KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Indiana Wesleyan remained at No. 1 as undefeated LSU Shreveport continued its win streak in the fourth edition of the Top 25, released Wednesday by the NAIA office. William Penn, Lewis-Clark State College and Arizona Christian again rounded-out the top-five.
LC State held at No. 4 in the rankings once again and after claiming the revised Cascade Collegiate Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank. With the win, the Warriors grabbed the automatic qualifier for the NAIA National Championship and will host the opening round.
2020-21 NAIA Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Final Poll (February 24, 2021)
| RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] |
RECORD |
FINAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Indiana Wesleyan [20] |
28-1 |
591 |
| 2 |
3 |
William Penn (Iowa) [1] |
21-1 |
570 |
| 3 |
2 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
13-1 |
537 |
| 4 |
4 |
Lewis-Clark State |
16-1 |
530 |
| 5 |
5 |
Arizona Christian |
22-2 |
517 |
| 6 |
6 |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
23-2 |
511 |
| 7 |
7 |
Faulkner (Ala.) |
22-2 |
480 |
| 8 |
9 |
SAGU (Texas) |
9-1 |
452 |
| 9 |
11 |
Talladega (Ala.) |
23-2 |
416 |
| 10 |
10 |
Providence (Mont.) |
15-2 |
404 |
| 11 |
12 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
14-2 |
401 |
| 12 |
8 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
20-4 |
391 |
| 13 |
13 |
Marian (Ind.) |
19-4 |
376 |
| 14 |
15 |
Stillman (Ala.) |
14-2 |
343 |
| 15 |
14 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
15-6 |
298 |
| 16 |
16 |
Loyola (La.) |
12-4 |
267 |
| 17 |
20 |
Texas A&M Texarkana |
10-1 |
264 |
| 18 |
18 |
Bethel (Kan.) |
16-6 |
225 |
| 19 |
19 |
LSU Alexandria (La.) |
16-3 |
221 |
| 20 |
22 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
17-5 |
195 |
| 21 |
17 |
Bethel (Ind.) |
20-9 |
174 |
| 22 |
25 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
17-5 |
164 |
| 23 |
RV |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
20-5 |
156 |
| 24 |
RV |
Saint Francis (Ind.) |
22-7 |
125 |
| 25 |
RV |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
17-8 |
80 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Jamestown (N.D.), Warner (Fla.), William Jessup (Calif.)
Others Receiving Votes: Carroll (Mont.) 75, William Jessup (Calif.) 73, Warner (Fla.) 66, Dillard (La.) 60, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 60, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 56, Jamestown (N.D.) 54, Rochester (Mich.) 36, Lyon (Ark.) 35, Texas Wesleyan 30, Holy Cross (Ind.) 16, Point (Ga.) 16, Thomas More (Ky.) 14, Xavier (La.) 10, Park (Mo.) 8, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 7, Central Baptist (Ark.) 6, Vanguard (Calif.) 4, The Master's (Calif.) 3, Ave Maria (Fla.) 3.
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 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”
- Frequency of polls occur bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) beginning in 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.