Men's Basketball NAIA D II Top 25 Poll-Final
COI No. 4, CU No. 14, WPC No. 16, SOU No. 21
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Indiana Wesleyan now holds the distinction as locking down the No. 1 position for the entire season in the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday. With 13-of-14 first-place votes, the Wildcats become the third program in NAIA Division II history (since 1991) to run the table from start-to-finish ranked No. 1, joining Jamestown (N.D.) in 2003-04 and Embry-Riddle (Fla.) in 2000-01.
Indiana Wesleyan takes a 31-2 overall record into the NAIA National Championship after earning an auto berth as the Crossroads League regular-season champion. The defending national champions punched their eighth overall championship ticket and seventh-consecutive.
The 32 national championship qualifiers will be announced at 3 p.m. CST today. The national championship bracket will be announced via a live selection show at 8 p.m. on NAIANetwork.com.
No. 2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) posts the remaining first-place nod to go along with 362 points. Champions of The Sun Conference regular-season and tournament, the Eagles have secured the No. 2 ranking for each of the past nine polls. Owners of the most NAIA victories (32), Embry-Riddle is advancing to its 15th national championship and fifth event in the last six years.
In the final regular-season edition, the teams ranked Nos. 3-5 all shifted at least one position. With 349 points, No. 3 Cornerstone (Mich.) improved one spot. No. 4 College of Idaho, who corralled 334 points, jumped up two positions. No. 5 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) recorded 330 points and slid down two slots.
No. 11 (tie) Midland (Neb.), after claiming the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament championship on Tuesday, improved three spots for the best positive jump.
Down four spots, No. 14 Concordia (Ore.) suffers the worst fall.
This week’s newcomer, No. 23 Ashford (Iowa), makes a splash in the Top 25 for the first time since the Preseason ranking (Oct. 28, 2014). The Saints secured the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) postseason tournament on Feb. 28 and will enter the national championship on an eight-game winning streak.
Tabor (Kan.) (No. 25) dropped out this week.
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.
NOTES (All information dates back to 1991 – 1992 season, which is the start of Division II) No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan has held the No. 1 position all season long, which amounts to 12 polls (including Preseason)… For nine-straight weeks, top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan and No. 2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) have held down those two positions… No. 15 Union (Ky.) owns Division II’s longest active winning streak at 20-straight wins – the last loss for the Bulldogs was Dec. 13, 2014… Embry-Riddle leads Division II with 32 wins… Through 12 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 12 polls this year… With today’s mention, Indiana Wesleyan earns its 15th 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 Indiana Wesleyan and Oregon Tech and 14 former Division II member MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)… Davenport (Mich.) now holds the active streak of being consecutively ranked with 75-straight mentions… There have been 36 teams to be ranked No. 1 all-time… Indiana Wesleyan, 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 – (March 4)
|
RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2014-15 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
|
1 |
1 |
Indiana Wesleyan (13) |
31-2 |
374 |
|
2 |
2 |
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (1) |
32-1 |
362 |
|
3 |
4 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) |
28-5 |
349 |
|
4 |
6 |
College of Idaho |
28-5 |
334 |
|
5 |
3 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
28-4 |
330 |
|
6 |
5 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
27-4 |
313 |
|
7 |
9 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
28-5 |
296 |
|
8 |
7 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
27-6 |
291 |
|
9 |
8 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
25-7 |
279 |
|
10 |
11 |
Bethel (Ind.) |
27-6 |
261 |
|
T11 |
13 |
Mount Mercy (Iowa) |
26-4 |
242 |
|
T11 |
14 |
Midland (Neb.) |
26-7 |
242 |
|
13 |
12 |
College of the Ozarks (Mo.) |
24-7 |
225 |
|
14 |
10 |
Concordia (Ore.) |
24-6 |
209 |
|
15 |
17 |
Union (Ky.) |
30-4 |
208 |
|
16 |
15 |
Warner Pacific (Ore.) |
25-7 |
206 |
|
17 |
19 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
25-8 |
179 |
|
18 |
16 |
Northwestern Ohio |
25-7 |
171 |
|
19 |
19 |
Indiana East |
26-7 |
168 |
|
20 |
18 |
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
24-9 |
148 |
|
21 |
23 |
Southern Oregon |
24-9 |
123 |
|
22 |
21 |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
23-9 |
111 |
|
23 |
RV |
Ashford (Iowa) |
21-11 |
99 |
|
24 |
21 |
Grace (Ind.) |
21-10 |
96 |
|
25 |
24 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
22-10 |
85 |
|
|
Others receiving votes: Jamestown (N.D.) 69; Cal Maritime 54; Tabor (Kan.) 51; Southeastern (Fla.) 39; Northern New Mexico 10; Milligan (Tenn.) 8; Dakota State (S.D.) 5; Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 5; Saint Xavier (Ill.) 4; St. Thomas (Fla.) 3; William Penn (Iowa) 3.