KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The West Liberty University men’s basketball team received 13 of the 16 first-place votes to remain No. 1 in this week’s NCAA Division II national coaches’ poll.
Results of the balloting by the 16-coach rankings panel of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) were released Tuesday afternoon, reflecting results for games played through Sunday, Jan. 13.
Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers ran their season-opening winning streak to 14 games with hard-fought West Virginia Conference victories against Shepherd (114-109) and Seton Hill (81-72) during the week to maintain a comfortable lead over No. 2 Metro State, Colo (13-0), which received one of the remaining first-place votes.
The other two first-place votes went to defending national champion Western Washington (14-0), which moved up to No. 3 with a pair of impressive wins. Kentucky Wesleyan (12-0) and Indianapolis (12-0), the nation’s last remaining undefeated teams, rounded out the top five.
West Liberty, which was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten on Monday night in a 101-96 loss at Charleston, has now appeared in 46 consecutive NABC Top 25 polls. That’s the longest run in the national rankings by a WVIAC team since former league member Salem was ranked for an NCAA Division II record 76 consecutive weeks from 1997 to 2003.
The Hilltoppers were the only WVIAC team to crack this week’s Top 25 but Fairmont State was listed among teams also receiving votes while Charleston is likely to make its presence felt next week after handing WLU only its second loss in its last 70 league games.
The Black and Gold will try to bounce back at home on Thursday night against another tough foe when Fairmont State dribbles into the ASRC. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on the hilltop.
NABC DIVISION II TOP 25
Men’s Basketball
(Through games of Sunday, Jan. 13)
Team (FPV) Rec Pts Pvs
1. WEST LIBERTY (13) 14-0 396 1
2. Metro State, Colo. (1) 13-0 382 2
3. Western Washington (2) 14-0 373 5
4. Kentucky Wesleyan 12-0 351 6
5. Indianapolis, Ind. 12-0 332 7
6. Seattle Pacific, Wash. 11-2 306 8
7. Cal Poly Pomona 11-1 299 9
8. Minnesota State 12-1 282 11
9. Alabama-Huntsville 12-2 263 3
10. Washburn, Kan. 10-2 235 13
11. Winston-Salem State, N.C. 12-2 216 17
12. Bellarmine, Ky. 10-2 211 4
13. Adams State, Colo. 11-1 199 18
14. Newman, Kan. 13-1 187 19
15. Southern Indiana 10-2 143 10
16. Indiana, Pa. 11-2 131 21
17. Fort Lewis, Colo. 11-1 124 25
18. Lincoln Memorial, Tenn. 10-2 108 12
19. Barton, N.C. 10-2 94 23
20. Florida Southern 10-2 77 16
21. Saint Leo, Fla. 11-2 61 NR
22. Franklin Pierce, N.H. 10-3 59 14
23. Assumption, Mass. 11-2 56 NR
24. Rollins, Fla. 11-2 43 NR
25. Dominican, N.Y. 13-2 38 NR
