I’m looking forward to another new experiences, and perhaps reliving an old one this weekend.

Unlike basically all of the other D3hoops.com regulars, I have never been to NYU’s Coles Center. The five-hour trip from the D.C. area always seemed like a waste when Mark Simon could come down from Connecticut, Ray Martel from Long Island, John McGraw from upstate New York or Gordon Mann from Philadelphia (or Binghamton, previously).

So when Wash U swept all comers this weekend to set up this showdown at NYU this Friday, let’s just say I can’t wait.

I was sitting at home listening in 2001 when Ray and Gordon called a women’s game between the two, won by Dari Magyar on the Miracle in Manhattan shot (audio). While it would be nice if history repeated itself, I’m just looking forward to the spectacle. NYU has drawn pretty well this season and has a promotional program in play that should help pack the Coles Center again.

I’ll only be getting one new team to scratch off my list that night — I’ve never seen the NYU men — but it should be a fun night.

Meanwhile, there’s been some whining (from fans of teams not based in St. Louis) about Wash U’s meteoric rise in the Top 25. I would suggest that they were underrated last week after dismantling Rochester and should’ve been higher in the Week 8 poll. Three wins in a row against ranked teams tends to suggest that one should be ranked.

Just my $.02. I don’t think they should be getting a No. 1 vote without winning their two games this weekend, but I only get one of the 25 ballots. 🙂

Unbeaten Amherst becomes the fourth team to top the men’s poll this season, moving to the #1 spot for just the second time in D3Hoops.com poll history. Despite being the lone undefeated team in D3, Amherst still hasn’t convinced seven of the voters, as #1 votes were spread among four teams, including last week’s top team, UW-Stevens Point. Amherst puts their top ranking on the line Tuesday as they face 16-2 Rhode Island College in Providence.

The women’s poll also has a new #1 team, as Messiah advances to the top rung of the ladder for the first time since early (week 1) in the 2001-02 season. The Falcons leapfrogged the #2 Polar Bears, an action almost as rare in polling as it is in nature. Messiah grabbed 10 first-place votes to Bowdoin’s 9, helping them to a slim 4-point advantage atop the chart.

The members of University Athletic Association are well-accustomed to receiving the respect of their peers, as they are eight of the most highly-regarded research universities in the world. However, the well-worn adage “all work and no play makes Jack a dull Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist” certainly applies on the UAA campuses, where this week you’ll find eight top-25 basketball teams and two others in the “receiving votes” category. In St. Louis, both sleuths of Bears received first-place votes in this week’s polls. The Washington U. men’s team moved up to #7 this week, while the women’s team rejoined the top 25 at #11, putting an end to an 8-week streak of being unranked, something the Bears had never experienced before this season. Conference rivals Chicago (women #13, men #19) and NYU (women #18, men #25) also have both programs ranked this week, while the basketball teams at Rochester and Brandeis feature rankings for the women (#7 and #19, respectively) and voting support for the men.

Debutantes:
Women: #25 Norwich enters the top 25 for the first time ever this week. The Cadets are 16-1, with their only loss at the hands of #2 Bowdoin, and are tied (in the loss column) atop the GNAC standings with #20 Emmanuel.
Men: The Hood College Blazers, winners of nine straight games, received votes for the first time in this week’s poll. The Blazers are 16-3 and hold a hearty three-game lead in the CAC.
Congratulations to the Cadets and Blazers!

Streakers:
Being the 10th poll of the season (preseason included), this is a big category this week.
Women: #8 DePauw is in the top 10 for the 20th straight week. Ninth-ranked Hope and #22 Baldwin-Wallace are each ranked for the 25th consecutive week; for #3 Calvin, this is the 10th straight ranked week. #19 Brandeis has now received votes in 50 consecutive polls. For #4 Southern Maine, the voting streak stands at 90 weeks, and Williams has been mentioned 25 weeks in a row. Among those receiving votes in 10 straight polls are #13 Chicago, #15 Wilmington, #18 NYU, #20 Emmanuel, and UW-Stevens Point.
Men: Sixth-ranked St. Thomas is a top 10 team for the tenth straight week. #4 Mississippi College is ranked for the 20th consecutive week; for #3 UW-Stevens Point and #14 Ohio Northern, the consecutive ranking streak stands at 10 weeks. #21 Puget Sound received voting support for the 50th consecutive week. #9 Hope and #10 Augustana each have been among the vote-getters for 25 straight polls. Teams that have appeared in ten consecutive voting lists include #3 UW-Stevens Point, #5 UW-Oshkosh, #11 Wash. U., #16 Aurora, #19 Chicago, #20 Johns Hopkins, #23 Bates, and unranked teams Rhode Island College, Wheaton (IL), and Rochester.

