Top 25 talk

[John Gleich]

#24 Stevens Point moved to 4-1 with an 87-70 victory over Buena Vista yesterday.

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (Complete)

Split into two posts because the list is so long.  (Should be shorter next time as fewer teams receive votes.)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	565	Virginia Wesleyan	2-1	LOST at Salisbury, 65-68; def. Trinity (Texas), 84-54; def. Southwestern, 73-58
#2	545	Augustana	3-0	def. Aurora, 102-68; def. St. Norbert, 79-48; def. UW-Oshkosh, 80-72
#3	542	Williams	3-1	def. Southern Vermont, 87-58; LOST to T#40 Salem State, 69-83; def. Wesleyan, 83-68; def. Massachusetts College, 84-59
#4	517	Amherst	3-0	def. Plymouth State, 90-63; def. Washington and Lee, 100-64; def. Western New England, 97-69
#5	490	Middlebury	4-0	def. #60 Gwynedd-Mercy, 76-70; def. #31 Ramapo, 73-62; def. St. Joseph's (VT), 61-48; def. Johnson State, 81-43
#6	482	Marietta	3-0	def. Denison, 64-58; def. Methodist, 92-69; def. Kenyon, 85-74
#7	374	Rochester	4-1	def. Plattsburgh State, 74-68; def. Keystone, 91-77; LOST at Nazareth, 64-82; def. Wells, 106-58; def. Allegheny, 99-75
#8	353	St. Thomas	3-1	def. Occidental, 82-61; def. Pomona-Pitzer, 82-79; LOST at #21 UW-River Falls, 64-79; def. Concordia-St. Paul, 94-88
#9	352	Wooster	3-0	def. Defiance, 91-67; def. Anderson, 70-54; def. Wilmington, 83-74
#10	260	MIT	5-0	def. Curry, 71-66; def. Gordon, 70-38; def. RPI, 104-75; def. Emmanuel, 79-46; def. Suffolk, 81-59
#11	257	Wittenberg	1-1	LOST to Ind.-East, 84-92; def. T#51 Capital, 69-63
#12	255	Whitworth	4-0	def. UC Santa Cruz, 70-54; def. #42 Washington U., 88-66; def. Cal Lutheran, 67-53; def. #45 Chapman, 58-44
#13	251	Emory	5-0	def. Ferrum, 81-67; def. Roanoke, 86-64; def. Berry, 95-63; def. LaGrange, 107-89; def. Maryville (Tenn.), 75-61
#14	246	Cabrini	2-0	def. Haverford, 77-65; def. Widener, 94-87
#15	229	St. Mary's (Md.)	3-2	def. Washington College, 78-74; LOST at Johns Hopkins, 66-67; def. Frostburg State, 62-57; def. Kean, 71-61; LOST at #17 Franklin and Marshall, 68-77
#16	215	Mary Hardin-Baylor	2-0	def. Southwestern, 82-56; def. Centenary (La.), 93-57
#17	173	Franklin and Marshall	4-0	def. Neumann, 69-63; def. Oneonta State, 64-46; def. Washington College, 63-47; def. #15 St. Mary's (Md.), 77-68
#18	168	Oswego State	3-1	LOST at St. Lawrence, 62-66; def. Ithaca, 74-71; def. Wells, 58-55; def. SUNY-Cobleskill, 107-53
#19	161	Buffalo State	2-0	def. D'Youville, 141-93; def. Pitt-Bradford, 94-50
#20	153	Centre	3-2	def. Maryville (Tenn.), 70-50; def. John Carroll, 92-91; LOST at Mount St. Joseph, 49-55; LOST at Transylvania, 62-74; def. Franklin, 78-62
#21	141	UW-River Falls	4-2	LOST at Viterbo, 63-73; def. Loras, 70-60; def. Bethel, 65-62; def. #8 St. Thomas, 79-64; def. Pacific Lutheran, 68-59; LOST at Puget Sound, 64-67
#22	124	Birmingham-Southern	4-0	def. Huntingdon, 81-79; def. University of the Ozarks, 103-80; def. Berry, 103-55; def. LaGrange, 96-65
#23	121	Hampden-Sydney	3-2	def. LaGrange, 99-86; def. Huntingdon, 98-71; LOST at Methodist, 79-81; def. Shenandoah, 89-67; LOST to #27 North Carolina Wesleyan, 70-73
#24	117	UW-Stevens Point	4-1	def. Lawrence, 80-58; def. Richard Stockton, 86-77; def. York (Pa.), 68-54; LOST at St. John's, 55-60; def. Buena Vista, 87-70
#25	113	Wheaton (Ill.)	4-0	def. Loras, 82-67; def. Beloit, 81-44; def. Wilmington, 96-61; def. #37 Manchester, 82-52

