UPDATED: February 6, 2023: My Week 10 Top 25 ballot + Thoughts on the new Top 25

CNU is #1 in my ballot, and ended up #1 in the poll too

The D3hoops.com Top 25 poll has been released…check it out here! Also, there were a couple of errors in the previous post that are reflected in this one. Please reference this as the updated version of this weekly ballot breakdown. (and thanks to everyone who has reached out with corrections throughout this season of me running this blog. Never hesitate to email/DM me if you see something is out of line with any articles written here. I try to do my best to fact-check everything, but things will sometimes get missed! Thanks to everyone who follows the blog as well. Your support is always appreciated!)

A few thoughts on this current Top 25 before getting into my ballot…

• Not often is it that you see a team (Transylvania) get more first-place votes than the team that ends up #1 (Christopher Newport). Transy had 13 first-place votes, but CNU was probably #2 in the ballots in which they were not #1. CNU ended up with just 9 more points.

• Trinity TX drops back to #4. I get the loss at Colorado College, but CC is very good. They’re on a win streak right now and playing great. Feels like Trinity’s resume with the wins over Hardin-Simmons (still #8 this week) and Puget Sound (#16 this week) wouldn’t slide them back 3 spots. But still, Scranton and Transy have stayed undefeated through their schedules.

• WashU, La Verne, and Wartburg break into the poll this week. Honestly, felt like WashU, at 8-1 in the UAA, should’ve been a little higher than #22. I had them 10 spots higher! Wartburg is a good pick at #24, and is probably a team I should’ve been voting for. They’re currently projected #7 in R9 according to Scott Peterson’s model. Wartburg leads the ARC race right now. La Verne is playing exceptional basketball right now as well on the west coast.

• I would’ve guessed Baldwin Wallace would’ve fallen out of the Top 25 before UW Eau Claire, but BW stayed in at #19 after the loss to Otterbein while UWEC dropped from #17 to completely out of the poll. Blugolds had the most points of any team not ranked.

• Speaking of the WIAC, UW-Oshkosh has a phenomenal resume but remains unranked. They’ve made some tremendous strides, did well in non-conference, and have held their own in a very deep WIAC. UWO had 21 points this week. I had them at #16 (as you’ll see below).

• Messiah at #15 feels a little too high. I just haven’t seen them in a lot of quality matchups. But a 19-2 record does warrant some mention nonetheless!

• I was also a bit surprised Ohio Northern jumped three spots despite nearly losing to Capital on Saturday. They had the big run at the end, but a 3 spot jump up in the poll? I will say filling that 10-15 range in my ballot this week was tough. So that probably contributed to it quite a bit. ONU is a good team.

• Overall, it’s a great poll, and the voters continue to do a nice job. Lots of teams playing HIGH LEVEL basketball right now. Makes for an exciting time of the year!

1st Chris. Newport: The Captains prevailed against a tough UC Santa Cruz squad on Sunday, and were especially strong on the defensive end in the second half. That win, which moved CNU to 22-0, combined with Trinity (TX)’s loss, moved CNU into my top spot. So far this year, I’ve had Hope, NYU, Trinity, and now CNU, at #1. 

2nd Trinity (Tex.): Losses will happen in a season, and you’d just prefer they don’t occur in a win-or-go home situation. Colorado College got the best of the Tigers, snapping Trinity’s 20-game win streak on Sunday. Still, wins over Puget Sound, and Hardin-Simmons (x2) look very good right now. 

3rd Transylvania: The Pioneers continue to roll in the HCAC. Transy is 4th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 45.9 points per game. They won’t be an easy NCAA Tournament matchup because of their strength on that end of the floor. 

4th Scranton: Scranton was tested in a big way against Catholic on Saturday, but found a way to keep its perfect record intact, winning 55-47. The Lady Royals also won at Susquehanna this past week, and stayed 4th in my ballot. 

