Coming to you with an evening edition of the blog, breaking down my Top 25 ballot as I do each week. By no means is it a representation of the entire panel of 25 voters…where I have one team may be very different from where another voter has that same team. This is simply my ballot, 1 of 25, and my thoughts on each particular team that I’ve decided to rank. This week was super hard, as I had to leave a couple teams off my ballot that certainly have Top 25 resumes, but for the most part, I’m feeling pretty good about where I have everyone.

We’ll find out the new rankings from D3hoops.com here in a couple hours. Until then, here’s my Week 3 ballot…with context…

#1 Hope: Hope picked up a pair of wins over winless teams and continues to find plenty of success despite a number of returners having stepped into new roles. The Flying Dutch stay #1 for me.

#2 NYU: I was unsure about whether to put NYU ahead of Transylvania entering this week. But after watching NYU dominate on both ends of the floor in the second half against #11 Tufts yesterday afternoon, keeping the Violets at #2 makes more sense.

#3 Transylvania: Transy has rolled through a weak schedule as per usual, but just added a game at John Carroll, set for Dec. 17, so that is welcome news to voters. As for this last week, a 28-point win over Bluffton keeps the Pioneers at #3 for me.

#4 Trinity (TX): The Tigers remain 9-0, but will not play their next game until Dec. 19, likely due to the university’s finals schedule. But I’ve seen enough to keep Trinity at #4 in my ballot for the third straight week.

#5 Christopher Newport: CNU pushed the scoreboard to triple digits in Sunday’s 110-57 win over N.C. Wesleyan in its only game of the week. The Captains are also 9-0, and haven’t had much trouble assembling that unblemished mark. Games against Colorado College and Cortland should provide quality tests for CNU coming up next week.

#6 Baldwin-Wallace: A three-point win at Marietta on Saturday puts BW up to #6 in my ballot, as the Yellowjackets now have notable wins over both Trine and Marietta. I’ve liked what I’ve seen defensively from BW, who continues to be my pick to win the OAC. They’ve held teams below 50 points on four occasions this season.

#7 Scranton: A convincing performance against 7-3 Misericordia on Wednesday in a 64-46 win solidifies Scranton at #7 in my ballot for the second straight week. That win, along with the victory over Ithaca at the end of November are Scranton’s most impressive results. Like a handful of other Top 10 teams, Scranton will not play this coming week.

#8 Amherst: The Mammoths’ best win remains the four-point victory at home over Springfield back in November, and outside of that, Amherst does not have a great resume. However, despite playing lower-caliber teams, Amherst has continued adding to the win total, now 7-0.

#9 Babson: Head coach Judy Blinstrub won her 700th career game on Tuesday, becoming just the 11th coach in D-III WBB history to do so. The 71-63 defeat of Framingham State moves Babson to 7-0 and into the Top 10, as both that one and the victory over Roger Williams were fairly impressive to me. My colleague and friend Scott Peterson, who often joins us on the Hoopsville WBB panel segment, has a model that measures the “average Massey ranking of all wins”, in other words, it is an average of where all the opponents a particular team has beat were ranked according to the Massey Ratings, a widely regarded computer model. Babson is No. 3 on that list, with the average ranking being around 94. They are one of only three teams who are below an average of 100 according to that model.

#10 UW-Eau Claire: Yes, a nine-point loss to Loras is not going to do UWEC any favors, but Loras is a team I’ve liked since the early weeks of the season, so neither of the Blugolds’ losses are particularly “bad”, considering the other came to Hope, and both were suffered on the road. The victories over La Crosse and River Falls give UWEC a boost in my assessment, as does the win over Wartburg, who is now 6-2.

#11 UW-Whitewater: Another two-loss WIAC team that is fairly high on my ballot. The WIAC will be deep this year, so even the best teams will suffer a few losses. But strength of schedule-wise, Whitewater’s numbers are very notable, including the average Massey ranking of wins being 59.71, far and away the best resume according to that metric. Victories over Millikin, Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana, and @ La Crosse are solid resume-builders. Whitewater gets a big test visiting Chicago Wednesday night.

#12 Mary Hardin-Baylor: UMHB suffered its first loss of the year at ETBU on Saturday, falling 66-59 in a game where they forced 28 turnovers, but shot poorly. The loss does not help the Cru’s case, but a 5-1 record, with all six games coming on the road (yes you read that right…can’t think of another Top 25 team that did that this season) is notable. Plus, the season-opening four-point win at Emory really helps strengthen their resume.