[Darryl Nester]

Others receiving votes
Note: Scores in italics, for Hope and Calvin, were not yet posted to the d3hoops.com scoreboard, so they were retrieved from the team Web sites.  Also note that neutral-site results are not correctly reported.

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	90	Brandeis	2-3	LOST to Lasell, 82-91; def. Emerson, 78-50; def. #34 Becker, 77-76; LOST at Mass-Dartmouth, 54-68; LOST to #38 Rhode Island College, 50-61
#27	81	North Carolina Wesleyan	4-2	def. Roanoke Bible, 90-56; LOST to Maryland Bible, 83-89; def. St. Andrews, 82-77; def. Roanoke Bible, 88-51; LOST at Mary Washington, 66-95; def. #23 Hampden-Sydney, 73-70
#28	53	UW-Whitewater	4-0	def. Concordia (Ill.), 56-37; def. Dominican, 71-44; def. Wisconsin Lutheran, 84-61; def. Hamline, 87-76
#29	51	WPI	4-0	def. Husson, 86-44; def. Castleton State, 100-81; def. Elms, 86-55; def. T#40 Salem State, 105-80
#30	50	Whitman	3-1	LOST to #42 Washington U., 65-68; def. UC Santa Cruz, 68-56; def. #45 Chapman, 77-64; def. Cal Lutheran, 68-62
#31	48	Ramapo	4-1	def. Emerson, 78-31; def. Mass-Boston, 97-69; def. Yeshiva, 82-60; LOST to #5 Middlebury, 62-73; def. Manhattanville, 99-72
#32	47	Hope	4-0	def. Rochester (Mich.), 63-45; def. Spring Arbor, 73-56; def. Aquinas, 67-65; def. Cornerstone, 80-76
#33	45	Texas-Dallas	4-0	def. University of Dallas, 81-54; def. Centenary (La.), 79-66; def. Austin, 82-58; def. Howard Payne, 69-64
#34	44	Becker	0-2	LOST to #38 Rhode Island College, 52-60; LOST at #26 Brandeis, 76-77
#35	42	Hartwick	5-0	def. Wells, 65-63; def. Brooklyn, 60-54; def. Manhattanville, 73-67; def. Union, 62-61; def. T#51 Penn State-Behrend, 57-54
#36	39	Randolph-Macon	4-1	def. #50 Christopher Newport, 90-88; def. Rutgers-Newark, 73-72; LOST at Albright, 58-69; def. Southwestern, 94-65; def. Trinity (Texas), 55-40
#37	38	Manchester	2-4	def. Concordia (Ill.), 63-47; LOST at Illinois College, 43-66; LOST at MacMurray, 73-76; LOST at #25 Wheaton (Ill.), 52-82; def. Kalamazoo, 71-67; LOST at Trine, 61-73
#38	35	Rhode Island College	5-0	def. Clark, 70-52; def. #34 Becker, 60-52; def. Lasell, 72-69; def. Bridgewater State, 64-52; def. #26 Brandeis, 61-50
#39	34	Grinnell	4-0	def. Principia, 145-97; def. Wartburg, 115-97; def. Presentation, 126-98; def. William Penn, 150-137
T#40	30	Concordia (Wis.)	3-1	def. UW-La Crosse, 63-57; def. UW-Platteville, 76-66; LOST at UW-Eau Claire, 63-68; def. Concordia (Ill.), 89-63
T#40	30	Salem State	4-1	def. Mass-Dartmouth, 83-80; def. Potsdam State, 92-63; def. #3 Williams, 83-69; def. Gordon, 76-49; LOST at #29 WPI, 80-105
