NAIA Releases Final Men's Basketball Top 25
WPC 5, EOU 8, SOU 18, NU 23
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For the third time in program history, William Penn (Iowa) holds the No. 1 position in the 2012 - 13 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, announced Wednesday by the national office. The Statesmen were the unanimous No. 1 with 13 first-place votes and 343 points in the final regular-season edition. William Penn finished the regular-season with a 30-1 overall record and were champions of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament.
Qualifiers for the 22nd annual NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship will be announced today at 4 p.m. CST on www.NAIA.org. The 32-team field is comprised of 20 automatic berths and 12 at-large selections. The official championship bracket will be announced via a graphical selection show at approximately 7:15 p.m. CST on www.NAIA.org.
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) and Northwood (Fla.) hold strong at No. 2 and No. 3 for the second-straight week with 332 and 320 points, respectively. Northwestern slides up one spot to No. 4 with 301 points.
Fifth-ranked Warner Pacific makes the biggest splash within the poll this week, vaulting seven spots from No. 12 after claiming the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament championship with a 67-63 win over No. 18 Southern Oregon on Tuesday.
No. 16 Rochester (Mich.) suffered the largest tumble within the poll, dropping seven positions following a 78-62 loss to unranked Jamestown (N.D.) in the semifinals of the Association of Independent Institutions tournament.
No. 25 Midland (Neb.) is the poll's lone newcomer. The Warriors bumped out previous No. 24 Hastings (Neb.) after downing the Broncos, 84-60, in the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals. Midland then fell to eventual conference tournament champion No. 11 Dordt (Iowa), 69-68, in the semifinals.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference boasts the most programs ranked in the Top 25: Warner Pacific, No. 8 Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon and No. 23 Northwest (Wash.). Overall, 11 of the 13 conferences and independents are represented this week in the poll.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. For more information on the polls, click here. The postseason Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll will be announced on March 20.
NOTES: (All information dates back to 1991 - 1992 season, which is the start of Division II) William Penn (Iowa) becomes the 21st team to be ranked No. 1 on at least three occasions... Twelve teams have been ranked in all 11 polls (including Preseason Top 25), with five of those clubs in the top 10 each week... There have been four different teams to be ranked No. 1 this year: Cardinal Stritch (Wis.), Eastern Oregon, Northwood (Fla.) and William Penn... There have been 43 different teams to be listed in the Top 25 this year... Northwood holds the longest active streak of being ranked with 65-consecutive mentions (dating back to Feb. 6, 2008) and right behind is Davenport (Mich.) with 49-straight, followed by Indiana-Southeast (43) and Northwestern (Iowa) (33)... There have been 36 teams all-time to be ranked No. 1, with nine programs earning at least 10 top mentions... Bethel (Ind.) boasts the most all-time No. 1's with 35, followed by Embry-Riddle (Fla.) with 17, Oregon Tech at 15, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (currently a member in NAIA Division I) and former member Northern State (S.D.) with 14, Oklahoma Wesleyan and former member Walsh (Ohio) at 13, Northwood (Fla.) at 12 and Jamestown (N.D.) at 11 - no other school has more than 10 mentions at No. 1... Oregon Tech had its streak of 90-consecutive polls snapped (dating back to Jan. 11, 2005) in the Nov. 27, 2012 poll as the Hustlin' Owls were in the "receiving votes" category.
2012 - 13 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll - Final
|
RANK
|
LAST WEEK
|
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)
|
2012 – 13 RECORD
|
TOTAL POINTS
|
|
1
|
1
|
William Penn (Iowa) (13)
|
30-1
|
343
|
|
2
|
2
|
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)
|
30-3
|
332
|
|
3
|
3
|
Northwood (Fla.)
|
30-3
|
320
|
|
4
|
5
|
Northwestern (Iowa)
|
24-6
|
301
|
|
5
|
12
|
Warner Pacific (Ore.)
|
27-6
|
300
|
|
6
|
6
|
Indiana Wesleyan
|
25-6
|
283
|
|
7
|
7
|
Saint Xavier (Ill.)
|
28-5
|
278
|
|
8
|
4
|
Eastern Oregon
|
28-4
|
264
|
|
9
|
8
|
Davenport (Mich.)
|
27-6
|
245
|
|
10
|
11
|
Indiana Southeast
|
26-4
|
241
|
|
11
|
13
|
Dordt (Iowa)
|
26-6
|
238
|
|
12
|
10
|
Mount Mercy (Iowa)
|
27-5
|
226
|
|
13
|
14
|
Tennessee Wesleyan
|
25-7
|
201
|
|
14
|
15
|
Madonna (Mich.)
|
25-8
|
196
|
|
15
|
16
|
Embry-Riddle (Fla.)
|
25-8
|
192
|
|
16
|
9
|
Rochester (Mich.)
|
20-4
|
190
|
|
17
|
20
|
Bethel (Ind.)
|
24-9
|
173
|
|
18
|
18
|
Southern Oregon
|
24-9
|
147
|
|
19
|
19
|
Bellevue (Neb.)
|
23-9
|
140
|
|
20
|
17
|
Grace (Ind.)
|
21-9
|
139
|
|
21
|
22
|
St. Thomas (Fla.)
|
20-11
|
105
|
|
22
|
21
|
York (Neb.)
|
23-8
|
92
|
|
23
|
25
|
Northwest (Wash.)
|
22-10
|
79
|
|
24
|
23
|
Valley City State (N.D.)
|
21-8
|
78
|
|
25
|
RV
|
Midland (Neb.)
|
19-12
|
61
|
Others receiving votes: Lourdes (Ohio) 57; Taylor (Ind.) 53; Ave Maria (Fla.) 37; Saint Mary (Kan.) 36; Cal Maritime 31; Cornerstone (Mich.) 21; Dakota State (S.D.) 17; Indiana East 12; Morningside (Iowa) 6; Hastings (Neb.) 5; Oklahoma Wesleyan 5; Spring Arbor (Mich.) 4; Webber International (Fla.) 3.