

2

Saint Mary’s (2)

118

1

3

Dayton (1)

112

4

T-4

Saint Louis

107

3

T-4

George Mason

107

7

6

VCU

106

12

7

San Diego St.

81

6

8

Santa Clara

77

T-9

9

Belmont

70

23

10

Yale

67

13

11

Northern Iowa

59

8

12

UC San Diego

56

RV

13

Cal Baptist

50

T-18

14

George Washington

40

T-24

15

San Francisco

38

T-9

16

Buffalo

37

RV

17

Akron

36

11

18

High Point

32

15

19

Tulsa

31

RV

T-20

McNeese St.

28

T-21

T-20

New Mexico St.

28

RV

22

Colorado St.

26

16

23

Rhode Island

24

RV

T-24

Liberty

19

5

T-24

St. Bonaventure

19

RV

Others Receiving Votes:

Davidson 17; UNC Wilmington 13; Hawaii 11; Boise St. 10; Kent St. 10; Central Connecticut 10; Loyola Marymount 9; UAB 9; Miami OH 9; Illinois St. 8; Northern Colorado 7; Grand Canyon 6; Iona 5; South Alabama 4; Winthrop 3; Richmond 2; Columbia 2; East Tennessee St. 1

Dropped from Rankings:

Loyola Marymount – 14; Boise St. – 17; South Florida – T-18; Troy – T-18; UNLV – T-21; Wichita St. – T-24