Welcome back to another edition of The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops! The much-anticipated Week 1 Top 25 poll was released yesterday, and I’ve included some notes below on that. To check out the complete D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, click here. As a , voter, I also broke down my ballot in an article here. But before getting to that, there is a Top 15 matchup you should be sure to tune into this evening…
Game of the Day: #14 Ithaca @ #8 Scranton, 7 pm EST
This will be not only the game of the day, but certainly one of the best games of the week, as we should see Scranton truly tested for the first time this season, while Ithaca is seeking yet another big win, after beating Cortland and Catholic in the last three weeks. Bridget Monaghan leads Scranton’s offensive attack, as 12.8 points per game, though first-year head coach Ben O’Brien has four starters averaging double figures in points. Ithaca can score too, and is averaging 65.0 points per game, behind the emergence of freshman Zoraida Icabalceta (11.0 PPG, 7-of-12 on 3pt) and senior forward Emily Dorn (12.0 PPG).
Some Top 25 Thoughts…
- To start off at #1, I’m surprised that Hope was not a unanimous top pick. The Flying Dutch picked up 21 of the 25 possible first-place votes, but NYU had three and Transylvania had one. I just don’t see. Not yet, at least. Neither Transylvania nor NYU has beaten a team even close to the Top 25 this season. Hope has wins over #12 UW-Eau Claire, and a strong Illinois Wesleyan team, who received votes in the poll.
- I understand that Smith was #7 in the preseason, and they are certainly a talented squad. But moving them up to #6, after barely beating Maine Maritime and Trinity (CT) in overtime is not something I would have expected. Time will tell with Smith.
- Calvin had an incredible 48 or so hours. The Knights did not land on anybody’s preseason ballot, but after coming up with a two-point win over #9 UW-Whitewater (at the time ranked #4) on Saturday, Calvin found itself at #15 when yesterday’s ranking was released. The MIAA will be an intriguing conference to watch this season.
- Rochester joins the club of being a team with zero preseason votes who ended up in the Top 20, coming in at #18. Consecutive wins over Messiah and St. John Fisher, teams ranked in the preseason who have now dropped out of the poll, certainly helped Rochester’s case. In a stacked UAA, they will have a great schedule to build their SOS, and also contend for the league title.
- UC Santa Cruz made it debut in the poll, coming in at No. 22 with a 7-0 record. That is a big accomplishment for a team that seemed to be on the fringe of the Top 25 for most of last year.
Notes from around the division…
- The biggest game yesterday was between DeSales and #25 Messiah, in which DeSales left no doubt in a 61-35 victory that saw its starting five account for all but seven of its points. I did not have DeSales in my ballot, in large part because I wanted to see how the Bulldogs fared against Messiah. You don’t anticipate seeing wins, even in November, by that margin between ranked teams. DeSales entered the Top 25 at #23, but ballots were submitted a few hours prior to tip-off. I anticipate the Bulldogs sliding up at least a few spots as long as there are no hiccups in the first two games of MAC Freedom play.
- Alma took a three-point lead into the final quarter, and gave Capital all it could handle. But Capital put 23 points on the board in the fourth, winning on Bri O’Connor’s buzzer-beating jumper, as the Comets won 65-64. It was a great effort from an Alma team now 1-5 overall, while Capital is 4-1. Very exciting game down the stretch.
- We had two postponements yesterday, one in which a reason was stated, and one in which it was not. Oglethorpe was scheduled to play Emory tonight, but “due to injuries and illness” the game was postponed, and will be rescheduled, according to a tweet from Ogelthorpe women’s basketball. Wentworth was also scheduled to play Dean, with both teams posting “gameday” announcements yesterday morning, before Wentworth released a tweet just after noon, saying simply: “Tonight’s women’s basketball game against Dean has been postponed. A make-up date, if available, will be announced.” Two postponements on the same day is not something we see all that often, though in D-III, where programs sometimes carry roster of only 10 or 11, a few players being out could risk injuring or overplaying the remaining healthy players available.
- I received a message about McMurry in the American Southwest Conference yesterday from a loyal reader. Even as someone who covers the ASC, I had not noticed McMurry’s 5-0 start. Perhaps because the Warhawks aren’t exactly a team that has contended for titles in the ASC in a quite a long time. To put the 5-0 start into context, McMurry was 3-20 last season, so head coach Drew Long is doing something right. The university removed his interim tag following last season, and that will be a turnaround story to keep an eye on as the year progresses.
That’s all for today…but the plan is to have more notes and news in tomorrow’s post. Until then, enjoy your day and feel free to leave a comment with any questions or thoughts you might have.