College basketball fans know that many of the best teams in the sport come from Non-BCS leagues. Teams competing in the Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, West Coast Conference, and even Conference USA have multiple opportunities to pick up top-100 wins during conference play. These conferences are filled with teams who have rejected and/or graduated from mid-major status. As such, teams from those conferences have been excluded from this list.

True mid-majors are the Cinderellas that crash every NCAA Tournament. They're last year's Florida Gulf Coast or Fang Mitchell's great Coppin State squad that beat 2-seed South Carolina in 1997. Sometimes, as did Gonzaga and Butler, the best of these teams can shed the 'mid' tag and become perennial contenders.

These teams are the little-guys most likely to bust your bracket this March, the underdogs you'll suddenly find yourself passionately cheering on. These are the top 25 most impressive mid-major teams so far this season.

1) Harvard (Ivy) - 9-1, RPI 27: After last season's impressive showing, the Crimson are again a borderline top-25 squad. They haven't played a particularly difficult schedule so far, so we don't yet know how good they really are. Their best wins are over RPI #57 Bryant University, Green Bay (at a neutral-site), and in the Great Alaska Shootout championship game against TCU.

2) Toledo (MAC) - 10-0, RPI 41: The undefeated record speaks for itself. There are only 11 undefeated teams remaining in Division I and the Rockets are among them. Thus far, they've swept a solid Detroit team in home-and-home series and won on the road at Boston College. Their December 30th game against Kansas looms as a major test.

3) North Dakota State (Summit) - 8-4, RPI 32: NDSU's most impressive victory is probably a road win against Notre Dame. They've also posted solid wins at Bryant University and on a neutral court against Rider, both of which are expected to challenge for their respective conference titles. The Bison have played a brutal schedule, all but one of their losses coming against top 50 RPI teams.

4) Princeton (Ivy) - 8-1, RPI 45: Princeton looks to be Harvard's main competition in the surprising tough Ivy League this season. The Tigers have come out of the gate strong, beating George Mason at home and winning road games against Penn State, Bucknell, and Rutgers. Perhaps even more impressive than their victories, Princeton's only loss was by three points against Butler.

5) UC Santa Barbara (Big West) - 5-3, RPI 23: The Gauchos record is thus far less gaudy than their RPI, but you can expect that to change once Big West play gets underway. UCSB has played a brutal schedule and posted impressive wins against PAC-10 contender Cal and on the road at UNLV.

6) Manhattan (MAAC) - 8-2, RPI 78: The MAAC is usually a dismal conference, but there are several potentially strong teams this year including Iona and Canisius. Manhattan, however, has been the most impressive so far. The Jaspers have road wins against South Carolina, La Salle and Illinois State. Surprisingly, they're 7-0 on the road this season and only 1-2 at home.

7) Drexel (Colonial) - 7-3, RPI 50: The Colonial favorites have been outstanding so far, with their only losses being at UCLA, at St. Joes, and in a neutral-site game against #1-ranked Arizona. The Dragons have otherwise been great away from home with a neutral court win over Alabama,and road victories over Rutgers, Illinois State (RPI #102) and Davidson, who are admittedly down this year but still among the favorites in the SoCon.

8) Belmont (OVC) - 8-4, RPI 73: Unlike most of the other teams on this list, Belmont has a true marquee victory - a road win over North Carolina. They also have decent wins at Middle Tennessee State and over Indiana State. They've stumbled of late, dropping road contests against South Dakota State and Denver, but the good wins more than prove that the Bruins are capable of hanging with anyone.

9) Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt) - 8-3, RPI 63: The Ragin' Cajuns have yet to pick up a true marquee victory, but they do have solid wins over Houston and at Louisiana Tech and their losses are all on the road against top-flight competition (Baylor, Louisville, and Arkansas).

10) Green Bay (Horizon) - 7-3, RPI 59: It may be too early to predict great things for the Phoenix, but they do boast an impressive win over Virginia, so we know they can compete at a high level when playing well.

11) Ohio (MAC) - 7-3, RPI 90: Ohio's basketball team has been very good for the last several seasons and this year looks to be no different. The Bobcats have posted wins over Northern Iowa and Mercer, though they have struggled on the road.

