Top 25 talk

[Mr. Ypsi]

r.w.,

Thanks for the clarification - I misunderstood you to mean that their MOST glorious years were in the 70s.

But, if the numbers that have so far been offered are accurate, it appears that F&M trails Hope as well as Witt.  (Still, mighty impressive!)

[Knightstalker]

From the thread that Q linked to (Reference: All-time records since the inception of d3, on p. 2 of Multiregion Topics), top records from 1974-75 thru 2005-06 (more than 25 years) seemed to be Witt at 751-177 (.809) followed by F&M at 679-216 (.759).  To get precisely the last 25 years, you'd need to chop off the first 8 years, then add last year, but it's a start!

I pulled together the Hope & Calvin numbers for the last 25 years.

Calvin - 499-179 - .740
Hope - 525-152 - .775

1982-83 through 2006-07...

Illinois Wesleyan 486-209 (.699)

NJCU for the same period 483-218 .689, right behind IWU.  This is also the span of Charles Browns career at NJCU.

[John Gleich]

OS,

Per the WIAC website, here's their history page.  It states that the WIAC came into being during the 96-97 season.  UWSP got to the Elite 8 that first season with a 22-7 record (one of the last with a full 64 team D-III tourney), and WIAC counterparts Platteville, Whitewater, and Oshkosh made the NCAA's that year as well. 

So, from the '96-'97 season through '06-'07:

1996-97 22-7
1997-98 17-8
1998-99 15-10
1999-2000 25-5
2000-01 18-7
2001-02 21-6
2002-03 24-4
2003-04 29-5
2004-05 29-3
2005-06 17-10
2006-07 26-3

So, that totals 243-68 for a winning percentage of 78.1

[nescac1]

For Williams, going back to 1996 (the earliest that the website includes):

1996: 24-3
1997: 27-3
1998: 26-4
1999: 20-6
2000: 20-4
2001: 21-7
2002: 22-6
2003: 31-1
2004: 30-2
2005: 16-9
2006: 17-8
2007: 16-12

Total: 270-65, 80.6 %.

The last few years have been relatively down, but with a very deep reservoir of young talent, the Ephs are expected to return to past form of regularly posting 20 win seasons, starting with this season. 

[jbergman]

Amherst's record is similar to Williams for the same 12-year period:

      276 - 61, an 81.9% winning percentage

And their team also has a decent future ahead of them.

[golden_dome]

Mississippi College joined the American Southwest Conference and Division III for the 1996-97 season. It's just eleven years but they have put together a good run with a winning percentage of 83%. Hopefully, this year will be another great one.

1996-97 21-4 .840 Mike Jones
1997-98 24-3 .889 Mike Jones
1998-99 25-3 .893 Mike Jones
1999-00 19-8 .704 Mike Jones
2000-01 23-5 .821 Mike Jones
2001-02 22-3 .879 Mike Jones
2002-03 20-8 .714 Don Lofton
2003-04 19-8 .704 Don Lofton
2004-05 24-5 .841 Don Lofton
2005-06 29-2 .935 Don Lofton
2006-07 27-3 .900 Mike Jones

253-52  (.830)

[wooscotsfan]

If we are talking about recent winning percentages, Wooster probably claims the top spot.

Wooster is the winningest Div. III team of the 2000's with a record of 209-33 for a win percentage of .864   

That high win percentage over the past 8 seasons can be attributed to excellent recruiting and coaching which is exemplified by Wooster's Coach Steve Moore and his staff.

Given Wooster's recent results, I think that they should be in the preseason top 10 for this season.  Moore has a strong track record of reloading and he returns 3 starters from last year's Final Four squad (All-American James Cooper, PG Brandon Johnson and F Evan Will) plus 4 other bench players that logged playing time last season.  2 of the returning bench players are Devin Fulk and Marty Bidwell who each averaged over 20 minutes a game last year and both shot over 50% from the floor (#5 and #7 scorers).

[golden_dome]

If we are talking about recent winning percentages, Wooster probably claims the top spot.

Wooster is the winningest Div. III team of the 2000's with a record of 209-33 for a win percentage of .864   

That sounds right. I can't recall the web address, but there is a site with a listing of Division III team records for the past ten years and standings showing where each team stood. MC was 4th and if I remember correctly Wooster was #1. I can't remember the name of the site though.

[sac]

If we are talking about recent winning percentages, Wooster probably claims the top spot.

Wooster is the winningest Div. III team of the 2000's with a record of 209-33 for a win percentage of .864   

That sounds right. I can't recall the web address, but there is a site with a listing of Division III team records for the past ten years and standings showing where each team stood. MC was 4th and if I remember correctly Wooster was #1. I can't remember the name of the site though.

It's in the NCAA records book, which is online.

http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/basketball/m_basketball_records_book/2007/2007_m_basketball_records.pdf

It's last years version so you'll have to update it but on page  115 you'll find this......