#13 Springfield: The Pride continues to rise in my ballot, now 8-1, with a number of strong performances. Their lone loss came at Amherst in the second game of the season, but since that point, Springfield has won seven straight. An 81-72 win over Emmanuel on the road along with double-digit victories over Middlebury and Williams remain as their “best wins” in my mind. They play undefeated Albertus Magnus on Dec. 14. Sam Hourihan is playing well right now, averaging 16.6 pts, and 8.8 reb per game.

#14 DeSales: Now 9-0, DeSales hasn’t played an especially tough schedule, but holding Misericordia (who is 7-3) to just 29 points in a win on Saturday gives DeSales a boost in my mind. I like the product they’re putting on the floor, playing with the intensity of a tournament team in December.

#15 Tufts: Tufts looked good for a half on Sunday, but completely lost all momentum on their home floor in the second against NYU. One notable thing there, though…the Jumbos were without All-American Maggie Russell. Having her on the floor changes the game for Tufts, which gives me some concerns about the Jumbos’ scoring depth. The 15-point loss at Emory isn’t great either, but both came to good teams, which remains my rationale for keeping two-loss teams in the Top 15. The Jumbos are #17 in Massey’s ratings, and have wins over Roger Williams and WPI, both of whom are Massey Top 80 teams.

#16 Smith: After losing to Framingham State, Smith goes 2-0 on the week with low-tier wins. At 8-1, they still have victories over Trinity (CT) and Bowdoin. Though they weren’t especially great in either of those two performances, they still found a way to win against high-quality opponents. That’s worth a lot, even if the stats aren’t always there.

#17 Rochester: A dominant 83-66 win over #17 Ithaca on Wednesday moved Rochester back into my Top 20. They are 8-1 and Katie Titus continues to step up in big moments for the Yellowjackets. A D-II transfer, Titus is certainly on my watch list as the potential UAA Player of the Year.

#18 Trine: I only moved Trine down in my ballot to allow for Rochester to move up, but Trine plays Hope on Friday in what should be an excellent opportunity to gauge where the Thunder are at, having won three straight after the loss to Ohio Northern. The win over Calvin remains Trine’s best win in my opinion, considering it was by a 15-point margin.

#19 Chicago: Chicago jumps into my ballot as an 8-0 team that has potential for a big year, playing several Massey Top 100 teams in a stacked UAA conference. They also host Whitewater this week as previously mentioned in what could be a big-time resume builder. Chicago has great point, turnover, and rebounding differential, partially due to play some weaker opponents, but nonetheless, watching them on film, it’s clear they belong in the Top 25. Best win is probably on the road against Wheaton.

#20 Puget Sound: Like the rest of the west coast teams, Puget Sound didn’t play this past week, but I’m moving them up regardless.The home loss to Wheaton still hurts the resume, but they have won four straight since then, including wins over Whitworth and Whitman. Neither are ranked in my ballot, but both will be competitive in the NWC.

#21 Hardin-Simmons: The Cowgirls don’t move in my ballot after a 2-0 week with wins over Howard Payne and Sul Ross State in ASC play. The 81-65 win over ETBU is looking better now after the Tigers took down UMHB.

#22 Ithaca: Ithaca has lost to Rochester and Scranton by significant margins, but remains a quality team in my opinion due to their road wins over Catholic and SUNY-Geneseo. Still, I was expecting a little bit more against Rochester this past Wednesday. You have to win in the big games (or keep is closer than 17) to stay high in the rankings.

#23 UC Santa Cruz: Still waiting to see UCSC’s games against Whitewater and UMHB to get a better look at the Banana Slugs, but overall, Todd Kent’s team remains undefeated against D-III opponents. In my opinion, UCSC is two good wins away from being a Top 15 team. They’ll have plenty of opportunities coming up in the second half of the regular season.

#24 Gustavus Adolphus: The Gusties have a sneaky-good resume, with no especially impressive wins, but also no bad losses. The only loss came by a point to Concordia-Moorehead, but they have three wins over Top 50 Massey teams in Augsburg, St. Benedict, and UW-Stout. The Stout win was on the road, and the Gusties won by 19, which says a lot with Stout putting together a strong start to WIAC play.

#25 Calvin: Losses to Hope and Trine aren’t bad at all, considering the margin in the Hope game ended up being just six points. The Knights beat St. Mary’s (Ind.) 83-58 in their only game of the week, and remain on my ballot still holding wins over Colorado College and Whitewater.

Next 5: Bowdoin, Ohio Northern, Trinity (CT), UW-Oshkosh, Mary Washington, Cortland

Dropped out: Ohio Northern (#25), Whitman (#22)

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be back to doing daily posts on this blog. So be sure to follow along on Substack or D3blogs.com, wherever you find The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops. Enjoy the evening!