Milestones:
Women: Williams received votes in the poll, marking their 50th appearance on the voting list. UW-Stevens Point has received votes 90 times, Capital 80 times, and Hendrix 40 times. Seventh-ranked Rochester is a top 10 team for the 30th week. #16 Hardin-Simmons is ranked for the 110th time; #2 Bowdoin and #8 DePauw are ranked for the 90th time each; and #12 McMurry is in the top 25 for the 30th time.
Men: Second-ranked Wooster is in the top 25 for the 110th time, a record for the men’s poll. #19 Chicago is to be found in their 30th poll, and #20 Johns Hopkins is a ranked team for the 20th time. #14 Ohio Northern received votes for the 60th time. Lincoln and North Central are vote-getters for the 25th time, and Rhode Island College is in the voting for the 10th time.

High-Water Marks:
Women: Third-ranked Calvin, #14 Illinois Wesleyan, and debutante #25 Norwich are all at their highest-ever ranking this week. #6 Howard Payne tied their highest-ever ranking, set last week, snapping an eight-week string of new highs. #13 Chicago fell nine spots in the poll, ending their string of highest-ever rankings at seven consecutive weeks.
Men: #4 Mississippi College cracked the top 5 this week for the first time ever, and was joined in the high-water mark category by #16 Aurora.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: The biggest splash by far was made by Washington U., which beat two top-15 teams and soared from out of the poll to #11, gaining 326 points. This is the largest regular season single-week jump in the history of the poll, besting Muhlenberg’s 263-point gain in Week 6 of the 2001-02 season. #13 Chicago was defeated at home by both Wash U. and #18 NYU and tumbled 219 points and nine placements, the week’s largest drop.
Men: #21 Puget Sound also dropped two conference games, and as a consequence dropped eight places and 221 points. NWC rival #13 Whitworth also lost a conference game and shed 123 points and six places. The largest upward moves were made by Chicago, gaining 110 points and leaping into the poll at #19, eleventh-ranked Wittenberg (+99 points and 5 places), and #5 UW-Oshkosh (+94 points and 3 places.)

Mike DiMauro of The(New London, Conn.) Day authored a very nice piece on why Division III basketball matters, mentioning some players at this level from a high school conference based in Eastern Connecticut.

The article is a good, quick read by someone who understands what makes Division III special:

“Here’s the best part: [the players] will earn college degrees that will get them virtually any jobs they want, except playing for the Celtics. They are the NCAA commercial, among the 380,000 who will go pro in something other than sports.”

He goes on write:

“This is merely a message for all Division III athletes and especially their parents, that there is ample nobility and significance to the games.

Just because you can’t see them on television doesn’t mean they mean less. They still count.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself…though I might have a different perspective on those Conn College teams that ousted my beloved Trinity Bants from the tournament.

If you enjoy the article, please take a moment to write DiMauro to tell him so. His email address is m.dimauro@theday.com.

Chaos is the rule, not the exception, in the top 25 polls this week. Losses by four of the men’s top 10 teams last week means that this week’s top 10 has three new members; and losses by three of the top 4 women’s teams caused havoc in the upper echelon of the women’s poll, although the top 11 remained the top 11.

In the women’s poll, Scranton ascends to the #1 spot for the second time this season and the third time overall, joining an elite group of just 20 teams (8 women, 12 men) to reach the top of the poll at least three times. However, as Pat Coleman noted in his blog entry yesterday, the loss last night by the Royals likely means they will enter an even more elite group, joining the Wooster men as the only teams to surrender the #1 spot after just one week on three separate occasions. Last week’s #1 team, Bowdoin, benefitted by losses by Hope and Rochester (twice) to remain at #2, just two points from the top and in a prime position to regain their perch next week. Bowdoin’s vanquisher, Maine Maritime, came close to setting a new record for teams that had no points in the previous week, debuting in the top 25 at #19 with 195 points. (The women’s record for such a jump during the regular season is 199 points, set by Wheaton [IL] in 2002.)

On the men’s side, the loss by St. Thomas to rival St. John’s dropped the Tommies to #6 and helped to establish a distinct lead group of four teams: UW-Stevens Point, Amherst, Wooster, and defending champion Virginia Wesleyan. These are four teams that have had considerable recent success and are well-separated geographically; it would seem more likely than not that they will end up in different sectional brackets, and in my opinion would make an outstanding Final Four. The gap between #4 VWC and #5 Mississippi College is 48 points, or approximately two ballot positions. Losses by Wittenberg, Ohio Northern, and Elmhurst sent them tumbling out of the top 10, replaced by UW-Oshkosh, Hope, and Washington U. in the 8-10 spots. ONU is just 3-3 since defeating Wittenberg, Wooster, and UW-La Crosse and reaching the #2 slot three polls ago.

