NCAA NET rankings

[Da Coach]

The NCAA posted their first NET rankings today (Monday, Dec. 1)-

DI Men's Basketball Rankings - NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings | NCAA.com

Get NCAA college basketball rankings from the Associated Press, USA Today Coaches poll and the NCAA NET Rankings.

www.ncaa.com

Here are how the MVC teams rank-
35- Belmont
73- Northern Iowa
93- Murray State
105- Illinois State
135- Bradley
153- Drake
181- Southern Illinois
196- UIC
205- Indiana State
228- Valparaiso
317- Evansville

 

[Da Coach]

Bradley non-conference opponents-
41- UC San Diego
91- St. Bonaventure
121- San Francisco
125- Liberty
139- UT-Martin
225- Washington State
257- Northern Illinois
263- Princeton
285- Central Michigan
326- UMass Lowell

North Central College (D3) not listed

 

[Nashville Cat]

The NCAA posted their first NET rankings today (Monday, Dec. 1)-

DI Men's Basketball Rankings - NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings | NCAA.com

Get NCAA college basketball rankings from the Associated Press, USA Today Coaches poll and the NCAA NET Rankings.

www.ncaa.com

Here are how the MVC teams rank-
35- Belmont
73- Northern Iowa
93- Murray State
105- Illinois State
135- Bradley
153- Drake
181- Southern Illinois
196- UIC
205- Indiana State
228- Valparaiso
317- Evansville

Outside of Belmont I don't see anything too surprising. The MVC will come down to the final week.

 

[Da Coach]

Agree. And there are very few non-conference games left for Bradley or for the other MVC teams to make a big move from where they are now. So any significant movement up or down in the NET will require a better than expected run over the course of the MVC schedule.

 

[yoda]

So far there haven't been any truly great non-conference wins for the MVC this year.
The only minimally impressive P-5 win the Valley has yet, is Drake's win over Georgia Tech (NET 201).

Murray State's non-conference schedule ranks 294 in Division I, and they are 5-3 but get an NET of 93.

Their 5 wins are against teams with NET of 302, 361, 284, 324....and lastly Murray State barely beat George Washington
by one point in the final game of the Cayman Islands Classic... to go home 1-2.
But- George Washington suprisingly has an NET of 47 despite really beating only two teams with an NET better than 232
(they beat NET 124 MTSU (2-3) and they beat NET 77 USF (4-4))

So, the numbers give Murray State an NET of 93... I think if any real changes take place in the NET- it'll be that the
majority of the Valley teams will see their NET slip as those few Top 100 NET wins turn into >100 NET wins.

One more point - the MVC's worst team, Evansville is at 317 in NET- so let's all give thanks that we don't
have Loyola in the MVC any more....they are at NET 354 among 365 teams....
almost 100 slots worse than the next worst A-10 team....down there in the Coppin State & Morgan State range.

 

[Da Coach]

Based on today's NET numbers, the best win for any MVC team so far was Murray State's neutral site win over George Washington (current NET 47) in the Cayman Islands. That would be a Quad 1 win on their season-ending resume if George Washington's NET remains at 50 or below at the end of the season, which, IMO, seems unlikely. As of now it is the only Quad 1 or Quad 2 win by any MVC team.
The next 6 best wins based on NET of opponents were all no better than Quad 3 wins-
Belmont's home win over Lipscomb (NET 110)- Quad 3 win
Illinois State's home win over Cornell (NET 116)- Quad 3 win
Bradley's neutral site win over Liberty (NET 125)- Quad 3 win
Belmont's home win over Tennessee State (NET 129)- Quad 3 win
UNI's road win over UC-Irvine (NET 142)- Quad 3 win
Belmont's neutral site win over Toledo in the Coconut Hoops tournament in Fort Myers (NET 150)- Quad 3 win

So the entire MVC has one (1) Quad 1 win, which is unlikely to remain a Quad 1 win, zero Quad 2 wins, and a handful of Quad 3 wins.
It looks like the NCAA's NET system, and reliance on their tightly defined Quad 1/Quad 2 wins metric is working just the way they wanted it to, and eliminating almost every mid-major at-large possibility.

 

[yoda]

This was the plan all along- NIL
ELIMINATE all mid-majors from NCAA contention

 

[houstonbrave]

I sadly don’t disagree with him but there is also the other factor that the only mid majors they will play are ones they fully expect to be awful (250+ NET teams)

 

[Da Coach]

Yes, it doesn't take a genius to figure out why the "talent gap" has increased so drastically. It is always about the money. The better recruits would rather concentrate at the high-majors, even if they don't get to play as much, because the NIL money is greater. It leaves fewer talented recruits for the mid-majors.
The kids who are capable of developing into stars either go to prep schools (which explains why the number of basketball-oriented prep schools has exploded in recent years). Or they might start at a mid-major, develop into a star, then get lured away into the transfer portal for bigger NIL money. There might be the rare exceptions every year, but this trend will only get worse.

