First 2007 regional rankings

The NCAA Division III men’s and women’s basketball committees released their first regional rankings of the 2006-07 season Wednesday afternoon.

The number of teams ranked in the men’s and women’s poll is relative to the number of teams in each region.

Men’s Basketball
The first record listed is the overall record, followed by record in regional games, through Sunday, Feb. 4.
Atlantic
1 Ramapo 16-5 15-3
2 Stevens 17-4 17-4
3 Manhattanville 16-5 15-5
4 Richard Stockton 15-7 12-5
5 New Jersey City 14-7 13-6

East Region
1 St. Lawrence 18-3 17-3
2 Brockport State 16-4 15-4
3 Utica 17-3 16-3
4 New York U. 16-4 14-4
5 Rochester 15-5 15-4

Great Lakes Region
1 Lake Erie 20-1 16-0
2 Wooster 18-3 13-2
3 Wittenberg 18-3 13-3
4 Hope 17-2 10-2
5 John Carroll 14-7 13-5
6 Ohio Northern 16-5 11-5

Middle Atlantic Region
1 Johns Hopkins 19-2 18-1
2 Catholic 16-4 15-4
3 Hood 16-5 15-4
4 Messiah 15-5 12-3
5 Alvernia 16-4 15-2
6 Scranton 16-5 14-5
7 Lincoln 13-7 9-3
8 King’s 14-7 13-6

Midwest Region
1 Augustana 17-4 17-3
2 Washington U. 16-4 14-3
3 Chicago 16-4 15-4
4 Aurora 19-2 18-2
5 Wheaton (Ill.) 14-6 10-5
6 Elmhurst 16-4 12-4
7 Carthage 14-6 11-5
8 Bluffton 16-5 11-5

Northeast Region
1 Amherst 23-0 22-0
2 WPI 17-2 15-2
3 Salem State 17-2 17-2
4 Rhode Island 17-3 17-3
5 Trinity (Conn.) 18-3 14-3
6 Bates 17-4 16-4
7 Keene State 17-4 14-4
8 Brandeis 14-6 14-6
9 Babson 13-8 12-8
10 Tufts 13-8 13-8

South Region
1 Mississippi College 18-2 16-1
2 Virginia Wesleyan 19-3 18-3
3 Guilford 16-3 15-3
4 Maryville (Tenn.) 15-5 15-3
5 DePauw 17-4 14-3
6 Mary Hardin-Baylor 17-3 17-3
7 Averett 14-6 12-4
8 Centre 16-4 10-4

West Region
1 UW-Stevens Point 18-2 17-1
2 St. Thomas 18-2 18-2
3 St. John’s 16-5 16-2
4 Whitworth 18-2 15-2
5 Occidental 14-4 9-2
6 UW-Oshkosh 18-4 15-4
7 Loras 15-5 13-3
8 Puget Sound 16-4 13-3

Women’s Basketball
The first record listed is the regional record, followed by overall record, through Sunday, Feb. 4.

Atlantic
1 Mary Washington 17-2 18-2
2 Mount St. Mary 17-3 17-3
3 William Paterson 17-3 18-4
4 Kean 17-3 18-3
5 Stevens 17-4 17-4
6 Rutgers-Newark 15-4 15-6

Central
1 Illinois Wesleyan 17-0 19-1
2 UW-Stout 17-3 18-4
3 Lake Forest 15-1 17-2
4 Carroll 17-3 17-3
5 Chicago 14-4 16-4
6 Washington U. 12-4 15-5

East
1 Rochester 18-2 18-2
2 St. Lawrence 18-0 20-1
3 Cortland State 17-1 18-1
4 New York University 18-2 18-2
5 Medaille 15-2 17-4
6 Brockport State 13-5 15-5

Great Lakes
1 Calvin 12-0 18-1
2 DePauw 12-2 19-2
3 Denison 17-2 19-3
4 Wilmington 16-3 18-3
5 Hope 13-2 18-2
6 Baldwin-Wallace 16-4 17-4

