Men's Basketball NAIA D II Top 25 Poll Announced
COI No. 3, CU NO. 11, WPC No. 16, SOU No. 19, NCU RV
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the 10th-straight time dating back to last year, Indiana Wesleyan owns the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. A unanimous top selection (14 first-place votes) with 374 points, the Wildcats have held the No. 1 spot the longest of any NAIA program since Jamestown (N.D.) went 11-consecutive polls in 2003-04.
Owners of first place in the Crossroads League by 2.0 games, Indiana Wesleyan will earn the regular-season title with one more victory. The Wildcats have two more regular-season dates, starting with Goshen (Ind.) on Tuesday.
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) locks down the No. 2 spot for its seventh-straight time. The Eagles, the only one-loss team in Division II at 26-1, wrapped up The Sun Conference regular-season championship after a 76-68 defeat of St. Thomas (Fla.) on Feb. 14. Embry-Riddle takes a nine-game winning streak into a home game against Thomas (Ga.) on Tuesday. Thomas is the only team to hand the Eagles a loss back on Jan. 20.
Nos. 3-7 all improved one position, which includes third-ranked College of Idaho, No. 4 Davenport (Mich.), No. 5 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.), No. 6 Cornerstone (Mich.) and No. 7 Morningside (Iowa).
Three programs – No. 8 Saint Francis (Ind.), No. 10 College of the Ozarks (Mo.) and No. 22 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) – all pushed up three positions. That movement was the largest within the Top 25 this week.
No. 24 St. Francis (Ill.) dropped back nine spots from last week, which was the worst fall.
No. 25 Tabor (Kan.) makes a splash with its first Top 25 recognition since the Preseason Poll (Oct. 28, 2014). The Bluejays are owners of a four-game winning streak, which has them vaulted into first place (13-3) in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
One week after claiming the newcomer status, Jamestown (N.D.) (No. 24) falls out.
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 10th regular-season Top 25 will be announced on Feb. 24. The final regular-season edition of the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 – used to decide the at-large teams for the upcoming NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 4. For more information on the polls, click here.
NOTES (All information dates back to 1991 – 1992 season, which is the start of Division II) No. 18 Union (Ky.) owns Division II’s longest active winning streak at 15-straight wins – the last loss for the Bulldogs was Dec. 13, 2014… Indiana Wesleyan, Embry-Riddle (Fla.) and Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) are currently tied for the most wins in Division II with 26… 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 (11 polls)… Through 10 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 10 polls this year… With today’s mention, Indiana Wesleyan earns its 13th 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, 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 73-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. 17)
|
RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2014-15 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
|
1 |
1 |
Indiana Wesleyan (14) |
26-2 |
374 |
|
2 |
2 |
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) |
26-1 |
362 |
|
3 |
4 |
College of Idaho |
24-4 |
346 |
|
4 |
5 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
24-4 |
339 |
|
5 |
6 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
26-3 |
328 |
|
6 |
7 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) |
23-5 |
312 |
|
7 |
8 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
23-3 |
302 |
|
8 |
11 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
22-6 |
286 |
|
9 |
3 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
23-5 |
267 |
|
10 |
13 |
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
21-5 |
263 |
|
11 |
13 |
Concordia (Ore.) |
22-5 |
255 |
|
12 |
8 |
Bethel (Ind.) |
23-5 |
251 |
|
13 |
10 |
Mount Mercy (Iowa) |
22-4 |
220 |
|
14 |
16 |
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
21-7 |
215 |
|
15 |
12 |
Midland (Neb.) |
21-7 |
212 |
|
16 |
17 |
Warner Pacific (Ore.) |
22-6 |
192 |
|
17 |
18 |
Northwestern Ohio |
22-6 |
181 |
|
18 |
20 |
Union (Ky.) |
24-4 |
171 |
|
19 |
19 |
Southern Oregon |
22-6 |
161 |
|
20 |
22 |
Grace (Ind.) |
21-7 |
144 |
|
21 |
23 |
Indiana East |
22-7 |
135 |
|
22 |
25 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
19-8 |
117 |
|
23 |
21 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
20-8 |
110 |
|
24 |
15 |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
20-8 |
94 |
|
25 |
RV |
Tabor (Kan.) |
16-11 |
65 |
|
|
Others receiving votes: Ashford (Iowa) 55; St. Thomas (Fla.) 48; Jamestown (N.D.) 37; Northwest Christian (Ore.) 24; AIB (Iowa) 14; Thomas (Ga.) 14; Cal Maritime 13; Saint Mary (Kan.) 13; Northern New Mexico 9; Brescia (Ky.) 8; Milligan (Tenn.) 7.