Week 10 was a good week to be Violet, and a bad one to be either a Bear or from Chicago. The NYU men’s and women’s teams welcomed their westernmost conference rivals to the Coles Center this weekend, and came away with four victories and a combined 16 place jump in this week’s polls. On Friday, the distaff Violets thrashed then-#11 Washington U. by 25, and their male counterparts followed up with a 16-point whipping of the then-#7 Bears. In both cases the Violets were avenging narrow defeats administered by the Bears in St. Louis just five days earlier. NYU then had a super Super Sunday, with the men nipping Chicago after the women had handed the then-#13 Maroons their fourth consecutive loss (two at the hands of the Violets.) The women, now ranked #11, ascended to the top of the UAA standings alongside #6 Rochester and #17 Wash U., while the #16 men remain two games back of co-leaders #11 Wash U. and Chicago.
Both polls remained unchanged at the top. Men’s #1 Amherst, now just one game away from a perfect regular season, inherited a first-place vote and are now either first or second on every ballot. UW-Stevens Point grabbed the other six first-place votes and moved into the #2 slot vacated by #5 Wooster, losers to archrival and new #7 Wittenberg. Women’s #1 Messiah gained two first-place votes, but still saw #2 Bowdoin inch closer in the poll; Messiah‘s margin is now just 3 points on the Polar Bears. Calvin remained solidly in third, with their rematch with archrival #9 Hope looming this weekend. The Knights handed the Flying Dutch their first-ever loss at the new DeVos Center last month.
The CCIW once again has four men’s teams ranked this week, as Wheaton (IL) upended #15 Carthage and snuck back into the poll at #25. Joining the Thunder and Red Men in the poll are #10 Augustana and #12 Elmhurst. This is the fourth time this season that the conference has had half of its membership in the national poll.
Debutantes:
Women: #10 Illinois Wesleyan joined the top 10 for the first time in poll history.
Men: Centre College blasted SCAC co-leader DePauw and in return received their first-ever poll votes.
Congratulations to the Titans and Colonels!
Streakers:
Women: #7 Scranton, #16 Hardin-Simmons, and #17 Washington U. each received votes for the 120th time, extending their jointly-held perfect records in this, the 120th women’s poll. #2 Bowdoin has received support in 90 straight polls, and has been among the top 25 in all of them; #10 Illinois Wesleyan and #19 Lake Forest have each been voted for in 10 straight polls. #6 Rochester is a vote-getter for the 20th straight week, and a member of the top 10 for 10 straight weeks. This week marks #8 DePauw‘s 50th consecutive week as a top 25 team. #14 Mary Washington has been ranked in 25 straight polls. Top-ranked Messiah is in the top 25 for the 70th straight time; #15 Wilmington and #23 Chicago have each been ranked in ten straight polls.
Men: Top-ranked Amherst is a vote-getter for the 75th straight week. For #7 Wittenberg, this is the 50th consecutive week with a mention by the voters; the single vote received by Lincoln marks the 25th straight week they have rated a mention; and Brandeis attracted voting interest for the 10th consecutive week. #6 Hope and #10 Augustana are top 25 teams for the 25th straight week. #13 Whitworth and #17 Johns Hopkins are each making their tenth straight appearance in the rankings, while #2 UW-Stevens Point is in the top 10 for the tenth straight week.
Milestones:
Women: #1 Messiah is a top 10 team for the 40th time. Fourteenth-ranked Mary Washington is a member of the top 25 for the 25th time. #9 Hope is in the rankings for the 90th time; #12 UW-Stout is a top 25 team for the 40th time; and #19 Lake Forest joined the rankings for the 10th time. #4 Southern Maine and #11 NYU appear on the voter rolls this week, the 110th week for each. For #6 Rochester and #18 Emmanuel, this marks the 70th straight poll with at least one vote. #25 McDaniel has been mentioned in each of the last 40 polls.
Men: #1 Amherst received votes for the one hundredth time this week. #3 St. Thomas has been a vote-getter 75 times. Others reaching significant voting milestones include #7 Wittenberg (110 weeks), #15 Carthage and #25 Wheaton (IL) (80 weeks), #22 UW-LaCrosse (30 weeks), #16 NYU (20 weeks), and Brandeis (10 weeks.) This week marks #7 Wittenberg‘s 40th appearance in the top 10. #8 UW-Oshkosh is in the top 25 for the 50th time; #13 Whitworth is ranked for the 25th time; and #12 Elmhurst makes their 20th appearance in the top 25.
High-Water Marks:
Women: This category is simply owned by the #5-ranked Yellow Jackets of Howard Payne University. This week marks the tenth consecutive week that HPU has tied or set a new highest-ever ranking. Each week it gets tougher; this week they had to defeat two other ranked teams (#16 Hardin-Simmons and #13 McMurry) to keep the streak going, and at #5 there’s very little headroom left. The third-ranked Calvin Knights tied their highest-ever ranking, set last week; and #10 Illinois Wesleyan established a new high-water mark in this, their debut week as a top 10 team.
Men: #3 St. Thomas jumped three places to tie their all-time high, set earlier this season, while #16 NYU, as chronicled above, defeated two ranked conference opponents and established a new high-ranking in the D3Hoops.com men’s poll.
Movers and Shakers:
Women: #11 NYU gained 194 points and 7 places by beating Wash U. and Chicago; the Maroons (-204 points/10 placings) and Bears (-148 points/6 slots) were the week’s biggest losers.
Men: #16 NYU jumped 9 places and 149 points; Wittenberg won at then-#2 Wooster and leapt 4 places to #7, gaining 141 points. #19 Ohio Northern, losers of 4 of their last 9 games, shed 130 points and dropped 5 places. Other large drops were recorded by #11 Wash U. (-115 points/4 spots) and #9 Mississippi College (-106 points/5 places.)