I just looked over that top 50 countdown list… they actually have all the schools listed from 51-300 already in addition to 41-50 that was revealed this week. Here’s what’s exciting to me:

Ohio Valley
122. Austin Peay
T-192. Tennessee Tech
T-210. Southeast Missouri State
T-233. Eastern Illinois
T-251. Tennessee State
T-253. Eastern Kentucky
T-258. Morehead State
T-258. Tennessee-Martin

Now, the average person may not see anything to be excited about there… but here’s what I see as a Murray State graduate: The Racers are in the top 40 programs!

Even better, that means they beat out some schools in the big conferences:

ACC
52. North Carolina State
T-70. Boston College
T-70. Virginia
T-111. Clemson
128. Florida State
T-145. Miami (Fla.)
T-210. Virginia Tech

Big 12
T-57. Iowa State
T-90. Texas Tech
T-124. Kansas State
T-141. Nebraska
174. Texas A&M
219. Colorado
T-266. Baylor

Big East
51. Seton Hall
T-61. Marquette
67. West Virginia
T-86. Notre Dame
95. DePaul
T-111. Providence
T-225. Rutgers
T-229. South Florida

Big Ten
68. Minnesota
T-185. Penn State
T-290. Northwestern

Pac-10
T-109. California
T-115. Oregon
T-124. Washington
T-132. USC
T-181. Arizona State
T-237. Washington State
T-241. Oregon State

SEC
T-86. Mississippi State
T-90. Auburn
T-96. Vanderbilt
99. Tennessee
T-105. Georgia
T-185. South Carolina
T-192. Mississippi

Wooo! Go alma mater! Now I actually have a reason to follow this list before the top 5.

30. MURRAY STATE RACERS, Ohio Valley
Positives: 22 conference titles (13 regular-season; 11 tourney); 12 20-win seasons; defeated third-seeded NC State in 1988 first round
Negatives: 1 losing season; 1 NCAA tournament win in 11 trips
Total points: 126
Did you know? You may be surprised to see the Racers this high in the rankings as the highest true mid-major. It’s not surprising when you consider how rock-solid they have been. Since 1984-85, they have had at least a share of the best record in the Ohio Valley Conference 13 times. That’s a number only Kansas and Penn can match. They’ve had all this success without a single first-round NBA draft pick. The downside is that Murray State has lost its past 10 NCAA tournament games. The Racers win a tiebreaker with Villanova thanks to a .669-.608 winning percentage advantage.