Top 10 Wins of the Week

The first week of the season is in the books! Some mid-majors missed chances to get resume-building wins, but others capitalized on these early season opportunities. We've picked our Top 10 Wins of the Week for mid-majors.


10. North Florida over Illinois - It's worth noting anytime a team from the A-Sun takes down a team from the Big Ten, but this wasn't as big of an upset as some made it out to be. North Florida should be the favorite to win the A-Sun and Illinois is riddled with injuries at the moment. We'll learn more about the Ospreys soon. Their non conference still includes Louisville, St. Louis, LSU, Dayton, Arkansas, and VCU. Yikes.

9. Chattanooga over Georgia - It took overtime, but the Mocs got a big win in their opener. They have a new head coach this year, but they're hoping to pick up where they left off last year. As for Georgia, they scheduled a tough slate of mid-majors. Their next game is against Murray St. The Bulldogs could be staring 0-2 in the face.

8. Montana over Boise St. - Boise St. has been a bubble team for a couple seasons in a row now, so this is a quality win for the Grizzlies. They followed it up with a loss to San Jose St., though. Boise shouldn't get too discouraged. One loss won't ruin the season. They will need to pick it up quickly, though. They play number 12 Arizona next.

7. Valparaiso over Iona; Valparaiso over Rhode Island - Two good wins in a week puts Valparaiso at number 6. Iona has started the season 0-2, but they should compete for the MAAC title once again this year. Rhode Island, although without their star E.C. Matthews who is out for the season, was expected to be a factor in the A-10 race as well. It's a great win for Valpo who is one of the best mid-majors in the nation and a fringe top 25 team.

6. Sacramento St. over Arizona St. - We aren't saying Sacramento St. isn't good. But the expectations for Bobby Hurley's first year as the head coach at Arizona St. were high. Unreasonably high? Perhaps. Either way, this is a really good win for the Hornets. They and Eastern Washington duked it out for the Big Sky Conference championship last year, and that could very well be the case again this year if this game is any indication.

5. Long Beach St. over BYU; Long Beach St. over Seton Hall - We wrote a piece last year about LBSU's non-conference scheduling and this season is no different. The 49ers play Oklahoma St., San Diego St., Colorado St., UCLA, Oregon, Arizona, and Duke. All before New Year's. If they're going to build an at-large resume they'll need to win some of those games. They're off to a good start by beating BYU and Seton Hall in 2 of their first 3 games.

4. William & Mary over NC State - This isn't so much about William & Mary beating NC State as it is about how badly they beat them. The Tribe won by 17 points. That's not a typo. They absolutely dominated the game. NC State may not have been picked to win the ACC, but the Wolfpack always expect to be competitive in the nation's best conference. For William & Mary to totally dismantle them like they did is a very good sign for fans of the Tribe.

3. Radford over Georgetown - After game 1 Georgetown could have been written off. Everyone could have assumed that this just wasn't going to be a good year for the Hoyas. Then they went to College Park and played the Terps right down to the wire. That's a Maryland team, by the way, who some think will compete for the national title. This is not a bad Georgetown team. But Radford beat them in double overtime. It was a shocking result and a fantastic win.

2. Western Illinois over (17) Wisconsin - If we were picking most surprising win of the week, this would be the one. Sure, the Badgers lost a lot from their national runner-up team from a year ago. But there could not have been anyone out there who saw this coming outside of Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks surprised Wisconsin and the country. They could do it again if they continue to play well. They have games against Creighton and Iowa still left on the non-conference slate.

1. George Washington over (6) Virginia - There is no doubt that the best win of the week goes to George Washington. The Colonials have pretty consistently fought for NCAA Tournament births over the past several years, but UVA has been on a different level. This is a team who has gone toe-to-toe with the Dukes and Carolinas in ACC play. They were the number 1 team in the country for long stretches last year. They lost a lot from that team, but they were still expected to be a top 10 team this year. They may well still be a top 10 team, but George Washington might also not have anything to worry about when it comes to Selection Sunday this year.

Other Wins of Note:
Belmont over Marquette
Colorado St. over Northern Iowa
Old Dominion over Buffalo
Northern Iowa over Stephen F. Austin
Dayton over Alabama
George Mason over Ole Miss
Southern over Mississippi