The Week 5 Top 25 recorded a composite record of 36-15 this week, with eleven ranked teams suffering losses. With so much carnage, a complete reevaluation of each voter’s ballot was called for. One result was the beginning of a separation between a leading group of nine teams and the rest of the pack. The top 9 teams received 4,654 votes out of a possible 4,725 (98.5%), and the gap between #9 (Mississippi College) and #10 (UW-Oshkosh) grew to 92 points, or nearly four positions on the average voter’s ballot. Last week’s #2, Ohio Northern, suffered its second double-digit homecourt loss of the season, a defeat which had ramifications throughout the top third of the poll. ONU’s seven first-place votes were in play, and six of them ended up in the hands of #1 UW-Stevens Point, allowing the Pointers to break free of a three-team logjam and establish themselves as the clear #1 team. ONU has already recorded wins over two other top 10 teams (#5 Wooster and #8 Wittenberg), giving the voters a dilemma over how to handle ONU’s loss. Some voters clearly thought it was important to keep ONU slotted ahead of Wooster, resulting in a 28-point drop in the Scots’ support (despite blasting their only opponent of the week,) while others evidently reconsidered the relative ranking of these two Ohio schools, as the gap between them, which had been 64 points, was reduced to a single point. The primary beneficiary of this conundrum seems to have been #3 St. Thomas, which gained 39 points and two poll positions despite struggling to a 2-point win and a double overtime win this week. #6 Whitworth also moved up strongly (+38), with the result being that the teams ranked #3 through #6 are essentially tied, with just ten points separating the #3 Tommies and the #6 Pirates.

Looking down the list, perhaps the most notable development is that the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) now has four teams ranked and two others receiving votes. The CCIW and its northern neighbor, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), are the only D3 conferences to achieve the distinction of having 4 teams ranked in the same week, and the CCIW is the smaller of the two conferences (8 teams vs. the WIAC’s 9). Alongside the CCIW, the eight-team University Athletic Association (UAA) had six teams receiving votes this week. The UAA and CCIW join the ten-team New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), which had six teams in the voting in week 9 of the 1999-2000 season, and the WIAC, which has had 6 teams in the voting seven times (including the first two polls this season) and seven teams receive votes on four separate occasions, as the only conferences with six teams in the voting in a given week.

Debutantes:
Fresh off its upset victory over then-#9 William Paterson, Manhattanville received votes for the first time this week. Congratulations to the Valiants!

Streakers:
> #5 Wooster is a top ten team for the 45th consecutive week, extending their record streak.
> #2 Amherst is a top 25 team for the 70th straight week, also a record.
> #9 Mississippi College and #23 Worcester Polytech each received votes for the 30th consecutive week; #4 Ohio Northern is a vote-getter for the 20th straight time.
> Lawrence dropped out of the top 25 for the first time since last season’s preseason poll, snapping a ranking string at 20 straight weeks.

Milestones:
> #7 Virginia Wesleyan is a top 10 team for the tenth time, and a top 25 team for the 25th time.
> #2 Amherst is ranked for the 75th week.
> #16 Washington U. is in the top 25 for the 50th time, and received votes for the 70th time.
> #6 Whitworth appears on the voting list for the 50th time. For #19 Johns Hopkins, this is the 30th appearance, and #12 Bates has now drawn voting support ten times.

High-Water Marks:
#3 St. Thomas, #12 Bates, and #20 UW-La Crosse each set new marks for highest-ever ranking this week. #6 Whitworth equalled its highest point, first achieved last week.

Movers and Shakers:
> The biggest gainers of the week were #14 Elmhurst, gaining 178 points and vaulting into the top 25; #10 UW-Oshkosh, leaping eight spots and 173 points; and #16 Washington U., up 142 points and 8 placements.
> Averett dropped three straight games and plummeted out of the poll from the #11 spot, shedding 328 points in the process.

There’s been a lot of head-scratching about Averett, which lost three games this week after coming in at No. 11.

Here’s the scoop: Cory McDaniel broke his hand back in December and didn’t play in the game against Guilford. He played with a soft cast against Richard Stockton and shot 3-for-11. He was Averett’s leading scorer when he went down. Jonathan Rumley, who had played all 10 games and was the team’s leading rebounder, did not play, and neither did Tyler Eubanks, who had started five of Averett’s 10 games.

Just figured we should get that out front and center. Feel free to use this space to talk more about Friday’s and Saturday’s games.

After trying to describe the maelstrom that is the men’s poll this week, analyzing the women’s poll is like slipping into a relaxing, warm bath. The top 8 teams all held their positions over the holidays, and all but one actually gained votes (the exception, Scranton, lost just a single vote.) For several weeks I have been tracking the consolidation at the top of the poll, and this week the consolidation may have reached a maximum: the top 10 teams collectively received 5,068 of a maximum 5,125 points, an “efficiency ratio” of 98.9%. In other words, the 25 voters are virtually unanimous about who the nation’s top 10 teams are.

