Top 25 discussion

[RogK]

She may seem unusually tall, but if her legs were any shorter, her feet wouldn't reach the ground and then where would we be.

[Augie2020]

When conference play starts taking place you never know what will happen.Great game in the Mac freedom tonight #6Desales upset by Steven's by 1 what a great game!!This is why d3 is so great in any sport these kids play for the love of the game!

[PauldingLightUP]

2022-2023 Pre Championship Manual is out now.

https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/basketball/d3/women/2022-23D3WBB_PreChampionshipManual.pdf

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared - Complete except for UCSC/Pomona-Pitzer (tips at 4:00pm EST)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	615	Trinity (Texas)	19-0	def. Centenary (La.), 96-46; def. St. Thomas (Texas), 96-38
#2	590	Transylvania	17-0	def. Hanover, 69-44; 01/21 vs. Rose-Hulman canceled
#3	585	Christopher Newport	17-0	won at Southern Virginia, 77-66
#4	552	Scranton	17-0	won at Drew, 63-50; won at Juniata, 62-34
#5	499	Smith	16-1	won at WPI, 67-64 OT; won at Clark, 64-36
#6	459	DeSales	16-1	LOST at Stevens, 48-49; def. FDU-Florham, 83-22
#7	448	Rochester	13-3	LOST at Brandeis, 71-77; LOST at #8 New York University, 67-80
#8	435	New York University	13-2	def. #27 Emory, 76-63; def. #7 Rochester, 80-67
#9	390	Hope	16-2	def. St. Mary's (Ind.), 121-51; def. Alma, 89-37
#10	387	Chicago	15-1	won at Carnegie Mellon, 89-63; won at Case Western Reserve, 63-49
#11	361	Babson	15-1	def. Hamilton, 71-64; def. Clark, 70-42; def. Coast Guard, 66-50
#12	358	Baldwin Wallace	16-1	def. John Carroll, 81-60; won at Wilmington, 66-61
#13	338	Trine	14-3	def. Albion, 68-41
#14	303	Ohio Northern	15-2	def. Heidelberg, 67-31; LOST at Marietta, 61-68
#15	300	Hardin-Simmons	16-2	won at T#34 East Texas Baptist, 67-56; won at LeTourneau, 77-59
#16	258	UW-Eau Claire	16-3	def. T#34 UW-Stout, 85-59; won at #33 UW-La Crosse, 64-60 OT
#17	254	Trinity (Conn.)	16-1	def. Roger Williams, 58-41; won at Wesleyan, 59-43
#18	198	Puget Sound	15-2	def. Pacific Lutheran, 68-38; def. Lewis and Clark, 101-56
#19	160	UW-Whitewater	14-5	LOST to UW-Platteville, 49-65; won at UW-River Falls, 65-54
#20	146	Ithaca	14-2	won at Skidmore, 73-61; won at Union, 50-39
#21	113	Loras	14-4	LOST at T#39 Wartburg, 51-63; won at Buena Vista, 88-61
#22	76	Calvin	14-3	def. Kalamazoo, 70-29; won at St. Mary's (Ind.), 90-66
#23	52	Mary Hardin-Baylor	13-4	def. Concordia (Texas), 65-57
#24	46	Messiah	16-2	won at Stevenson, 67-47; def. Widener, 67-52
#25	36	Washington and Jefferson	16-1	def. Westminster (Pa.), 65-47; 01/21 vs. Thiel postponed

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	23	Gustavus Adolphus	14-2	def. Hamline, 84-55; def. St. Olaf, 91-44; won at Carleton, 87-40
#27	22	Emory	12-3	won at Rhodes, 74-50; LOST at #8 New York University, 63-76; won at Brandeis, 77-58
#28	19	Amherst	13-5	def. Williams, 50-40; LOST to Hamilton, 47-50
T#29	18	Cortland	15-3	def. T#41 Bowdoin, 70-66; LOST at SUNY New Paltz, 67-71; won at SUNY Oneonta, 52-45
T#29	18	Millikin	15-3	won at Elmhurst, 94-43; def. Augustana, 81-63
#31	14	La Verne	17-1	won at Occidental, 59-57; def. Whittier, 70-33
#32	10	UC Santa Cruz	13-4	won at Cal Lutheran, 57-44; won at Pomona-Pitzer, 78-59
#33	6	UW-La Crosse	15-4	def. UW-River Falls, 63-36; LOST to #16 UW-Eau Claire, 60-64 OT
T#34	5	East Texas Baptist	13-5	LOST to #15 Hardin-Simmons, 56-67; def. McMurry, 73-61
T#34	5	Elizabethtown	15-1	won at Catholic, 64-58; def. Goucher, 84-55
T#34	5	Tufts	12-5	def. Bates, 84-75 OT
T#34	5	UW-Oshkosh	13-5	won at UW-Stevens Point, 58-38; def. T#34 UW-Stout, 75-73
T#34	5	UW-Stout	13-6	LOST at #16 UW-Eau Claire, 59-85; LOST at T#34 UW-Oshkosh, 73-75
T#39	3	Springfield	12-5	won at Wellesley, 68-34
T#39	3	Wartburg	13-4	def. #21 Loras, 63-51
T#41	2	Berea	17-1	won at Maryville (Tenn.), 85-59
T#41	2	Bowdoin	13-6	LOST at T#29 Cortland, 66-70; def. Husson, 80-76; def. Colby, 52-43
#43	1	Washington U.	11-5	LOST at Case Western Reserve, 64-74; won at Carnegie Mellon, 77-74