5th New York U.: The Violets faced Case Western and Carnegie Mellon back-to-back for the second straight week (odd UAA scheduling) and came away with two more victories, scoring 82 points in both, oddly enough. NYU won by 20+ in both road contests, and is now 2nd in the UAA. 

6th Smith: The NEWMAC’s top squad won its 13th and 14th straight games this past week, taking down Wheaton (MA) and Coast Guard, who are both barely sitting above .500 on the season. 

7th Hope: The Flying Dutch dominated in Indiana on Saturday, eclipsing the 100-point mark in a 109-62 win over St. Mary’s. Sets up the second edition of “The Rivalry” this season, as Hope and Calvin battle in Holland on Wednesday night. 

8th Wis.-Whitewater: Whitewater is back in my Top 10. That’s what an 84-52 win over UW-Eau Claire will get you. That was a superior performance from the Warhawks. Transy, Scranton, NYU, Smith and Hope, all stayed in the same spots as where they were a week ago, but Whitewater jumps five spots from #13. 

9th DeSales: I still haven’t seen DeSales in enough quality contests to know just how good they can be, but currently, D3 Sports Data has them #1 in Net Efficiency (link to graph here), and DeSales is also leading the nation in scoring defense, as the only team in D-III allowing below 40 points per game (38.1). 

10th Trine: Albion added Trine to the list of MIAA heavyweights the Britons have taken down this season, as Trine fell by a point to Albion on Wednesday. The Thunder then rebounded by beating Alma by 22. Trine drops two spots this week. 

11th Trinity (Conn.): Trinity also took a notable loss this week, losing for the first time in NESCAC play on Friday to Williams, also by a single point. Like Trine, Trinity drops back two spots for me, but  I did like the quick turnaround and solid win at Middlebury, 60-47, on Saturday. 

12th Washington (Mo.): I debated about how high I should put WashU, considering I had them #19 last week, and unranked the week prior, but if you’re looking at recent results, I think WashU certainly deserves Top 15 consideration. I tend to look at the total body of work too, and the four losses early on aren’t great, but they are to teams I consider to be high-caliber. And they came in November, with key players injured. Besides the upset at the hands of Case Western, WashU has looked incredible in UAA play, and swept both Rochester and Emory this season with home victories on Friday and Sunday. 

13th Hardin-Simmons: HSU won big at UT-Dallas on Saturday, 67-48, and will face Ozarks tonight. The Cowgirls remain far and away the best team out of the ASC. They have experience on the roster, which seems to have helped a great deal. 

14th Chicago: The Maroons went 1-1 on the week, losing to Emory at home, before bouncing back in a 12-point win over Rochester. Chicago is still in the UAA title conversation, but it is looking like Pool C might be the Maroons’ path to March. 

15th Puget Sound: Puget Sound has been tough to predict as of late. But they certainly are a solid second half team. The Loggers trailed 31-21 at half on Friday vs Willamette before exploding with a 22-point 3rd quarter. 24 more in the 4th gave way to a 67-45 win. Maybe they’re just trying to get us to pay attention to west coast basketball, haha. PS still has all the talent there for a deep tournament run. Honestly, a lot of it will depend on seeding, because it is likely they’ll be sent to San Antonio and have to beat Trinity or HSU in order to make it out of the first weekend. It isn’t fair that 3 Top 15 teams would have to battle it out in one pod, but that’s just a fact of D3. 

16th Wis.-Oshkosh: The Titans looked incredibly sharp this past week, becoming just the second team this season to win at UW-Eau Claire. UWO was excellent defensively in that one, and followed that up a 10-point win over UW-River Falls. The Titans get another huge test on Wednesday, battling UW-Whitewater at home. That’s a crucial contest for both teams, though UWO’s resume is already very solid with wins over WashU, DePauw, Wartburg, and Ripon, in addition to their seven WIAC wins. Also S/O to whoever came up with the idea to make the promotion for Wedesday’s game “light-up cowboy hats for the first 50 fans”. Now that’s thinking outside the box! 