#42	29	Washington U.	3-2	def. MacMurray, 91-64; def. #30 Whitman, 68-65; LOST at #12 Whitworth, 66-88; LOST at Ohio Wesleyan, 67-70; def. Principia, 83-56
#43	20	Illinois Wesleyan	4-1	def. Benedictine, 99-70; def. MacMurray, 102-62; def. Illinois College, 79-73; def. Monmouth, 77-49; LOST at Ripon, 61-80
#44	19	Western Connecticut	4-1	def. Medgar Evers, 85-72; def. Regis (Mass.), 70-55; LOST at Albertus Magnus, 88-107; def. Richard Stockton, 69-63; def. Johnson and Wales, 91-83
#45	18	Chapman	2-2	def. La Verne, 76-63; def. Redlands, 56-51; LOST at #30 Whitman, 64-77; LOST to #12 Whitworth, 44-58
#46	17	North Central (Ill.)	3-1	def. Blackburn, 91-78; def. Trine, 72-70; LOST at Aurora, 82-94; def. Illinois College, 75-60
#47	12	Wabash	4-0	def. Calumet Col., 63-55; def. St. Francis (IL), 84-59; def. Elmhurst, 67-59; def. DePauw, 62-47
#48	8	New Jersey City	4-0	def. Susquehanna, 68-64; def. Messiah, 72-66; def. Medgar Evers, 99-79; def. Alvernia, 63-49
#49	6	Hanover	3-1	def. Ohio Wesleyan, 70-58; def. Denison, 64-62; def. Oberlin, 74-55; LOST to Ohio Northern, 60-63
#50	5	Christopher Newport	4-2	LOST at #36 Randolph-Macon, 88-90; def. Mary Washington, 74-72; def. York (N.Y.), 65-56; LOST to Mary Washington, 82-86; def. Wesley, 89-80; def. Washington and Lee, 76-66
T#51	4	Capital	2-2	def. Thiel, 76-56; def. Westminster (Pa.), 82-62; LOST at #11 Wittenberg, 63-69; LOST to Denison, 76-90
T#51	4	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	5-0	def. Pacifica, 71-62; def. Southwestern, 66-51; def. Trinity (Texas), 70-41; def. #56 St. Olaf, 82-74; def. Dominican, 81-55
T#51	4	Eastern Mennonite	2-2	def. Shenandoah, 87-61; LOST to Springfield, 81-90; LOST at DeSales, 66-70; def. Emory and Henry, 81-78
T#51	4	Hobart	3-0	def. Ithaca, 92-67; def. Cazenovia, 82-76; def. D'Youville, 86-63
T#51	4	Penn State-Behrend	0-4	LOST to Fredonia State, 50-61; LOST at Carnegie Mellon, 63-68; LOST at Thiel, 47-65; LOST to #35 Hartwick, 54-57
#56	3	St. Olaf	1-3	def. Bethany Lutheran, 71-50; LOST at Luther, 55-65; LOST to T#51 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 74-82; LOST to Pomona-Pitzer, 76-79
T#57	2	Calvin	3-3	LOST at Anderson, 60-73; def. Grace Bible (Mich.), 92-88; def. Willamette, 81-76; def. Finlandia, 78-70; LOST at Cornerstone, 77-94; LOST at Aquinas, 63-69
T#57	2	SUNY-Purchase	1-1	LOST at Stevens, 57-75; def. King's, 72-70
T#57	2	William Paterson	5-0	def. York (N.Y.), 72-61; def. King's, 82-66; def. Stevens, 112-107; def. New Jersey, 75-69; def. FDU-Florham, 67-54
#60	1	Gwynedd-Mercy	2-1	LOST to #5 Middlebury, 70-76; def. Yeshiva, 80-54; def. Rosemont, 79-62

