With 2024 rapidly approaching, it's time once again to check in on the most promising mid-major men's programs in Division I. This time our attention has been captured by four mid-majors in particular.
The last time we engaged in this exercise, it was the preseason. We named five programs that showed promise and, sure enough, Drake, Grand Canyon and Liberty have indeed lived up to those expectations. Loyola Chicago and Yale? Not so much, but the season's young, and we'll keep watching.
For the time being, we here at "mid-majors to watch" HQ will continue to exempt Florida Atlantic and the entire Mountain West from the term in question. The Owls are coming off a Final Four run and are clocking in at or near top-four-seed status in Joe Lunardi's bracket projections.
For its part the Mountain West outranked the ACC last season at KenPom in terms of conference strength, and San Diego State reached the 2023 national title game. If we were speaking of Mountain West teams, however, we would be remiss not to single out Colorado State. The Rams have wins over Creighton and Colorado to their name and are looking like a threat to win the Mountain West outright. CSU, we salute you!
With those rules in place, here are four more mid-major programs to watch. Make room in your attention span for the following teams alongside the aforementioned likes of Drake, GCU and Liberty:
