Let me begin by extending my congratulations to the new national champions, the Amherst Lord Jeffs and the DePauw Tigers. Both teams were strong champions, defeating top-flight competition, and both are now unanimous champions of the D3Hoops.com polls. Despite being a frequent member of the top 10, this is the first time that DePauw has ever been ranked #1. Amherst held the top spot in two polls earlier this season, but this is their first unanimous selection as the poll’s top team. Congratulations to the champions!
Although there were several dramatic “Cinderella” runs, no team that reached either Final Four came into the tournament with a ranking lower than #11. However, three of the sectional finalists were unranked: Puget Sound and Kean among the women, and Brockport State for the men. These teams turned their magical March runs into final rankings of #10, #14, and #12, respectively.
Six of the eight Final Four teams were ranked in the preseason poll, and none of those six were lower than #12 at the season’s outset. Both of the eventual champions began the year with the #3 ranking. The men’s Final Four featured the teams ranked #1 through #3 in the preseason poll (Virginia Wesleyan, Wooster, and Amherst, respectively), whereas Washington U. was noticed by just one preseason voter. On the distaff side, the teams ranked #3 (DePauw), #8 (Mary Washington), and #12 (Washington U.) reached the Final Four, while 4th place NYU was in the “receiving votes” category.
With the season in the books, it seems a good time to update the record books:
Women’s records (of 124 total polls):
Most top 10 appearances: Washington U. 102
Most consecutive top 10 appearances: Bowdoin 89 (current)
Most top 25 appearances: Scranton 121
Most consecutive top 25 appearances: Washington U. 110
Most voting appearances: Hardin-Simmons, Scranton, Washington U. 124 (100%)
Men’s records (of 123 total polls):
Most top 10 appearances: Wooster 93
Most consecutive top 10 appearances: Wooster 53 (current)
Most top 25 appearances: Wooster 115
Most consecutive top 25 appearances: Amherst 78 (current)
Most voting appearances: Wooster 123 (100%)
Debutantes:
Women: #23 Denison parlayed their first-round elimination of defending champion Hope, as well as their first-ever NCAC championship, into their debut appearance in the top 25 poll. Hamilton and Manchester each qualified for the NCAA tournament, and received poll votes for the first time ever.
Men: Behind the record-setting play of national Player of the Year Ben Strong, #7 Guilford reached the sectional finals, and this week becomes the newest member of the Top Ten club. #24 Stevens reached the so-called “Sweet Sixteen,” and was rewarded with their first-ever Top 25 appearance. Plattsburgh State opened a few eyes with their first-round upset of Rochester, and for the first time received votes in the final poll.
Congratulations to the Big Red, the Conts, the Spartans, the Quakers, the Ducks, and the Cardinals!
Streakers:
Women: #7 Howard Payne is in the top 10 for the 10th straight poll. #18 Hope is a ranked team for the 30th consecutive time, and is a vote-getter for the 40th week in a row. #3 Mary Washington and #19 McMurry are on the list of vote-getters for the 30th straight time each, while #25 George Fox has attracted support in each of the last 10 polls.
Men: #8 Mississippi College is ranked team for the 25th straight week, and a member of the top 10 for the 10th week in a row. #3 Washington U. and #13 UW-Oshkosh are each ranked for the 10th straight time. Occidental received votes for the 25th consecutive poll. Both #5 Hope and #11 Augustana have received votes in 30 straight polls, but Puget Sound (54 weeks) and Ohio Northern (27 weeks) each saw lengthy voting streaks come to an end.
Milestones:
Women: #7 Howard Payne makes their tenth top 10 appearance this week, as well as their twentieth top 25 appearance. #13 Rochester is in the top 25 for the 60th time. #20 Simpson received votes for the 70th time, while William Paterson is now a twenty-time vote-getter.
Men: Sixth-ranked UW-Stevens Point saw its Final Four dream end prematurely, but this week makes its 100th appearance in the top 25 poll. Congratulations to the Pointers! Both #8 Mississippi College and #11 Augustana are top 25 teams for the 40th time. DePauw’s men can celebrate the championship won by their female counterparts, as well as their own 50th appearance in the men’s poll voting. #13 UW-Oshkosh is a vote-getter for the 90th time, joined by Widener (40 weeks), #22 Aurora (30 weeks), and Lake Erie (10 weeks).
High-Water Marks:
Women: First and foremost, congratulations to women’s champion DePauw, reaching the #1 slot for the first time in their history! Other all-time highs were set by #3 Mary Washington, #14 Kean, #15 Luther, and debutante #23 Denison.
Men: Top 10 debutante and seventh-ranked Guilford leads the men in this category, joined by #15 Rhode Island College and debutante #24 Stevens. Both #14 Carroll and #23 Brandeis tied their all-time highs.
Movers and Shakers:
Women: The final pairing of #1 DePauw and #2 Washington U. made two of the largest gains from the week 13 poll, gaining 232 and 233 points, respectively. The largest upward move was made by #10 Puget Sound, which ousted two top 12 teams and gained 324 points, vaulting into the top 10 from outside the poll. The defending champions took the largest tumble, as #18 Hope lost in the first round, shedding 304 points and thirteen poll placements.
Men: With a relatively unsurprising Final Four, the largest gains were recorded by teams making deep runs that ended short of Salem. #7 Guilford added 312 points and twelve poll positions after reaching the sectional finals. Brockport State had no votes in week 13, but was just an overtime period away from the Final Four. They gained 280 points and leapt into the final poll at #12. Carroll upset two teams in week 13’s top 10, a fact recognized by their gain of 263 points and move into the poll at #14. Carroll’s two victims, #10 St. Thomas (-209 points/5 spots) and #11 Augustana (-206/4), were the poll’s biggest losers.
Congratulations to all of the scholar-athletes, coaches, and others who made this fantastic season possible for us fans to enjoy. And we’ll see you in November!
Thanks, David.
I appreciate the commnetary. I want to propose something for the voters to consider next year. Both UPS and George Fox women had strong teams, and yet were below the radar screen, only receiving votes until the final ballot.
As I have reviewed the Tourneys for the past few years, the NWC (women) always has a good team, and a fair showing in the Sweet 16.
Should the best team in the Northwest Conference almost rate a low-20’s ranking de facto their historic performances?
Thanks, David.
I appreciate the commentary. I want to propose something for the voters to consider next year. Both UPS and George Fox women had strong teams, and yet were below the radar screen, only receiving votes until the final ballot.
As I have reviewed the Tourneys for the past few years, the NWC (women) always has a good team, and a fair showing in the Sweet 16.
Should the best team in the Northwest Conference almost rate a low-20’s ranking de facto their historic performances?
Indeed. But the struggle is in identifying which team is the best. One would have thought George Fox had that designation wrapped up, with a regular-season league title and a 3-0 record against Puget Sound. But it was UPS that made the tournament run.
And Pacific Lutheran started the year in the Top 25 only to fall well short of that expectation.
It’s nice to see someone outside of Oregon or Washington recognizing the stength of the NWC. The conference doesn’t have the long history of some since it has only existed in its current form since 1998-99. However, in the last four years Puget Sound has been to the elite eight twice, George Fox once and Pacific Lutheran to the Sweet Sixteen last year. I think there are other examples if you go back further. While it would be nice to get recognition in the polls, most would more appreciate a seeding in the tournament that is more equitable. This year Fox and UPS met in the second round and the NWC was the only conference with more than one team that had those teams meet that early. There were three conferences where he teams could have met in the third round and, unless I missed something, in every other case teams from the same conference would not have met until at least the fourth round and in some cases not until the final four. I understand geography and cost but this year (actually, it’s the second year in a row) wasn’t fair to two teams from a strong conference.
nwcfan, the NWC, the ASC and the SCIAC will just have to accept that “geographic proximity” in so inalterable a fact of D3 life that we will run up against every year.
I was very impressed with the way that UPS and GFU played. For UPS to shut down HPU’s transition game was incredible.
Good luck next year.
Watch out for Brockport nexy season, They have their top 13 players returning.
jperrin, Speaking as a fan of ASC schools, the difficulty that we ASC schools have is that early season skepticism by the “D3 cognoscenti” must be met with victories over “known” opponents, e.g., Miss College over Johns Hopkins and Westmont CA or Mary Hardin-Baylor over Virginia Wesleyan.
Who is Brockport playing of national stature that will give us a gauge by which we can evaulate them? Do they play any UAA’s? Woo or Witt? Any NESCAC’s? Are they playing in a tourney versus some WIAC’s, OAC’s or CCIW’s?
Thanks.