2018-2019 NAIA DII Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After winning its third title in five years, Indiana Wesleyan begins the 2018 season as the No. 1 team in the 2018 NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll. The Wildcats received 11 of the 12 first-place votes in the initial ballots.
Top 25 Highlights
- Indiana Wesleyan returns 78-percent of the team’s scoring from its national-championship season in 2017-2018. That includes sophomore guard Kyle Mangas who was a first-team NAIA All-American and the NAIA National Championship MVP as a freshman.
- Indiana East, the No. 2 team in the preseason Top 25 Poll, picked up the final first-place vote. The Red Wolves finished 30-3 a year ago, but lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Indiana Wesleyan.
- The newcomers to the preseason poll, based on the final regular-season poll of 2017-2018, are No. 12 Oregon Tech, No. 15 Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), No. 19 Warner (Fla.), No. 21 Trinity International (Ill.) and No. 22 Southern Oregon.
- No. 23 Bethel (Ind.) has the most active appearances at No. 1 with 35. Behind Bethel are No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan with 22, Cornerstone (Mich.) at 19 and Oregon Tech at 15.
- Indiana Wesleyan holds the longest active streak in the poll with 75-straight appearances. Bethel is next with 65. Following those two teams are Saint Francis (Ind.) with 56 and Cornerstone with 54.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and 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 rating) 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 appear on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
- The frequency of polls occurs bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) for the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.
- For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.
2018-2019 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Preseason (Oct. 23)
| RANK |
LAST RANK* |
SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) |
2017-2018 RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
4 |
Indiana Wesleyan (11) |
31-7 |
312 |
| 2 |
1 |
Indiana East (Ind.) (1) |
34-3 |
294 |
| 3 |
3 |
College of Idaho |
30-7 |
292 |
| 4 |
5 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
28-7 |
280 |
| 5 |
6 |
Indiana Tech |
27-7 |
272 |
| 6 |
16 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
26-9 |
259 |
| 7 |
2 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) |
30-5 |
243 |
| 8 |
24 |
Marian (Ind.) |
22-12 |
240 |
| 9 |
9 |
Union (Ky.) |
23-8 |
237 |
| 10 |
11 |
Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
26-8 |
229 |
| 11 |
21 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
21-10 |
202 |
| 12 |
NR |
Oregon Tech |
22-11 |
201 |
| 13 |
25 |
WVU Tech |
20-12 |
181 |
| 14 |
23 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
21-12 |
166 |
| 15 |
RV |
Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) |
18-14 |
165 |
| 16 |
7 |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
29-9 |
164 |
| 17 |
20 |
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
23-11 |
139 |
| 18 |
13 |
Southwestern (Kan.) |
27-8 |
137 |
| 19 |
NR |
Warner (Fla.) |
20-16 |
131 |
| 20 |
15 |
Indiana Southeast (Ind.) |
24-9 |
113 |
| 21 |
RV |
Trinity International (Ill.) |
21-11 |
112 |
| 22 |
RV |
Southern Oregon |
20-12 |
111 |
| 23 |
18 |
Bethel (Ind.) |
22-10 |
81 |
| 23 |
12 |
Warner Pacific (Ore.) |
24-10 |
81 |
| 25 |
8 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
23-8 |
55 |
|
* Last rank in the final regular-season poll of 2017-2018. Beginning last year, there is no longer a postseason poll.
Others receiving votes: Roosevelt (Ill.) 34, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 33, Milligan (Tenn.) 33, Rochester (Mich.) 31, Keiser (Fla.) 22, Voorhees (S.C.) 17, Friends (Kan.) 13, Mayville State (N.D.) 11, Doane (Neb.) 9