For a little while now we’ve been down to one undefeated team on the men’s side, Amherst. And by that I mean one team with no loses at all, not teams without losses to Division III opponents. Sorry, UW-Stevens Point – more on you in a bit.

But does being the last undefeated team correlate with a deep run into the tournament? Maybe its better to be ranked number 1, which accounts for strength of schedule and other factors beyond win-loss percentages. Or maybe neither means all that much. After all, last year’s champion Virginia Wesleyan lost its first game of the year and was ranked 23rd at this point last season.

Here is how the last undefeated team and the team ranked No. 1 in Week 8 have fared in recent years. The national champion and their record in Week 8 are also noted.

2005-06
Last undefeated: Lawrence (starting 25-0) loses first game to Illinois Wesleyan in regional semifinals.
No. 1: Wittenberg (16-1) finishes season with a loss in the national finals to Virginia Wesleyan.
Eventual champion: Virginia Wesleyan (16-3) was ranked 23rd.

2004-05
Last undefeated: St. John Fisher (starting 28-0) loses first game to Potsdam State in regional finals.
No. 1: UW-Stevens Point (13-1) wins the national championship.
Eventual champion: See above

2003-04
Last undefeated: Rochester (starting 19-0) loses first game to Washington University on February 8 and finishes the year losing in the regional semifinals to Keene State.
No. 1: Amherst (13-0) loses to Williams in the national semifinals.
Eventual champion: UW-Stevens Point (12-3) was ranked 14th.

2002-03
Last undefeated: Washington University (23-0) loses first game to Rochester on Feb. 23 and finishes the year losing its first NCAA Tournament game to Illinois Wesleyan
No. 1: Washington U was ranked No. 1.
Eventual champion: Eventual champion Williams (14-1) was ranked 7th.

So there you have it — undeniable proof that it’s better to be neither undefeated nor ranked number one at this point in the season. In fact, averaging the ranking of the eventual champions, it looks like the magic ranking to have is about No. 11. Good news for you Elmhurst fans!

Or maybe this just proves that it’s just better to be UW-Stevens Point since they’ve won half the titles in this too-tiny sample.

Or maybe it proves that I have too much free time on my hands.

I was planning to write tonight about my thought process for voting for No. 1 and go through the pluses and minuses for each of the seven-odd candidates. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re from Newburgh, N.Y., Mount St. Mary made that a moot point.

David Collinge will be posting his Top 25 milestones review later tomorrow but I can’t help but think that Scranton has extended a streak it certainly doesn’t want — most one-and-out appearances as No. 1. Scranton was in the top spot going into the 2005 NCAA Tournament, again in the preseason this year, and this week. They are likely destined to miss being No. 1 for a second consecutive poll again.

I told listeners to Hoopsville on Sunday night that I was leaving my No. 1 spot open next week for the possibility that Howard Payne goes up to Abilene and sweeps Hardin-Simmons and McMurry. If they do that, I’d be willing to give them my No. 1 spot, even if Messiah doesn’t lose. To a lesser extent, I might be willing to hand it over to Chicago if it beats NYU and Brandeis at home, though they have to face the same two on the road the next week.

Yes, I voted for Messiah over Scranton. I talked to another voter who has seen them play and thinks Messiah is better, plus I look at the fact that Messiah handled DeSales on the road, while Scranton struggled with DeSales at home.

At the time I voted, I chalked that up in part to the fact that DeSales always seems to give a little extra when playing Scranton.

After Monday night’s game, though, perhaps I should’ve taken it as a sign.

Bowdoin went streaking for a long, long time.

When Bowdoin’s 76-game home winning streak started, Feb. 10, 2001, echoes of Dari Magyar’s Miracle in Manhattan were still ringing in our ears. Listen: audio clip. Remember when it was a big deal to beat Wash U?

When the streak began, George Fox had just taken the throne as the No. 1 team in women’s basketball — thanks to Dari Magyar. They stayed there two weeks before Wash U took it back.

When Bowdoin’s sreak started, the counter on the front page had yet to reach 2.5 million.

At that time, we had a survey on the front page asking what men’s team would win the WIAC. We offered UW-Eau Claire, Oshkosh, River Falls, Stevens Point, Superior and Whitewater as possibilities.

Columbus Multimedia had just ceased covering Division III. Of course, for some reason some schools still link to them.

At that time, Millikin had the longest homecourt winning streak in D-III women’s basketball. They had just won their 48th in a row at home. They lost a few days later.

Otterbein men’s coach Dick Reynolds won his 500th career game that day. He won his 600th earlier this season.

Averett’s men had beaten Christopher Newport for the first time since February 1990.

Just a quick look back at how time has passed. Now let me look back at the two kids and the numerous gray hairs that have come into my life since then. 🙂

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I know we don’t like to reference D-I hoops here (what’s that?), but if you happened to be watching Texas-Oklahoma State instead of heading to your local gym to check out a D-III game, you probably are still amazed by the “Shot of the Year.” (If you haven’t seen it, you will on your favorite highlights show)

Got me to thinking…what’s the most improbable shot I’ve ever seen…

Mine didn’t count on the scoreboard. It came in the 2000 PAC title game when Alvernia’s Chad Kratzer threw one in from out-of-bounds, underneath his own hoop, at the first-half buzzer. if I remember right, Kratzer was 5-for-5 on 3’s in the half. He literally could not miss.

I know there’s a PAC full-court championship-winner that should be on the list too…

Any other improbable shot memories?