There can be no argument that the colleges and universities that make up Division 3 are clustered in a swath extending from New England through Pennsylvania and the DC area, then up into the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi valley, with members being few and far between in most of the rest of the country. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that the best quality hoops is played in this D3-rich area. I’d like to turn the spotlight to an area known locally as the Mid-South, where some of this year’s best teams dwell in near isolation.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky has long been known for hoops, horses and bourbon, but few Kentuckians are aware of the top-flight D3 hoops in their midst. Even though there are just three D3 programs in the Bluegrass State, each has left its mark on the national hoops scene. In recent years, NAIA transplant Transylvania has represented the state in the D3 wars, and done so quite successfully. But this year the Pioneers have had to share the limelight with their Kentucky counterparts, Centre and Thomas More. The Saints of TMC completed an undefeated regular season this week, and will begin defense of their 2007 President’s Athletic Conference championship as the nation’s #3 women’s team. After a disappointing loss to Calvin in the first round of the NCAA tournament last March, the Saints racked up marquee wins over DePauw and Wilmington this fall, before running unscathed through conference play and setting themselves up for a potential deep run in the 2008 NCAAs.
The men’s team at Centre, after suffering a one-point loss to Rust in the season opener, defeated Sewanee to finish the regular season on a 23-game winning streak, and now sits comfortably in the #2 spot in the men’s poll. The Colonels, who advanced to the second round of NCAA play last season by defeating Capital, will now look to defend their 2007 SCAC title in Conway, AR, a state with even fewer D3 programs than Kentucky.
Further south, in Tennessee, there are also just three members of Division 3, now that Fisk has decided to discontinue their intercollegiate athletics programs. One of them has long been a regional power and national presence, and this year is no different for the Maryville Scots. The men of “Murvul” have run out to a 22-2 record, including a perfect 6-0 mark in the four-team Great South Athletic Conference, and enter their conference tournament with an NCAA tournament berth (via Pool B) securely tucked away. When that bid is awarded next week, it will be the tenth consecutive year that the NCAA has invited the Scots—quite an accomplishment for a team that does not have an automatic bid to play for.
Another Mid-South state with just three D3 programs is Mississippi, a state dominated in recent years by Mississippi College. That dominance is being threatened this year by the up-and-coming Millsaps Majors, ranked #22 in this week’s men’s poll. The Majors, who will join Centre in Arkansas at this weekend’s SCAC tournament, have just three losses on the year, two in one weekend (to Centre and DePauw), and take a seven-game winning streak into their quarterfinal matchup with Rhodes (another Mid-South team.)
If so many strong programs can arise out of the fly-over (or perhaps bus-through, given that this is D3) states of the Mid-South, perhaps there’s hope for D3-free states like Nevada, Kansas, and Florida!
Debutantes:
Women: Thirty-five women’s programs have earned #1 votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. The newest member of that august assemblage is third-ranked Thomas More, which pried a top vote away from #2 Howard Payne this week.
Men: Tenth-ranked Plattsburg St., regular season champions of the SUNYAC and winners of sixteen straight, moved into the Top 10 for the first time ever this week.
Streakers:
Women: It was a wintry week across D3 nation, with consequently very few streakers. Fifth-ranked Messiah received votes in the 120th consecutive poll. Baldwin-Wallace, ranked #11 this week, has now been ranked for ten straight weeks.
Men: Elmhurst is a vote-getter for the 25th straight time. #18 Virginia Wesleyan appears among the vote-getters for the 40th consecutive week, while #19 UW-Platteville now has a 10-week voting streak. Eleventh-ranked Wooster has now cracked the Top 25 for 90 consecutive weeks, remaining two short of the record streak Amherst has been building since March 2002.
Milestones:
Women: Both #1 Hope and Scranton have now received votes in 130 of the 138 polls in D3hoops.com’s history. Only Washington U. (138) and #7 DePauw (137) can boast of higher totals. In 70 of those weeks, Hope received enough votes to reach the Top 10. Mount St. Mary makes their 50th appearance on the voting rolls this week, while vote-getting milestones were also reached by Trinity (TX) (80 weeks) and #14 Amherst (20). #21 Lake Forest has now been ranked 25 times, while #25 Chicago’s return to the Top 25 marks their 20th appearance.
Men: Occidental slipped to #24 this week, but still marked their 25th appearance in the Top 25. Eighth-ranked UW-Stevens Point, which has been left out of the voting just seven times, appears on the voting list for the 130th time this week, a category in which they trail only #11 Wooster (137). #17 Ursinus has now received votes in 25 polls, joining Stevens Point, #20 Maryville (TN) (80 weeks), #16 Lawrence (60), and Aurora (40) in reacing vote-getting milestones.
High-Water Marks:
Women: Illinois Wesleyan moved up to a new all-time high ranking of #9 this week. #2 Howard Payne, #3 Thomas More, and #14 Amherst all matched their best-ever rankings.
Men: Top 10 debutant Plattsburgh St. leads this category with their highest-ever ranking of #10, while #2 Centre and #17 Ursins matched their all-time highs.
Movers and Shakers:
Women: By this time of the year, the upper echelon is expected to win their games, so there’s little upward traction available. (The biggest gainer this week is UW-Eau Claire, which gained a mere 58 points, moving up three slots to #20.) On the other hand, losses can send a team skidding wildly. #12 Kean lost at Rowan, costing the Cougars 136 points and five poll positions. Similarly, Rochester lost at home to Emory, resulting in a loss of 124 points and a tumble out of the poll from the #19 slot.
Men: UW-Oshkosh lost twice, shedding all but nine of their 137 points and dropping out of the poll from #20. Seventh-ranked Washington U. was upended by #6 Brandeis and gave back 114 points, falling three spots. Like the women’s poll, the best gain was a fairly modest one, recorded by #19 UW-Platteville (+80 points and four slots.)