[stag44]

Great opening 2 weeks from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. They have opened up at 5-0 with some very impressive wins. They are led by pre-season All-American Chris Blees who is living up to his accolades and dominating games.

They have a tough stretch with 3 NAIA D1 teams over the next 2 weeks as well as an always difficult visit to Chapman.

[Gregory Sager]

Nice work, as always, Darryl.

[magicman]

#31 Ramapo defeats Scranton 86-82 in overtime.

[Wabash2011]

When is the first poll? This week?

[Hugenerd]

New poll is out, lots of movement.

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/week1

[Ralph Turner]

I guess the best way to express appreciation on these boards is to award karma (for those who have the ability).

+1! Thanks for doing this!   

[Hugenerd]

Williams, at home, trailing at the half by 4 to RPI. Same RPI team that lost to MIT by 29 ten days ago. Williams seems to really be struggling getting back their rhythm following all those early season injuries.

[Hugenerd]

Williams, at home, trailing at the half by 4 to RPI. Same RPI team that lost to MIT by 29 ten days ago. Williams seems to really be struggling getting back their rhythm following all those early season injuries.

Williams pulls it out, although it was only a 2 point game with 1:03 left.

Interesting matchup on Friday, as NESCAC power Amherst travels to play upstart 5-0 Springfield, who beat ORV Keene State tonight (Springfield also plays Williams next week).  NEWMAC, as a whole, has been spectacular this season, with 4 teams currently undefeated (MIT, WPI, and Babson, in addition to Springfield). The conference swept the evening again tonight, with the league a combined 32-4 nearly half-way through their non-conference slates. In contrast to previous seasons, the conference seems to be strong top to bottom, also, with no team currently under 0.600 and the team in last place, Clark, demolished UAA foe and preseason ORV #26, Brandeis, by 19 this evening. Looks like the NEWMAC is up this year.

[littleeastguy]

RIC, just outside the current Top 25, moved to 6-0 with a 89-62 win over JWU. Star center Mike Akinrola again played very limited minutes for RIC, he is nursing bruised ribs.
This is RIC's 3rd win over a 2011 NCAA Tournament team.

[nescac1]

I watched the Williams game.  The early-season injuries definitely have hindered the offensive rhythm (the top four guards missed virtually the entire pre-season, and two of them missed the first two weeks of the season to boot), and I expect (and certainly hope) that, after (finally) a week of practice together, the team will look a lot more cohesive this weekend.  Even so, the Ephs played about as poorly as they possibly could vs. a not-very-talented, but gritty, RPI team.  Coach Maker stated that this was one of two times in his three plus years as a coach that the team was not ready to play, and I agree ... many of the turnovers were unforced and incredibly careless (stepping on baseline before receiving a pass, not being aware of defenders' positioning, lazy lofted passes etc.), the team missed many wide-open threes, and worst of all, there was a lack of effort and attention to detail on defense, lots of confusion on switching and so on.  They just looked really lethargic, which is atypical for a Maker team to say the least, until they got into a big hole and finally woke up.  I'd be surprised if the team played anywhere near that poorly the rest of the year, but of course, the competition gets much tougher with solid Springfield, Keene, and Ohio Northern squads on deck in December, and the NESCAC schedule ahead in January.

The Ephs don't have the star power of the past few years, when they had basically two all-Americans per year who could really carry the team (Schultz/Wang then Whittington/Wang).  Whittington is gone, and Wang is hindered by injury and (at least right now) not the same player as the last two years, hopefully by January he will be all the way back, but who knows.  On the plus side, the team is much deeper, far more balanced, and features guys who can score at all five positions, plus a really great point guard in Nate Robertson, who is one of the more underrated players in the country and does so much more than box scores indicate.  They also added a very strong frosh class, with Dan Wohl in particular looking like a potential all-NESCAC or even all-American player down the line; he's been the team's best all-around player so far this year, which no one would have predicted.  I think the Ephs, if they can get healthy and stay that way, should be on par with last year's team.  But that may not be enough, as Amherst and Midd are no worse and in Amherst's case probably better, themselves. 

Springfield, which really has come out of nowhere this year, plays both Amherst and Williams over the next week or so, which should give a pretty good indication of whether they are for real.  I'd be very surprised if the NEWMAC can sustain this pace for long, as Babson, WPI, and Springfield all play some of the tougher New England teams in December. 

I wonder what happened to Brandeis ... they returned basically everyone from a frosh-dominated team, and were expected to make big strides, but seem to have totally regressed, very surprising. 

[smedindy]

I changed quite a bit between my freshmen and sophomore years. Was less concerned with some things - more concerned with others. Maybe those plucky frosh did the same?

[wooscotsfan]

Final: #6 Wooster 84  Kenyon 68

Wooster gets the road win as they were led tonight by freshman Xavier Brown with 22 points, Justin Hallowell with 15 and Josh Claytor with 13.  Justin Warnes and Ryan Snyder both added 11 each.

Wooster is now 4-0 and next plays at Adrian (MI) on Saturday 12/3.