2015 Men’s DII Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Preseason (Oct. 27)
By Scott Barker, Communications and Sports Information Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Cornerstone (Mich.) is the No. 1 team in the NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The first-regular season edition will be released on Dec. 1.
Top 25 highlights (historical information dates back to 1991):
• No. 1 Cornerstone (Mich.) received all 12 first-place votes and a total of 312 points. The Golden Eagles are coming of a 33-5 season en route to their third national championship. This marks the 23rd-straight poll Cornerstone finds itself in the Top 25. Of those 23 polls, the Golden Eagles have been ranked in the top 10 19 times.
• No. 2 Indian Wesleyan is in the Top 25 for the 45th-straight week, dating back to Jan. 30, 2012. The Wildcats received 300 total points.
• 2014 runner-up Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) comes in at No. 24 after finishing last season No. 2. This marked the biggest drop within the Top 25 from last year’s postseason poll.
• Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) and Briar Cliff (Iowa) each moved up 16 spots. Olivet Nazarene moved to No. 5 from No. 21 and Briar Cliff is now No. 9 after being No. 25 in last season’s postseason poll.
• Seven teams jumped into the Top 25 after not being ranked in the 2014 postseason poll – No. 12 Northwest Christian (Ore.), No. 13 Dordt (Iowa), No. 16 St. Thomas (Fla.), No. 20 Tabor (Kan.), No. 21 Robert Morris (Ill.), No. 23 Southeastern (Fla.) and No. 25 Warner (Fla.).
• 11 of the 12 conferences are represented in the Top 25. The Crossroads League leads all leagues with four teams represented. The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, Cascade Collegiate Conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference and The Sun Conference each has three teams represented.
• The California Pacific Conference is the only conference not represented in the Top 25.
• Bethel (Ind.) has the most No. 1 mentions with 35. Former-member Embry Riddle (Fla.) is second with 21.
• No. 3 Davenport (Mich.) holds the active streak of being consecutively ranked with 77-straight mentions. 36 teams have been ranked No. 1 all-time.
• Jamestown (N.D.) (2003-04) and Embry Riddle (2000-01) are the only Division II teams to go the entire season ranked No. 1.
Poll Methodology:
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click
here.
2015 – 16 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll – (Oct. 27)
| RANK |
LAST WEEK^ |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2014-15 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) (12) |
33-5 |
312 |
| 2 |
5 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
33-3 |
300 |
| 3 |
4 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
30-7 |
292 |
| 4 |
7 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
27-8 |
280 |
| 5 |
21 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
25-9 |
264 |
| 6 |
6 |
College of Idaho |
30-6 |
260 |
| 7 |
11 |
Union (Ky.) |
30-5 |
252 |
| 8 |
14 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
28-6 |
248 |
| 9 |
25 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
22-11 |
233 |
| 10 |
23 |
Indiana East |
26-8 |
223 |
| 11 |
24 |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
23-10 |
204 |
| 12 |
NR |
Northwest Christian (Ore.) |
17-11 |
189 |
| 13 |
NR |
Dordt (Iowa) |
18-13 |
172 |
| 14 |
19 |
Grace (Ind.) |
23-13 |
167 |
| 15 |
10 |
Mount Mercy (Iowa) |
27-5 |
166 |
| 16 |
RV |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
17-13 |
162 |
| 17 |
22 |
Northwestern Ohio |
25-8 |
152 |
| 18 |
15 |
Warner Pacific (Ore.) |
26-8 |
132 |
| 19 |
11 |
Midland (Neb.) |
26-8 |
130 |
| 20 |
RV |
Tabor (Kan.) |
19-13 |
116 |
| 21 |
NR |
Robert Morris (Ill.) |
16-16 |
100 |
| 22 |
16 |
Bethel (Ind.) |
27-7 |
94 |
| 23 |
RV |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
18-12 |
91 |
| 24 |
2 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
32-5 |
81 |
| 25 |
NR |
Warner (Fla.) |
20-11 |
46 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Dropped from the Top 25: Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (Moved to NCAA DII) (No. 3), Morningside (Iowa) (No. 8), Southern Oregon (No. 9), Concordia (Ore.) (moved to NCAA DII) (No. 12), Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) (No. 17), Ashford (Iowa) (No. 18) and College of the Ozarks (Mo.) (No. 19).
Others receiving votes: Saint Xavier (Ill.) 40; Brescia (Ky.) 39; Dakota State (S.D.) 32; Cal Matitime 30; Saint Mary (Kan.) 28;
Oregon Tech 19; Jamestown (N.D.) 19; Northern New Mexico 15; Rio Grande (Ohio) 13; Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) 10; Northwestern (Iowa) 7; College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 5; Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 4;