[scottiedawg]

# Biggest Vote Gainers
Messiah: +52
Chicago: +50
Washington & Jefferson: +47
Babson: +43
NYU: +40
Mary Hardin-Baylor: +39
Hardin-Simmons: +38
Puget Sound: +34
Hope: +33
Baldwin Wallace: +31
UW-Eau Claire: +28
Gustavus Adolphus: +27
Ithaca: +24
Calvin: +23
Trine: +21
Elizabethtown: +21
Millikin: +19
Smith: +15
Trinity (Conn): +15
Wartburg: +13
Berea: +11
UW-Oshkosh: +9
La Verne: +7
Scranton: +4
Mary Washington: +3
Stevens: +3
Trinity (Texas): +1
Tufts: +1
St. John Fisher: +1

# Biggest Vote Decliners
Rochester: -195
Ohio Northern: -107
UW-Whitewater: -107
DeSales: -106
Loras: -91
Amherst: -19
Cortland: -14
UW-La Crosse: -6
East Texas Baptist: -5
Transylvania: -3
UC Santa Cruz: -3
Emory: -2
Bowdoin: -2
WashU: -1

[scottiedawg]

Looking only at losses (and also not looking at who the losses were to):

1/23/23
#9
#11 ORV

1/25/23
11
14
#13 ORV

1/26/23
22

1/27/23
16
17
#16 ORV
#5 ORV

1/28/23
9
10
23

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (Complete)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	616	Trinity (Texas)	19-0	IDLE
#2	587	Transylvania	19-0	def. Manchester, 69-54; won at Bluffton, 65-42
#3	585	Christopher Newport	20-0	won at Marymount, 69-52; won at Pratt, 107-34; won at New Jersey City, 88-64
#4	556	Scranton	19-0	def. Moravian, 79-56; won at Goucher, 83-51
#5	514	Smith	18-1	def. #35 Tufts, 70-60; won at Mount Holyoke, 85-24
#6	475	New York University	15-2	def. Carnegie Mellon, 77-52; def. Case Western Reserve, 73-62
#7	437	Chicago	16-2	won at #30 Emory, 66-61; LOST at #16 Rochester, 75-85
#8	423	Hope	18-2	won at #11 Trine, 83-69; def. Albion, 78-49
#9	404	Babson	16-3	LOST to #15 Trinity (Conn.), 61-65; won at Mount Holyoke, 103-25; LOST at T#37 Springfield, 61-71
#10	389	Baldwin Wallace	17-2	won at Heidelberg, 47-37; LOST to Marietta, 49-59
#11	359	Trine	15-4	LOST to #8 Hope, 69-83; won at Olivet, 71-39
#12	353	DeSales	18-1	won at King's, 66-28; def. Lycoming, 77-32
#13	338	Hardin-Simmons	18-2	won at Sul Ross State, 90-89; def. Howard Payne, 95-53
#14	286	UW-Eau Claire	16-4	LOST at UW-River Falls, 70-81
#15	269	Trinity (Conn.)	19-1	won at #9 Babson, 65-61; def. Hamilton, 55-37; def. Amherst, 51-45
#16	253	Rochester	14-4	LOST to Washington U., 67-75; def. #7 Chicago, 85-75
#17	232	Puget Sound	16-3	LOST at Whitman, 50-61; won at Whitworth, 80-52
#18	196	Ohio Northern	17-2	won at Wilmington, 74-66; def. Mount Union, 90-47
#19	170	Ithaca	16-2	def. William Smith, 71-42; def. RPI, 59-39
#20	99	Calvin	16-3	def. Benedictine, 81-55; def. Adrian, 61-47
#21	98	Messiah	18-2	won at York (Pa.), 52-41; def. Albright, 55-41
#22	91	Mary Hardin-Baylor	14-5	LOST to East Texas Baptist, 61-67; def. LeTourneau, 89-45
#23	83	Washington and Jefferson	17-2	def. Chatham, 59-56; LOST at St. Vincent, 53-57
#24	53	UW-Whitewater	15-5	def. UW-La Crosse, 66-36
#25	50	Gustavus Adolphus	16-2	won at Bethel, 66-53; won at Augsburg, 55-43

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	37	Millikin	16-3	def. North Central (Ill.), 86-60
#27	26	Elizabethtown	17-1	def. Drew, 74-53; def. Susquehanna, 79-52
#28	22	Loras	15-4	def. Simpson, 85-60
#29	21	La Verne	18-1	won at Caltech, 55-52 OT
#30	20	Emory	12-5	LOST to #7 Chicago, 61-66; LOST to Washington U., 57-60
#31	16	Wartburg	15-4	won at Dubuque, 75-49; won at Simpson, 79-63
#32	14	UW-Oshkosh	15-5	won at UW-Platteville, 60-59 OT; def. Finlandia, 83-49
#33	13	Berea	18-1	def. Covenant, 68-47
#34	7	UC Santa Cruz	15-4	def. Pacific Union, 81-26; def. Bethesda, 94-35
#35	6	Tufts	14-6	LOST at #5 Smith, 60-70; def. Williams, 64-50; def. Middlebury, 66-59
#36	4	Cortland	17-3	def. SUNY Potsdam, 75-50; def. Plattsburgh State, 81-44
T#37	3	Mary Washington	17-3	won at Lynchburg, 85-53
T#37	3	Springfield	13-6	LOST to MIT, 58-61; def. #9 Babson, 71-61
T#37	3	Stevens	17-3	def. Delaware Valley, 70-54; won at Wilkes, 57-36
#40	1	St. John Fisher	16-2	def. Nazareth, 84-66; won at Elmira, 74-51; won at Alfred, 72-45

[scottiedawg]

# Biggest Vote Increasers
Trinity (Conn): +115
Ithaca: +90
Ohio Northern: +82
Hardin-Simmons: +72
Messiah: +61
Calvin: +56
DeSales: +47
Gustavus Adolphus: +39
Hope: +37
UW-Whitewater: +35
WashU: +31
Elizabethtown: +26
Wartburg: +20
Cortland: +13
Millikin: +11
La Verne: +10
UW-Oshkosh: +8
Berea: +8
Stevens: +7
Smith: +5
Concordia Moorhead: +5
Trinity (Texas): +2
UC Santa Cruz: +2
Albertus Magnus: +1


# Biggest Vote Decliners
Babson: -159
Baldwin Wallace: -113
Mary Hardin-Baylor: -80
Puget Sound: -76
UW-Eau Claire: -71
Washington & Jefferson: -55
Chicago: -51
Trine: -49
NYU: -46
Rochester: -40
Emory: -18
Loras: -3
Springfield: -3
Mary Washington: -3
Christopher Newport: -2
Transylvania: -1

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (Complete)
Trinity at Colorado College is ... somewhere in the second half? Live stats and stream don't seem to be working.

For some reason your program lists Calvin as idle on both the men's and women's side even though they definitely played this week.

Oops, that's an issue that arose around Christmas. I've been too lazy to try to track down the reason for the issue, and had been correcting it manually ... but forgot to do so this time.

I'll edit to correct.

