Minnesota boasts the No. 1- and No. 5-ranked D2 college teams in the country
They don't get nearly as much attention because they play at the Division II level, but Minnesota State University-Mankato's men's basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the country and boasts a perfect 16-0 record.
Mankato is the new, unanimous No. 1 team in this week's NABC Coaches Poll, receiving all 16 first-place votes. It's their first time at No. 1 in the country since 2005. Coming in at No. 5 after dropping out of the No. 1 spot is Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
MSU-Moorhead lost 70-68 for the first time this season on Jan. 13 against the University of Sioux Falls. The Dragons were No. 1 and Mankato was No. 2 in last week's poll.
The Mavericks have only played four games where the outcome wasn't decided by more than ten points, though there's a strong likelihood it'll be a close game when Mankato and Moorhead meet for the first time Jan. 27 in Mankato.
- Dec. 2 vs. Southwest Minnesota State: 92-89
- Dec. 16 vs. Concordia-St. Paul: 88-80
- Dec. 19 vs. Minnesota Duluth: 100-96 in overtime
- Jan. 12 at Bemidji State: 94-92 in overtime
How good the 2023-24 Mavericks are is yet to be determined, but they appear to have a shot to be the best Mankato team since the 2010-11 team went to the NCAA Final Four and lost to eventual champion Bellarmine in the national semifinals.
The same goes for Moorhead as the Dragons are hoping for their best outcome since reaching the 2014-15 Elite Eight, where they also had their season end at the hands of Bellarmine.
At the end of the day, two of the best Division II teams in the nation are right here in Minnesota, which deserves more attention as they pile up wins with March Madness nearing.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.