Mid-Atlantic
1 Messiah 20-0 20-1
2 Scranton 17-2 19-2
3 Gwynedd-Mercy 18-2 18-2
4 McDaniel 18-2 18-2
5 Muhlenberg 17-3 18-3
6 Dickinson 16-4 17-4

Northeast
1 Bowdoin 19-1 21-1
2 Fitchburg State 18-1 18-1
3 Emmanuel 16-1 18-1
4 Southern Maine 19-1 19-1
5 Maine Maritime 17-1 19-1
6 Norwich 17-2 18-2
7 Williams 14-4 17-5
8 Brandeis 14-4 15-4

South
1 Howard Payne 19-1 20-1
2 Oglethorpe 15-3 16-5
3 McMurry 17-3 18-3
4 Randolph-Macon 15-2 16-3
5 Hendrix 15-2 20-3
6 Maryville (Tenn.) 13-2 15-3

West
1 Luther 11-2 15-4
2 Gustavus Adolphus 18-2 18-2
3 Puget Sound 13-2 17-4
4 St. Benedict 16-2 16-4
5 Simpson 13-4 17-5
6 George Fox 9-4 13-6

Unrivaled rivalry

… or as Jim Nantz might put it, a tradition unlike any other. While he’d be referring to the Masters, in Division III it’s the Hope/Calvin rivalry, the best rivalry in Division III.

(Note: Every time I say that, someone wants to challenge it, so I’ll respond now. Put 11,000 fans in the seats at your game, like this game did in the mid-’90s, and we’ll talk.)

I’ve seen Hope/Calvin once in person, once at one of the rivalry’s many satellite viewing parties and once on CSTV. In 1999 I saw the game at a sports bar in Arlington, Va., and wrote about it on the site. I saw it in person in February 2005 in the final Rivalry game played in the Holland Civic Center, Hope’s longtime home floor. And the CSTV broadcast was really just the local TV retransmitted, which was a shame, because the local broadcasters did nothing to educate the national audience about what this rivalry is about or why the game was even on. What a waste.

Hope won the last meeting, which is why we currently name it the Hope/Calvin rivalry. (When Calvin wins, we officially reverse the order.)

The teams meet tonight, and Josh Centor, who writes a blog for the NCAA, will be in the house and experiencing this for the first time. Follow his blog.

Top 25 News and Notes–Week 10

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.)

St. Vincent has plans for PAC

I’m moving this post back to the top because it got a new comment today and it seemed relevant. St. Vincent isn’t exactly taking the PAC by storm so far.
Originally posted July 01, 2005 at 6:08 p.m. ET

St. Vincent won’t be in the PAC at all until 2006-07 and won’t be eligible for the NCAA playoffs until March 2011, but we already know what they plan to do in the league, thanks to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“We’re going into the PAC to be successful,” coach D.P. Harris said. “I’m still going to come into my office each morning at 6 a.m. I expect to see my assistants there. I’m not changing. A big part of this is how the men’s basketball program accepts Division III and accepts the challenge.

“We want to change the perception of Division III basketball in the district.”

Phew … they’re getting into the office about three hours after I usually log off for the night. And how many full-time assistants does he have? Or is it just the part-timers that have to be in at 6 a.m.?

We love live scoring

Thanks to Sports Information Directors and our partnership with D3Scoreboard.com, we’re able to bring you a great deal more in-game updates than we ever had in the regular season in past years. As I look now, not even 2 p.m., there are already a half-dozen games with scores of games in-progress. On a busy weeknight you can find more than a dozen going on at the same time.

Thanks to the schools that post them. I hope everyone realizes these are out there for you to keep up on games.

Today’s scores: Men | Women

Also, schools can post links to their live stats package or their audio broadcast by using the Edit feature next to each game under their login.

I’m off to a game myself — want to see Mike Hoyt for Mount St. Mary play in person. The points he’s been putting up are unbelievable. But follow the scoreboard, listen to games, watch the live stats. Should be a good day.