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	618	Trinity (Texas)	20-1	won at Schreiner, 71-60; LOST at Colorado College, 64-70
#2	586	Transylvania	21-0	won at Franklin, 76-46; def. Defiance, 76-33
#3	583	Christopher Newport	22-0	def. Regent University, 96-42; def. #36 UC Santa Cruz, 73-62
#4	556	Scranton	21-0	won at Susquehanna, 56-36; def. Catholic, 55-47
#5	519	Smith	20-1	def. Wheaton (Mass.), 76-40; def. Coast Guard, 86-57
#6	460	Hope	19-2	won at St. Mary's (Ind.), 109-62
#7	429	New York University	17-2	won at Carnegie Mellon, 82-50; won at Case Western Reserve, 82-44
#8	410	Hardin-Simmons	19-2	won at Texas-Dallas, 67-48
#9	400	DeSales	20-1	won at Wilkes, 72-42; won at Misericordia, 67-51
#10	386	Chicago	17-3	LOST to #39 Emory, 67-78; def. #18 Rochester, 87-75
#11	384	Trinity (Conn.)	20-2	LOST at Williams, 48-49; won at Middlebury, 60-47
#12	310	Trine	16-5	LOST at Albion, 62-63; def. Alma, 73-51
#13	278	Ohio Northern	19-2	def. Otterbein, 65-54; won at Capital, 69-65
#14	276	Baldwin Wallace	18-3	def. Mount Union, 66-40; LOST at Otterbein, 55-58
#15	260	Ithaca	18-2	def. Union, 64-48; def. Skidmore, 52-49
#16	245	Babson	18-3	def. Emerson, 91-47; def. Wheaton (Mass.), 86-43
#17	215	UW-Eau Claire	16-6	LOST to #30 UW-Oshkosh, 57-65; LOST at #23 UW-Whitewater, 52-84
#18	213	Rochester	14-6	LOST at T#27 Washington U., 59-64; LOST at #10 Chicago, 75-87
#19	159	Messiah	19-2	won at Hood, 70-52
#20	156	Puget Sound	18-3	def. Willamette, 67-45; def. George Fox, 61-51
#21	155	Calvin	18-3	won at Alma, 77-68; def. Olivet, 89-37
#22	89	Gustavus Adolphus	19-2	def. St. Scholastica, 83-52; def. St. Benedict, 83-57; won at Macalester, 69-46
#23	88	UW-Whitewater	17-5	won at UW-Stevens Point, 73-64; def. #17 UW-Eau Claire, 84-52
#24	52	Elizabethtown	18-2	def. Juniata, 86-44; LOST at Moravian, 70-75
#25	48	Millikin	17-4	def. North Park, 70-50; LOST at Wheaton (Ill.), 48-66

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	36	Wartburg	17-4	def. Luther, 66-59; def. Nebraska Wesleyan, 83-33
T#27	31	La Verne	20-1	def. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 77-67; won at Chapman, 78-64
T#27	31	Washington U.	15-5	def. #18 Rochester, 64-59; def. #39 Emory, 78-61
#29	28	Washington and Jefferson	19-2	won at Allegheny, 66-43; def. Franciscan (Ohio), 77-47
#30	22	UW-Oshkosh	17-5	won at #17 UW-Eau Claire, 65-57; def. UW-River Falls, 54-44
#31	21	Berea	20-1	def. Wesleyan (Ga.), 106-38; won at Huntingdon, 84-69
#32	19	Loras	17-4	won at Coe, 69-46; def. Central, 75-47
#33	17	Cortland	18-4	def. SUNY Oneonta, 51-47; LOST to SUNY New Paltz, 46-64
#34	11	Mary Hardin-Baylor	15-6	LOST at Sul Ross State, 74-77; won at Howard Payne, 85-60
#35	10	Stevens	18-3	def. FDU-Florham, 73-46
#36	9	UC Santa Cruz	16-5	def. (n) Mary Washington, 66-55; LOST at #3 Christopher Newport, 62-73
#37	6	Tufts	16-6	won at Colby, 59-53; won at Bowdoin, 66-54
#38	5	Concordia-Moorhead	18-3	def. St. Benedict, 67-56; def. Macalester, 73-57; won at St. Catherine, 67-66
#39	2	Emory	13-6	won at #10 Chicago, 78-67; LOST at T#27 Washington U., 61-78
T#40	1	Albertus Magnus	19-2	won at St. Joseph (Conn.), 106-104 3OT; def. Johnson and Wales, 76-54; LOST at Rivier, 70-76
T#40	1	St. John Fisher	19-2	won at Keuka, 106-29; def. Medaille, 91-53; def. Houghton, 77-56

[gordonmann]

In recognition of our new No. 1, here are some notes on this week's Top 25 ranking.

Christopher Newport hops over Transylvania and takes the top spot in our rankings. This is CNU's second time as our No. 1 team, following last season when the Captains entered the NCAA Tournament with the top ranking.

CNU's achievement is unusual because the Captains didn't garner the most No. 1 votes. Transylvania had 13 top nods, two more than the Captains. But voters were a little more divided on Transylvania. For voters who use the "whom have you beaten/whom have you lost to" criteria, the Pioneers have a lighter resume. Their best win is Berea (ARV) and their next best win is probably Concordia (Texas) or Texas-Dallas, which are middle of the ASC.

