5 Mid Major Teams With At-Large Opportunities

On December 4th we received the first NET rankings of the 2023-2024 college basketball season. These rankings gave us a good idea of what mid major teams the NET valued highly. This post will be discussing five mid majors who have at-large opportunities following the releasing of the NET rankings.

Colorado State (9-0) NET: 8th

Colorado State sits 13th in the AP Poll and most importantly for the Rams they are 9th in the NET rankings. This Mountain West squad has built an impressive non-conference resume, including wins over Creighton and Washington. Colorado State has positioned themselves really well entering Mountain West to earn a single digit seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Princeton (9-0) NET: 10th

Princeton began their season with five straight road games, winning all five of them including a victory in Piscataway over Rutgers. The Tigers have remained undefeated and in doing so have earned a NET ranking of 10th. Following their Sweet 16 run last March, it is likely the committee will observe Princeton a bit more closely when it comes to an at-large bid.

Florida Atlantic (7-2) NET: 18th

Speaking of NCAA Tournament runs, the FAU Owls have done plenty of work preluding American Athletic conference play to make an at-large chance likely. Following a shocking loss to Bryant, the Owls have rattled off victories against Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Liberty and Charleston. They fell to Illinois in Madison Square Garden earlier this week, Dusty May’s squad still has game against Arizona so the chance for them to improve their resume even further is still available.

Indiana State (7-1) NET: 16th

The Sycamores have only been to the NCAA Tournament 3 times since 1979, the last time being 2011. The 2023-2024 campaign has started strong for Indiana State, with their only loss being on the road to the hands of Alabama. Indiana State has a neutral victory over Toledo and a road victory over Bradley to their name, obviously wins that the NET has liked. The Missouri Valley will be a gauntlet this year as always, but if Indiana State can continue their winning way they can earn an at-large to the big dance.

James Madison (8-0) NET: 34th

Our final team to discuss is the beloved Dukes of James Madison. They started off the season with a victory over Michigan State in East Lansing and have not looked back since. Really, the tough non-conference play is over for JMU so that just leaves Sun Belt play. I would not be surprised if we saw a situation where JMU earns a 10 or 11 seed after a loss or two in Sun Belt play and a loss in the Sun Belt tournament championship game. I think James Madison has done enough in order to receive an at-large bid if they continue winning basketball games.