Streakers:
Women: #3 Messiah is a vote-getter for the 100th time. Congratulations to the Falcons! #8 Rochester and #14 Hardin-Simmons have each been in the top 25 for 10 straight weeks. Wheaton (IL) saw a 31-week voting streak go by the boards this week, and #11 Hope bade farewell to a 15-week string of top 10 appearances..
Men: #3 Wooster is a member of the top 25 for the 70th straight week, remaining two weeks shy of the continuing recordholder, #2 Amherst. Fourth-ranked Virginia Wesleyan has received voting support for 20 consecutive weeks, and Utica is a vote-getter for the tenth straight week since their debut in the final poll last season. #16 Wittenberg saw a 29-week string of top 10 appearances come to an end, and Baldwin-Wallace dropped out of the voting for the first time in 25 polls.

Milestones:
Women: #11 Hope is mentioned among the vote-getters for the 110th time, and Bridgewater (VA) is on the list for the 25th time. #10 DePauw is in the top 10 for the 30th time, and #18 Baldwin-Wallace is a ranked team for the 90th time.
Men: #10 Washington U. rejoins the top 10 this week, their 40th week as a member of this august group. #16 Wittenberg is a top 25 team for the 80th time, while #18 Aurora is ranked for the 10th time. Top-ranked UW-Stevens Point received votes for the 110th time this week; Chicago is a vote-getter for the 40th time; and (as noted above) Utica attracted votes for the 10th week, all of them consecutively.

Debutantes:
Women: #19 Maine Maritime leapt from zero week 7 points to #19 in the week 8 poll, their first ranking ever. #4 Chicago parlayed a victory over then-#2 Rochester into the Maroons’ first-ever top 10 appearance.
Men: none.

High-Water Marks:
Women: For the eighth consecutive week, Howard Payne University set a new all-time high ranking, this time at #6. Close on their heels, #4 Chicago reached a new high for the seventh straight week. Other team reaching their highest ranking in the eight-year history of the poll include #7 Calvin, #16 Illinois Wesleyan, and #21 Kean (tying their debut ranking of last week.)
Men: #5 Mississippi College broke into the top 5 for the first time ever. They are joined in the high-water category by #18 Aurora.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: Maine Maritime made the biggest move of the week, gaining (all of their) 195 points and leaping into the poll at #19. Fourth-ranked Chicago soared 148 points and 7 poll placements. Giving ground was Rochester, who lost twice and dropped 176 points and 6 placements. #11 Hope (-143 points/-7 spots) and #18 Baldwin-Wallace (-129/-6) also fell back this week.
Men: Two teams sustained enormous drops this week: #16 Wittenberg lost at Ohio Wesleyan and divested itself of 255 points and 10 spots in the poll, while then-#16 UW-La Crosse dropped two WIAC contests, costing them their position in the poll as well as 212 points. Most everyone that did not lose moved up modestly; the biggest gainers were #15 Occidental (+96 points/+2 position) and #8 UW-Oshkosh (+94/+4).

For a little while now we’ve been down to one undefeated team on the men’s side, Amherst. And by that I mean one team with no loses at all, not teams without losses to Division III opponents. Sorry, UW-Stevens Point – more on you in a bit.

But does being the last undefeated team correlate with a deep run into the tournament? Maybe its better to be ranked number 1, which accounts for strength of schedule and other factors beyond win-loss percentages. Or maybe neither means all that much. After all, last year’s champion Virginia Wesleyan lost its first game of the year and was ranked 23rd at this point last season.

Here is how the last undefeated team and the team ranked No. 1 in Week 8 have fared in recent years. The national champion and their record in Week 8 are also noted.

2005-06
Last undefeated: Lawrence (starting 25-0) loses first game to Illinois Wesleyan in regional semifinals.
No. 1: Wittenberg (16-1) finishes season with a loss in the national finals to Virginia Wesleyan.
Eventual champion: Virginia Wesleyan (16-3) was ranked 23rd.

2004-05
Last undefeated: St. John Fisher (starting 28-0) loses first game to Potsdam State in regional finals.
No. 1: UW-Stevens Point (13-1) wins the national championship.
Eventual champion: See above

2003-04
Last undefeated: Rochester (starting 19-0) loses first game to Washington University on February 8 and finishes the year losing in the regional semifinals to Keene State.
No. 1: Amherst (13-0) loses to Williams in the national semifinals.
Eventual champion: UW-Stevens Point (12-3) was ranked 14th.

2002-03
Last undefeated: Washington University (23-0) loses first game to Rochester on Feb. 23 and finishes the year losing its first NCAA Tournament game to Illinois Wesleyan
No. 1: Washington U was ranked No. 1.
Eventual champion: Eventual champion Williams (14-1) was ranked 7th.

So there you have it — undeniable proof that it’s better to be neither undefeated nor ranked number one at this point in the season. In fact, averaging the ranking of the eventual champions, it looks like the magic ranking to have is about No. 11. Good news for you Elmhurst fans!

Or maybe this just proves that it’s just better to be UW-Stevens Point since they’ve won half the titles in this too-tiny sample.

Or maybe it proves that I have too much free time on my hands.