The last time a team was No. 1 but did not have the most No. 1 votes was the preseason poll for 2019-20 when Amherst had the top spot and Scranton had more No. 1 votes. You can see why that would happen in the preseason, especially in a year where there's not a clear favorite and voters have widely varying opinions of teams that haven't played a game yet.

But it's very rare that this happens during the season. This is just the fifth time in the history of the poll, and it has never happened this late in the season:

* Week 4 of the 2005-06 season: Southern Maine was No. 1, but WashU had the most No. 1 votes
* Week 5 of the 2005-06 season involving those same two teams. Southern Maine eventually consolidated most of the No. 1 votes, entered the Tournament as the favorite, and then lost to Hope in the Final.
* Week 9 of the 2004-05 season: Bowdoin was No. 1 but Messiah had the most No. 1 votes.
* Week 1 of the 2001-02 season: Messiah was No. 1 but WashU had the most No. 1 votes. WashU had beaten the Falcons in the title game the year before

CNU is our fourth different No. 1 this season following Hope, NYU and Trinity (Texas). This is the first time we've had four No. 1s in the same season since 2013-14 when the top spot changed hands from DePauw to Whitman to Thomas More to FDU-Florham after the Devils won the title. Those switches happened over the course of four consecutive rankings.

Wash U. also accomplished a relatively rare feat, jumping from 0 votes last week all the way into the Top 25. As I've mentioned before, when I distribute the information to our voters each week, I include all results from any team that received a vote in the prior poll and then tack on a couple more teams for voters to consider. This week's additions were WashU and SUNY New Paltz.

This is the Bears' 260th appearance in our poll, third most behind Hope and DePauw.

At the other end of the spectrum, La Verne makes its Top 25 debut. The Leopards are spotless against Division III opponents, with their only loss coming to Division I Utah State. La Verne is just the fourth SCIAC team to appear in our rankings, joining Cal Lutheran, Chapman and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

One last fun note for you.

Q: What would be the perfect number of votes for Trinity to receive?

A: See how many points the Bantams had at No. 12.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Just to add to those notes... Transylvania was #2 in the preseason poll, is unbeaten, and yet isn't one of the four who have been #1 this year.
Started at #2 behind Hope, then fell to #3 after NYU moved ahead in week 1, then back to #2 when Hope lost in week 4, only to immediately get passed by Trinity (TX) in week 5, NYU fell in week 7 to get the Pioneers once again back to #2, then week 10 Trinity loses but Chris Newport moves ahead and they stay at #2.

I was going to do some homer talk in support of Transylvania, but I think I ended up coming to the conclusion that if I were a voter my #1 would be neither Transy nor CNU but the third unbeaten of Scranton.

[Roundball999]

FWIW, Massey SoS for the top 10 teams are:

72    CNU
165  Transylvania
108  Scranton
81    Trinity
53    Smith
18    NYU
28    Hope
65    Hardin-Simmons
276  Desales
62    Ohio Northern

I suspect the comparatively weak SoS of the top undefeated teams is causing some confusion among voters and splitting some votes.

[Augie2020]

Roundball:Not sure how massey works but when you go deep into the schedule CNU played one team under 40 and that was Santa Cruz #35,Transylvania played no one under 40 and just one team in the top 100 in massey  Scranton beat #13 Wartburg by 22 neutral court,#31 Tufts by 9 neutral court #34 Ithaca by 20 at home and #38 etown at home by 20.So I will never understand massey and how they work I just don't get how Scranton played all those teams and SOS is still thst high?

[Roundball999]

Roundball:Not sure how massey works but when you go deep into the schedule CNU played one team under 40 and that was Santa Cruz #35,Transylvania played no one under 40 and just one team in the top 100 in massey  Scranton beat #13 Wartburg by 22 neutral court,#31 Tufts by 9 neutral court #34 Ithaca by 20 at home and #38 etown at home by 20.So I will never understand massey and how they work I just don't get how Scranton played all those teams and SOS is still thst high?

I don't pretend to fully understand Massey, but do know it's just math.  No such thing as an "eye-test" for Massey.  It doesn't cherry pick certain games or opponents, it considers all games and strength of all opponents.  I don't think it pays much (any?) attention to winning margins since that is too subjective and dependent on the coach; we all know that some of the strongest teams could have much higher average winning margins if they played their best players more minutes.  It does seem with Massey that if a team doesn't have a relatively strong SoS compared to other top contenders, it's very hard for that team to climb to the top of the rankings.

More explanation of SoS from Massey here:  https://masseyratings.com/theory/sched.htm

[Pat Coleman]

Those great opponents are balanced out by King's, Wilkes and two games against Goucher.