17th Wis.-Eau Claire: The Blugolds had a rough go of it this past week, losing to both Oshkosh and Whitewater. There were no key players out from what I could tell, but they were also playing some very high-level teams. The WIAC is still a wide-open conference at this point, and UWEC is certainly in that conversation. However, I did drop them back six spots in this week’s ballot. 

18th Babson: The Beavers posted a 2-0 week in NEWMAC action, beating Emerson and Wheaton (MA). Babson is currently 13th in assist/turnover ratio (1.14), and in fact, 8 of the nation’s Top 15 in that category are in my ballot this week. It pays well to take care of the ball! 

19th Gustavus Adolphus: The Gusties are rolling along in MIAC play, and have answered the call every time in a conference that is actually pretty deep this season. I was very impressed by the 83-57 win over St. Benedict in midweek action, as SBC has been right around the top of the league for the majority of conference action. Gustavus Adolphus has looked very on point in the last few games I’ve watched, and speaking of assist/turnover ratio, the Gusties are 7th nationally (1.25). 

20th Ithaca: It’s about time the Bombers are back in my ballot. Though Skidmore gave them a challenge on Saturday, Ithaca pulled out a 3-point win, and is now 13-0 in Liberty League play. They don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, and an 18-2 record with the two losses coming to Scranton and Rochester makes for a pretty solid resume. 

21st Millikin: The Big Blue fell hard to Wheaton (IL) on Saturday in their first loss of CCIW play. Moved them back one spot, but overall I’ve really liked what Millikin has been doing, especially recently. They’re still in control atop the CCIW, and when Knudsen and Coffman are both shooting well, I would think Millikin becomes a tough matchup for even some of the top teams in my ballot to beat. At 22.3 PPG, Elyse Knudsen is sixth in the country in scoring. Bailey Coffman is averaging 12.6 PPG, but did not score at all in Saturday’s loss. 

22nd Ohio Northern: ONU nearly took a loss if not for a crazy run on Saturday against Captial. On one hand, the Polar Bears displayed they could perform exceptionally well under pressure. On the other, they played three quarters of subpar basketball. Every team will have those days. I’m not just sure what to think of that one. Otterbein challenged ONU earlier in the week as well in a fairly competitive OAC duel. 

23rd Loras: Likely to be the highest regionally ranked team out of the ARC (though Wartburg’s resume is looking really, really good), nobody should be forgetting about Loras. Their resume against Massey Top 100 teams remains very impressive, highlighted by wins over UW-Eau Claire, Babson, and Calvin. The Duhawks won at Coe, 69-46, this past week, then followed that up with a victory over Central, 75-47. Those are two very solid wins in ARC play, and the Duhawks get a chance at revenge against Luther in the coming week. 

24th Calvin: The Knights head into a massive week with games against Hope and Trine, having won their last 10, with an 18-3 record and 10-2 mark in MIAA play. Though they’re a solid Top 25 team, the nature of regional rankings and Pool C selection means Calvin needs two big results this week. The Knights went 2-0 this past week with victories over Alma and Olivet. 

25th Rochester (N.Y.): It came down to Baldwin Wallace and Rochester for this final spot. Honestly, I didn’t like either in my Top 25, though both have Top 25-worthy resumes, if that makes sense. Rochester has lost 5 of its last 6, but it wasn’t that long ago that Rochester was one of the top teams in the UAA. I’m taking a wait and see approach with both Rochester and Baldwin Wallace, but I will say there are some other teams in contention for that final spot in my ballot, such as Emory, UW-Stout, Elizabethtown, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Wartburg.

26th-Baldwin Wallace

27th- Wartburg

28th-UW-Stout

29th-Elizabethtown

30th-Emory

Also considered: Mary Hardin-Baylor, UW-La Crosse, Stevens, SUNY New Paltz