I was planning to write tonight about my thought process for voting for No. 1 and go through the pluses and minuses for each of the seven-odd candidates. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re from Newburgh, N.Y., Mount St. Mary made that a moot point.

David Collinge will be posting his Top 25 milestones review later tomorrow but I can’t help but think that Scranton has extended a streak it certainly doesn’t want — most one-and-out appearances as No. 1. Scranton was in the top spot going into the 2005 NCAA Tournament, again in the preseason this year, and this week. They are likely destined to miss being No. 1 for a second consecutive poll again.

I told listeners to Hoopsville on Sunday night that I was leaving my No. 1 spot open next week for the possibility that Howard Payne goes up to Abilene and sweeps Hardin-Simmons and McMurry. If they do that, I’d be willing to give them my No. 1 spot, even if Messiah doesn’t lose. To a lesser extent, I might be willing to hand it over to Chicago if it beats NYU and Brandeis at home, though they have to face the same two on the road the next week.

Yes, I voted for Messiah over Scranton. I talked to another voter who has seen them play and thinks Messiah is better, plus I look at the fact that Messiah handled DeSales on the road, while Scranton struggled with DeSales at home.

At the time I voted, I chalked that up in part to the fact that DeSales always seems to give a little extra when playing Scranton.

After Monday night’s game, though, perhaps I should’ve taken it as a sign.

Bowdoin went streaking for a long, long time.

When Bowdoin’s 76-game home winning streak started, Feb. 10, 2001, echoes of Dari Magyar’s Miracle in Manhattan were still ringing in our ears. Listen: audio clip. Remember when it was a big deal to beat Wash U?

When the streak began, George Fox had just taken the throne as the No. 1 team in women’s basketball — thanks to Dari Magyar. They stayed there two weeks before Wash U took it back.

When Bowdoin’s sreak started, the counter on the front page had yet to reach 2.5 million.

At that time, we had a survey on the front page asking what men’s team would win the WIAC. We offered UW-Eau Claire, Oshkosh, River Falls, Stevens Point, Superior and Whitewater as possibilities.

Columbus Multimedia had just ceased covering Division III. Of course, for some reason some schools still link to them.

At that time, Millikin had the longest homecourt winning streak in D-III women’s basketball. They had just won their 48th in a row at home. They lost a few days later.

Otterbein men’s coach Dick Reynolds won his 500th career game that day. He won his 600th earlier this season.

Averett’s men had beaten Christopher Newport for the first time since February 1990.

Just a quick look back at how time has passed. Now let me look back at the two kids and the numerous gray hairs that have come into my life since then. 🙂

I know we don’t like to reference D-I hoops here (what’s that?), but if you happened to be watching Texas-Oklahoma State instead of heading to your local gym to check out a D-III game, you probably are still amazed by the “Shot of the Year.” (If you haven’t seen it, you will on your favorite highlights show)

Got me to thinking…what’s the most improbable shot I’ve ever seen…

Mine didn’t count on the scoreboard. It came in the 2000 PAC title game when Alvernia’s Chad Kratzer threw one in from out-of-bounds, underneath his own hoop, at the first-half buzzer. if I remember right, Kratzer was 5-for-5 on 3’s in the half. He literally could not miss.

I know there’s a PAC full-court championship-winner that should be on the list too…

Any other improbable shot memories?

Three upsets in the top 10 have finally broken up the icejam at the top of the women’s poll. Baldwin-Wallace lost at Wilmington and fell out of the top 10 for the first time this season; and NYU upended Brandeis, sending the Judges out of the top 10 for the first time since the preseason poll. Replacing B-W and Brandeis in the poll’s upper echelon are #9 Wilmington and #8 Calvin, the first visiting team of either gender to win a game in Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse. Hope slipped to 4th, ceding its 11 first place votes to #1 Bowdoin (which received 9, upping their total to 21) and #2 Rochester. The women’s top 10 is not only changed, but also less dominant, garnering “only” 96.8% of the possible vote, versus 98.2% and 98.9% the past two weeks.

Way down at the bottom of the list, the Washington U. Bears slipped to a mere 4 votes this week. Wash. U.’s women’s team is one of four programs that has received votes in every poll in D3Hoops.com’s polling history (the others being #3 Scranton and #15 Hardin-Simmons on the women’s side, and #4 Wooster on the men’s), but the vultures are circling, especially with the Bears hosting unbeaten #2 Rochester this Friday. The spotlight on St. Louis’ west side is now shining on the men’s team, which moved up to #13 this week with a 12-1 record.

On the men’s side, Ohio Northern lost for the second week in a row, and has now given back all of the boost it received by beating #4 Wooster and #6 Wittenberg over the holidays. Prior to those signature wins, the Polar Bears were ranked seventh with 434 votes; after climing as high as #2, this week they are eighth with 426 points. Glory is fleeting in this business.

Little East Conference members Rhode Island College and Keene St. entered the men’s top 25 poll this week, marking the first time that any Northeast Region conference apart from the NESCAC has had two ranked teams in the same week. This is the first time any LEC member has been ranked since the end of the 2003-04 season. The two-team entry is unlikely to last, however, as these LEC powers square off this Saturday in New Hampshire.

Debutantes:
Women: #21 Kean broke into the top 25 for the first time ever. Fitchburg State received votes for the first time.
Men: #20 Guilford and #22 Rhode Island College are top 25 teams for the first time. Greensboro cracked the voting rolls for the first time this week.
Congratulations to these five programs on their achievements!

Streakers:
Women: #5 Southern Maine is in the top 25 for the 70th consecutive week; #13 McMurry is ranked for the 20th straight week; and #14 UW-Stout is in the rankings for the 10th week in a row.
Men: #3 St. Thomas is in the top 25 for the 10th straight week; Baldwin-Wallace received votes for the 25th consecutive week; and Lawrence fell out of the voting this week, snapping a streak that had reached 51 consecutive weeks.

High-Water Marks:
Women: #7 Howard Payne reached its highest-ever rank for the seventh consecutive week; #11 Chicago reached theirs for the 6th straight week. Also achieving their highest ranking ever are #8 Calvin and debutante #21 Kean.
Men: #7 Mississippi College, #16 UW-La Crosse, and debutantes #20 Guilford and #22 Rhode Island College each set new high-ranking marks this week. #3 St. Thomas and #19 Aurora tied their highest rankings.

Milestones:
Women: #6 Messiah and #12 Baldwin-Wallace each received votes for the one hundredth time this week! Brava! Lake Forest was mentioned on voters’ ballots for the 50th time; #7 Howard Payne for the 30th time; and #11 Chicago for the 25th. #25 Simpson‘s appearance in the top 25 was their 40th of all time.
Men: #2 Amherst is in the top 10 for the 60th time.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: The biggest gainers this week were #16 NYU (+133 votes and 5 poll places) and #8 Calvin (+110 points and 3 slots), both by virtue of upsetting top 10 teams. NYU’s victim, #17 Brandeis, took the biggest fall in the poll, losing 161 points and seven places. #25 Simpson lost at Luther and fell 127 points and eight positions.
Men: #9 Elmhurst beat two conference foes, one of them ranked, and soared 163 points and five places in this week’s poll. Then-#13 William Paterson dropped two games and fell out of the top 25, shedding 236 points. #21 Bates lost their first two games of the season, causing them to lose 223 points and fall nine places in the poll.