 

[Da Coach]

December 2 update...
Bradley's NET climbs a couple spots from yesterday, as do each of the top 6 MVC teams.
33- Belmont
75- Northern Iowa
99- Murray State
109- Illinois State
133- Bradley
151- Drake
189- Southern Illinois
196- UIC
207- Indiana State
226- Valparaiso
315- Evansville

 

[tomahawk chop]

Yes, it doesn't take a genius to figure out why the "talent gap" has increased so drastically. It is always about the money. The better recruits would rather concentrate at the high-majors, even if they don't get to play as much, because the NIL money is greater. It leaves fewer talented recruits for the mid-majors.
The kids who are capable of developing into stars either go to prep schools (which explains why the number of basketball-oriented prep schools has exploded in recent years). Or they might start at a mid-major, develop into a star, then get lured away into the transfer portal for bigger NIL money. There might be the rare exceptions every year, but this trend will only get worse.

100% correct, The power schools have all the money which means they will get almost all the best players. If a mid-major happens to get a young player that is borderline and develops him into a good player the big school steals him away with more money. The system is broke and money is the evil reason behind this problem.

 

[Da Coach]

One other alternate source of players that schools have turned to is the international players. That has been a good source of recruits for hundreds of mid-majors, low-majors, D2 schools, and even jucos. But now the Power Conference teams have noticed and are even working with scouts and "agents" to lure the best European players with their unlimited NIL cash.

 

[yoda]

December 2 update...
Bradley's NET climbs a couple spots from yesterday, as do each of the top 6 MVC teams.
33- Belmont
75- Northern Iowa
99- Murray State
109- Illinois State
133- Bradley
151- Drake
189- Southern Illinois
196- UIC
207- Indiana State
226- Valparaiso
315- Evansville

crap, that didn't help///
we play Washington State and beat them, and Bradley's NET drops from 133 -->> to 150, bummer

SIU wins at the buzzer and jumps from 189 -->> to 147

 

[Da Coach]

Belmont dropped 35 points from 33 to 68 with their loss to Richmond.
Once the MVC games start, there will not be any MVC teams left in the top 100. That is exactly what it was designed to do.

DI Men's Basketball Rankings - NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings | NCAA.com

Get NCAA college basketball rankings from the Associated Press, USA Today Coaches poll and the NCAA NET Rankings.

www.ncaa.com

Dec 3 NET rankings-
68- Belmont
74- UNI
91- Murray State
103- Illinois State
125- Drake
147- SIU
150- Bradley
212- Indiana State
221- Valparaiso
244- UIC
307- Evansville

 

[Da Coach]

Today's MVC NET rankings (12/9/25)-

 

[Da Coach]

Latest NET rankings-
55- Belmont
82- Murray State
87- Illinois State
88- Northern Iowa
123- Southern Illinois
138- Bradley
156- Drake
187- Indiana State
213- UIC
224- Valparaiso-
290- Evansville

MVC Strength of Schedule-
93- Evansville
159- Northern Iowa
186- Southern Illinois
203- Drake
220- Illinois State
248- Bradley
252- Belmont
259- UIC
299- Murray State
320- Indiana State
356- Valparaiso

 

[Da Coach]

Here are the NET rankings for this morning (Monday, March 2, 2026). These are the NET numbers used by the MVC as the final tiebreaker for determining the ties for 3rd, 4th and 5th seeds, and for the 6th and 7th seed tie. The final NET ranking will be after the last regular season games next Sunday.
Below are the current MVC NET rankings-
Link to NET- https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

55- Belmont
81- Northern Iowa
90- Illinois State
101- Murray State
112- Bradley
113- Southern Illinois
116- UIC
155- Valparaiso-
206- Drake
216- Indiana State
304- Evansville

 

[egib52]

Here are the NET rankings for this morning (Monday, March 2, 2026). These are the NET numbers used by the MVC as the final tiebreaker for determining the ties for 3rd, 4th and 5th seeds, and for the 6th and 7th seed tie. The final NET ranking will be after the last regular season games next Sunday.
Below are the current MVC NET rankings-
Link to NET- https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

55- Belmont
81- Northern Iowa
90- Illinois State
101- Murray State
112- Bradley
113- Southern Illinois
116- UIC
155- Valparaiso-
206- Drake
216- Indiana State
304- Evansville

How does UNI finish so high with that record? Crazy.

 

[Da Coach]

How does UNI finish so high with that record? Crazy.

Yeah, it is hard to explain. As poorly as UNI has played in many games this season, and as mediocre as their overall season record is, it shows how flawed the NCAA's NET is, and how it favors teams that are not necessarily the better teams.

 

[yoda]

How does UNI finish so high with that record? Crazy.

Brian Wardle explained it in the teleconference that NET factors in close wins and losses vs blowouts
and UNI's losses were all close while several of Bradley's were big margins of 10, 15 and >20 pts