April 5, 2023: Looking at the final Top 25 ballot + An update on Rose-Hulman
Getting to this a bit late, but the final Top 25 poll came out on Monday night, and for the most part, it was what we expected. Transylvania was the unanimous No. 1, taking home all 25 first-place votes after never being No. 1 at any point in the year. Head coach Juli Fulks had said postgame that the goal was to be No. 1 at the end of the year, and the Pioneers certainly accomplished that in their national championship victory over Christopher Newport in Dallas. Christopher Newport was the No. 2, and I’m almost positive they were unanimous in that spot as well. Beyond that, there were some interesting places were teams were higher or lower than I had them in my ballot, and also some situations where teams moved a great deal based on their performance in the NCAA Tournament.
Here were a few of my initial reactions:
Rhode Island College’s Cinderella run to the Final Four warranted a jump from being unranked to No. 4 in the nation. That has to be one of the biggest jumps in the history of the poll! The Anchorwomen received 504 points. I had them 11th, considering the tournament run was incredible, but they also did not win their regular season conference title.
Tufts ended up at #8 while Trinity (TX) was #6. I thought Trinity was fantastic this year, but honestly expected Tufts would finish ahead. The two were relatively close numbers-wise, and it’s hard to ignore that Tufts beat Trinity in the Sweet 16 in fairly convincing fashion. That head-to-head result led me to put Tufts one spot ahead of Trinity. Regardless, Tufts jumped from #21 to #8 after its run to the Elite Eight.
Mary Washington’s upset of DeSales had a notable impact on both team’s final ranking. Mary Washington went from being unranked to #21 after finding its way to the second weekend and nearly taking down Smith in the sectionals. I did not have Mary Washington in my final ballot, but they were #26 as I ranked out to #30. Meanwhile DeSales went from #8 to #17. The 27-2 record didn’t hold up this time around.
Gustavus Adolphus dropped too far in my opinion, though I get it, considering they also did not reach the second weekend, falling to UW-Whitewater in the second round. The MIAC schedule doesn’t allow Gusty to build a strong SOS with non-conference games, and that had to have played a role too. They went from #9 to #18.
Four teams dropped out, which was to be expected. Ithaca, Baldwin Wallace, Calvin, and Berea all dropped out. Ithaca was the only team I had in my ballot, and I can totally see why some would not have had the Bombers. Marietta took down Ithaca 44-42 in the second round of the tournament.
And Wartburg jumped nine spots up, after the crazy tournament run they had, taking down Hope at DeVos Fieldhouse to reach the sectionals. The Knights were #24 entering the tournament, and finish the season #15.
Additionally, now that we are full on into offseason coverage, I finally had time to follow up with Rose-Hulman and ask for an update regarding the state of the program. They abruptly canceled the season after just five games, going 2-3. A 74-47 loss to Transylvania preceded the announcement, though I was hearing rumors for a week leading up to that about the potential cancellation of the season due to low roster numbers. Soonafter, longtime head coach Jon Prevo announced his retirement, and that was the last we heard as to the state of the program, which has not yet hired a head coach.
However, official word from RHIT on Tuesday morning informed me that they are actively preparing for the 2023-24 season. The complete schedule is out, and RHIT is hosting the Midwest Challenge on Thanksgiving weekend, which includes WashU, DePauw and Illinois Wesleyan. The schedule is not incredibly advantageous; La Verne might be the most notable name outside of the Thanksgiving event, but I think that is necessary. RHIT needs a year to rebuild, and playing CalTech, Elmhurst, and Spalding can definitely allow them to do that.
I was also told that the head coaching search “is currently underway”. Assistant coach Stacia Rosen has remained on the staff, and it appears she has continued recruiting for this upcoming year. I was told “several incoming student-athletes are expected to join the roster in 2023-24,” which is encouraging because the roster was way too small this past year, and keeping a roster number at least above 10 is probably necessary to withstand a 25-game season.
So that’s the update on RHIT. We’ll see what happens moving forwards. William Peace also announced late last week that a national search for their next head coach is underway. William Peace was another program that ended its season early this past year.
Let me know if you have any other questions/news/notes that I should mention. I’ll probably check back in over the weekend, barring any breaking news. Have a great rest of your day!
By the way, here is how my Top 25 ballot looked (click on the Tweet to see the full ranking 1-25)