12) New Mexico State (WAC) - 9-5, RPI 75: The WAC was decimated by conference realignment, leaving the Aggies with very little real competition in their league. Their non-conference schedule is a different story entirely. NMSU's losses have mostly come against very strong competition, and they boast a pair of excellent road wins over New Mexico and Hawaii.

13) Mercer (Atlantic Sun) - 7-4, RPI 82: The Bears have walked a tightrope all season, beating Denver in overtime, Seton Hall in double overtime, and Valparaiso in triple OT. They also lost by 3 at a very good Texas team. The Bears road loss to Evansville is bad but not disastrous and they deserve credit for playing a very difficult schedule.

14) Milwaukee (Horizon) - 9-3, RPI 76: The Panthers have racked up wins against mostly sub-par competition. Their most impressive wins are probably against Northern Iowa and at Davidson. That said, they should be given credit for overperforming their expectations. They've already exceeded their win total from last season when they finished 8-24.

15) Steven F. Austin (Southland) - RPI 87, 9-2: SFA has played and mostly dominated against soft competition. Much like last season, the 'jacks are a very strong defensive team, and stinginess will keep them competitive against anybody.

16) Akron (MAC) - 5-2, RPI 83: Wins over Detroit, Oral Roberts, and at Cleveland State are nice but not amazing. Road losses to St. Mary's and Middle Tennessee are lost opportunities but would happen to most teams. They've lost some key pieces (Zeke Marshall the biggest) from last year's NCAA tournament team, and so far the jury's still out as to if they will return.

17) Eastern Michigan (MAC) - 6-3, RPI 81: They have a nice win over Green Bay and all of their losses are against probably tournament teams. The Eagles are another contender in the log-jam of teams at the top of the MAC.

18) North Carolina Central (MEAC): 7-2, RPI 98 - The MEAC conference is seen as one of the weakest in all of basketball, a league whose champion is almost certain to earn a 15 or 16 seed. Maybe that isn't fair. Of the seven 15-seeds to beat 2-seeds, three have come from the MEAC. This year, North Carolina Central is the team to beat, having already scored a road win over NC State to go along with their strong overall record.

19) Kent State (MAC) - 8-2, RPI 137: The Golden Flashes boast an appropriately flashy record, but mostly that's been against bad to terrible competition. Their win at Temple is nice, but less significant than it would be most years given the Owls' struggles. However, this year's MAC is very strong, so we'll have more than enough opportunities to see if their hot start is more than the proverbial flash in the pan.

20) Bucknell (Patriot League): 5-4. RPI 62 - The Bison have dropped a couple of close road games against Stanford and St. Johns. Win even one of those and Bucknell's ranking would be considerably higher. They also have a genuinely puzzling loss to Mount St. Mary's (not to be confused with the excellent St. Mary's). On the plus side, they've won at Penn State, Kent State, and America East conference favorite Albany.

21) Bryant (NEC) - 7-5, RPI 57: The disparity between Bryant's overall record and their RPI reflects their brutal non-conference schedule. Expect the win total to improve once NEC play gets underway.

22) Nebraska Omaha (Summit) - 8-3, RPI 103 - UNO's best victory is probably a road win over thoroughly mediocre Nevada. Their losses have all been in close games against solid competition. Also worth noting, the Mavericks rank among the top 25 teams in the NCAA in scoring.

23) Hawaii (Big West) - 7-2, RPI 143: The Warriors have no real wins of note, but no bad losses either. They've lost in competitive games against Missouri and New Mexico State.

24) Northern Colorado (Big Sky) - 6-2, RPI 165: The Bears opened their season with an impressive road win against Kansas State. None of their other victories are particularly noteworthy, but none of their losses are terrible either. They look to be one of the teams to beat in the Big Sky.

25) Denver (Summit) - 5-5, RPI 112: Denver sneaks onto the list at #25 in spite of their thoroughly mediocre record. After a terrible start to the season (0-4), the talented Pioneers have turned things around completely. Their last three games were wins at Colorado State and against Wyoming and Belmont, whom they beat by nearly 30. 

*Records and RPI numbers reflect standings as of Thursday, December 19th. RPI numbers are taken from ESPN.