Men's DII Basketball Weekly Top 25 Poll
C of I No. 4, CU No. 13, WPC No. 17, SOU No. 19, NCU RV
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The top spot of the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll once again belongs to the Wildcats of Indiana Wesleyan, the national office announced Tuesday. The Wildcats have now been the top-ranked squad for 10-consecutive releases, and gathered 13-of-14 first place votes and 374 points on the way to No. 1
Since the Feb. 3 Top 25, Indiana Wesleyan (24-2) added two more victories to its record thanks to back-to-back 90-plus point outings – Feb. 3 at Huntington (Ind.) (93-62) and Feb. 7 at Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) (92-75).
The Wildcats stretched their lead in the Crossroads League standings to two games. The blistering offensive display in the last two contests propelled Indiana Wesleyan to a scoring margin of 17.3 (third in NAIA) and an overall field goal percentage of .509 (third).
The No. 1 team looks ahead to a home date with Taylor (Ind.) tonight.
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (23-1) has cemented itself in the No. 2 position for the sixth-straight poll. The Eagles – who swooped up the final first-place vote and 362 points – remain the only one-loss team in NAIA Division II. Embry-Riddle is fresh off an 82-63 handling of then-No. No. 24 Warner (Fla.) on Feb. 7. The Eagles travel to take on Northwood (Fla.) this evening.
The rest of the top five sees new faces in new places. Moving up one spot to third is Bellevue (Neb.) (22-3) with 345 points. In at No. 4 is College of Idaho (22-4) with 332 points, and Davenport (Mich.) (22-4) slips down two places from No. 3 to No. 5 by earning 328 points.
Bellevue (Neb.) – who sits at No. 6 – finds itself in its highest ranking of 2014-15.
Three schools – No. 16 Cardinal Stritch (Wis.), No. 18 Northwestern Ohio and No. 20 Union (Ky.) – all rose three spots within the poll, the highest of any institution.
No. 12 Midland (Neb.) and No. 21 Briar Cliff (Iowa) both dropped three positions in the poll.
Jamestown (N.D.) resurfaces at No. 24, the only newcomer this week. The Jimmies were No. 24 (tie) on Jan. 27. Warner fell out of the Top 25.
Eleven of the 13 conferences/Association of Independent Institutions/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by four teams each from the Cascade Collegiate Conference, Crossroads League and Great Plains Athletic Conference. The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference is next with three Top 25 programs.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The ninth regular-season Top 25 will be announced on Feb. 17. For more information on the polls, click here.
NOTES (All information dates back to 1991 – 1992 season, which is the start of Division II) By falling out of the Top 25 last week, Northwood (Fla.) had the NAIA’s longest active streak of Top 25 rankings stopped at 86-consecutive (dating back to Feb. 6, 2008)… Two teams received at least one first-place vote this week… Top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan is looking to become the first Division II program since Jamestown (N.D.) in 2003-04 to claim the No. 1 ranking all season long… In the Jan. 20 edition, No. 25 Jamestown (N.D.) gave the North Star Athletic Association its first ranked team this year… Through nine polls (including Preseason Top 25), 43 different teams have been ranked this season – there were 45 different programs last year… Fifteen teams have held a position in all nine polls this year… Indiana Wesleyan earns its 12th overall No. 1 ranking in school history… In the Dec. 2 release, then-No. 13 Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) snapped a streak of 27-straight polls ranked within the top-five dating back to the start of 2012-13 season… Bethel’s (Ind.) 35 all-time No. 1 mentions tops the list, followed by 21 by Embry-Riddle (Fla.), 15 by Oregon Tech and 14 by former Division II member MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)… Davenport (Mich.) now holds the active streak of being consecutively ranked with 72-straight mentions… There have been 36 teams to be ranked No. 1 all-time… Jamestown and Embry-Riddle are the only Division II programs to last the entire season ranked in the No. 1 position – Jamestown did it during the 2003-04 campaign (11 polls) and Embry-Riddle’s run was during 2000-01 (nine polls).
2014 – 15 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – (Feb. 10)
|
RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2014-15 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
|
1 |
1 |
Indiana Wesleyan (13) |
24-2 |
374 |
|
2 |
2 |
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (1) |
23-1 |
362 |
|
3 |
4 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
22-3 |
345 |
|
4 |
5 |
College of Idaho |
22-4 |
332 |
|
5 |
3 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
22-4 |
328 |
|
6 |
6 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
24-3 |
323 |
|
7 |
8 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) |
21-5 |
297 |
|
T8 |
7 |
Bethel (Ind.) |
22-4 |
287 |
|
T8 |
10 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
21-3 |
287 |
|
10 |
11 |
Mount Mercy (Iowa) |
21-3 |
259 |
|
11 |
13 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
20-6 |
252 |
|
12 |
9 |
Midland (Neb.) |
20-6 |
249 |
|
13 |
12 |
Concordia (Ore.) |
20-5 |
219 |
|
13 |
15 |
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
18-5 |
219 |
|
15 |
14 |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
20-6 |
201 |
|
16 |
19 |
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
19-7 |
184 |
|
17 |
16 |
Warner Pacific (Ore.) |
20-6 |
176 |
|
18 |
21 |
Northwestern Ohio |
20-6 |
169 |
|
19 |
17 |
Southern Oregon |
20-6 |
155 |
|
20 |
23 |
Union (Ky.) |
21-4 |
140 |
|
21 |
18 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
19-7 |
139 |
|
22 |
20 |
Grace (Ind.) |
19-7 |
125 |
|
23 |
22 |
Indiana East |
21-7 |
111 |
|
24 |
RV |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
17-6 |
101 |
|
25 |
25 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
18-8 |
83 |
|
|
Others receiving votes: Northwest Christian (Ore.) 36; Johnson & Wales (Fla.) 35; Tabor (Kan.) 21; AIB (Iowa) 17; Dordt (Iowa) 14; St. Thomas (Fla.) 14; Saint Mary (Kan.) 12; Brescia (Ky.) 11; Milligan (Tenn.) 11; Fisher (Mass.) 9; Marian (Ind.) 8; Ashford (Iowa) 6; Aquinas (Mich.) 5; Southeastern (Fla.) 4.