Bowdoin held on to the top spot for the fifth consecutive week and 21st time overall, second only to all-time poll champions Washington U. (53). At the other end of the upper echelon, Howard Payne took advantage of a loss by then-#9 McMurry (to #15 UW-Stout) to slip into the top ten for the first time in school history.

As noted above, congratulations to Howard Payne University for becoming the newest member of the top 10 club!

Aside from the Yellow Jackets, the only high-water mark in this week’s “Poll of Stability” was reached by the #17 Chicago Maroons, tying the all-time high set just last week.

>#1 Bowdoin is a member of the top 10 for the 80th consecutive week, extending their record in this category;
>#18 Mary Washington is ranked for the 20th consecutive week; for #10 Howard Payne, this streak has reached 10 weeks;
>#10 Howard Payne, #15 UW-Stout, and #22 Medaille received votes for the 10th straight week; and
>#4 Scranton, #16 Hardin-Simmons, and unranked Washington U. each received votes in the 115th straight poll, extending their perfect records.

>#1 Bowdoin and #4 Scranton are each in the top 10 for the 80th time;
>#7 Brandeis is a top 25 team for the 40th time, and #18 Mary Washington is ranked for the 20th time;
>#4 Scranton is in the top 25 for the 112th time, extending their record in this category; and
>Unranked St. Benedict received votes in this poll, marking their 110th time as a vote-getter.

Congratulations to these outstanding programs, and Happy New Year to all! 🙂

David Collinge has become the D3hoops.com Top 25’s unofficial historian and has produced weekly notes that he’s been posting on the message board. We’ve invited him to bring his milestones and observations to the Daily Dose.

The voters in the men’s poll took a week off to celebrate the holidays, and returned to find that 14 of the previous top 25 lost at least one game (a 15th lost an exhibition game, and two other teams were idle), including two losses by the #1 team and losses by five of the top 6 in the Dec. 19th poll. The new poll, the 114th poll in D3hoops.com’s history, reflects this turmoil. The gap between the new #1 (UW-Stevens Point) and #3 (Amherst) is just 5 points, the closest the top 3 have ever been to one another. The #1 votes are nearly evely split between the top three teams, with #1 Stevens Point receiving just nine #1 votes; only Wittenberg (8 in week 6 last year) and Carthage (8 in 2000-01 week 3) reached the top with fewer #1 votes.

Two-time champion Stevens Point is the #1 team for the 14th time, a mark exceeded only by Carthage (22.) The #1 team in the 113th poll, the College of Wooster, slipped to #4 but added another week to their many poll records: most poll appearances (114, a perfect mark), most top 25 appearances (106), and most top 10 appearances in total (84) and consecutively (44). #3 Amherst was denied the top spot in the poll, despite gaining 6 first place votes, but did extend their record streak of top 25 appearances to 69 consecutive weeks.

The University of Texas at Dallas, the first D3 team this season to upset a D1 team, made its poll deut this week at #22. Texas-Dallas becomes just the 7th team in poll history to make its poll debut as a top 25 team, and recorded the fourth-highest vote total for a first-time vote-getter. #23 Brandeis also appeared in the top 25 for the first time this week. Congratulations to the Comets and Judges!

> #12 Augustana, #14 Hope, and #21 Lawrence are each members of the top 25 for the 20th consecutive week.
> #21 Lawrence received votes for the 50th consecutive week. #3 Amherst has received votes in 70 straight polls; Lincoln has been mentioned 20 straight times; and #5 St. Thomas and #6 Whitworth are vote-getters for the 10th consecutive week.
> UW-Whitewater had received votes in 82 consecutive polls before falling short this week. Calvin had a 30-week voting string snapped as well.

High-Water Marks:

#11 Averett reached an all-time high ranking for the fourth straight week, a streak likely to end after their loss to Guilford last night. #2 Ohio Northern, #6 Whitworth, #15 Bates, and #20 NYU also attained their highest-ever rankings this week, as did #22 UT-Dallas and #23 Brandeis, our top 25 debutantes.

Milestones:

> #1 UW-Stevens Point is in the top 10 for the 60th time;
> #14 Hope and #16 Wheaton (IL) are each ranked for the 50th time;
> #9 William Paterson is in the top 25 for the 40th time;
> #6 Whitworth is ranked for the 20th time;
> CCIW rivals #16 Wheaton (IL) and #17 Carthage are vote-getters for the 75th time each; and
> #5 St. Thomas received votes for the 70th time in this poll, and Worcester Polytech attracted votes for the 30th time.

Congratulations to all of these outstanding programs!