Winningest Teams of the 2000s
BY PERCENTAGE
(Minimum four seasons as NCAA member)
Team Yrs. Won Lost Pct.
1. Wooster............................................................. 7- 180- 28 .865
2. Amherst ............................................................. 7 -168- 35 .828
3. Wittenberg......................................................... 7 -167 -35 .827
4. Williams ............................................................ 7 -157- 37 .809
5. Wis.-Stevens Point............................................... 7 -163- 40 .803
6. Catholic ............................................................. 7 -167- 41 .803
7. Hanover............................................................. 7 -154- 38 .802
8. Hampden-Sydney................................................ 7 161 -40 .801
9. Buena Vista ........................................................ 7 163- 41 .799
10. Mississippi Col.................................................... 7 154- 39 .798
11. Salem St............................................................. 7 160 -41 .796
12. Maryville (Tenn.) ................................................. 7 159 -41 .795
13. Washington-St. Louis ........................................... 7 141 -39 .783
14. Chris. Newport................................................... 7 150 -44 .773
15. Calvin ................................................................ 7 158 -48 .767
16. Frank. & Marsh................................................... 7 154 -47 .766
17. Rochester............................................................ 7 143- 46 .757
18. Gust. Adolphus ................................................... 7 149 -48 .756
19. St. John Fisher..................................................... 7 145 -47 .755
19. Trinity (Tex.)........................................................ 7 145 -47 .755
21. McMurry ............................................................ 7 139 -49 .739
22. Wartburg ........................................................... 7 141 -50 .738
23. Randolph-Macon................................................. 7 143- 52 .733
24. Albion................................................................ 7 137 -50 .733
25. Ill. Wesleyan ...................................................... 7 142 -52 .732
26. Chapman........................................................... 7 128 -48 .727
27. Trinity (Conn.) ..................................................... 7 125- 47 .727
28. St. Thomas (Minn.) .............................................. 7 137- 52 .725
29. Colby-Sawyer ..................................................... 7 139 -53 .724
30. Penn St.-Behrend ................................................. 7 139 -54 .720

again thats through 2006.

[Titan Q]

While figuring IWU's record over the last 25 years, I also totalled the NCAA tournament record.  The Titans are...

39-18 (.684)
18 appearances (24 years in D3)

IWU's tournament winning % seems very good.  I'm wondering what some of the great tournament records are.  UW-Platteville and UW-Stevens Point must have crazy numbers.

[golden_dome]

It's in the NCAA records book, which is online.

There's also another site that has overall Division III standings for the past decade. I'll see if I can't track it down tomorrow, I had it in an email but must have trashed it.

[sac]

While figuring IWU's record over the last 25 years, I also totalled the NCAA tournament record.  The Titans are...

39-18 (.684)
18 appearances (24 years in D3)

IWU's tournament winning % seems very good.  I'm wondering what some of the great tournament records are.  UW-Platteville and UW-Stevens Point must have crazy numbers.

I thought Sager was keeping track of those.

Those numbers are difficut to make out of since prior to 1988 you could lose a game and still play another.  For example in 1987 both Hope and Calvin lost in round one, but played each other in a consolation game in the Regional the next night.


Here's the MIAA's 4 reps.

Albion 7-4  (.636)           4 appearances
Defiance 0-1                   1 appearance as MIAA member
Calvin 30-18.......(.625)   17 appearances
Hope 22-20         (.524)   18 appearances

MIAA schools did not compete untill 1978.

After years of struggling to advance I bet Woosters records are looking pretty good now too.

[Gregory Sager]

If we are talking about recent winning percentages, Wooster probably claims the top spot.

Wooster is the winningest Div. III team of the 2000's with a record of 209-33 for a win percentage of .864   

That high win percentage over the past 8 seasons can be attributed to excellent recruiting and coaching

... and also by the fact that Wooster is a member of the NCAC.

I'm not taking anything away from Wooster or from Steve Moore and his staff. The program's recent postseason success, and the fact that the Scots more than hold their own against perennially tough competition in non-conference play, indicate that Wooster is deservedly considered among the elite programs in D3. However, if you're talking about overall winning percentages, you can't evade the fact that the Scots play in a conference that's notorious for being loaded with bowsers ... and I'm not just speaking of the Hiram Terriers.

Just look at how the non-Woo/Witt portion of the NCAC has performed overall and in non-conference play over the past five seasons:

team	overall	non-conference
Allegheny	58-71   (.450)	21-27   (.438)
Denison	44-83   (.346)	12-35   (.255)
Earlham	55-77   (.417)	17-35   (.327)
Hiram	26-101 (.205)	8-39   (.170)
Kenyon	34-95   (.264)	11-39   (.220)
Oberlin	20-114 (.149)	7-37   (.159)
Ohio Wesleyan	79-55   (.590)	29-25   (.537)
Wabash	69-64   (.519)	24-29   (.453)
TOTALS	385-660 (.368)	129-266  (.327)

Out of the forty campaigns racked up by those eight programs since the 2002-03 season, inclusive, only five times has a non-Woo/Witt NCAC team registered a winning non-conference record: Ohio Wesleyan in 2003-04 (7-4), 2005-06 (6-5), and 2006-07 (8-4), and Wabash in 2002-03 (7-3) and 2005-06 (6-4). Allegheny and Earlham each had a .500 non-conference season as well (Allegheny went 6-6 in 2002-03, while Earlham went 5-5 that same season).

That's a lot of bad basketball teams upon which your Scots got to feast twice a year, WSF.

Just last week you touted in the NCAC room that only three times over the past decade has Wooster lost an NCAC game to a team other than Wittenberg. What you might not have realized is that that's a factoid that cuts both ways: It makes Wooster look great, sure, but it also plays up the shortcomings of your conference as a whole.

[Gregory Sager]

While figuring IWU's record over the last 25 years, I also totalled the NCAA tournament record.  The Titans are...

39-18 (.684)
18 appearances (24 years in D3)

IWU's tournament winning % seems very good.  I'm wondering what some of the great tournament records are.  UW-Platteville and UW-Stevens Point must have crazy numbers.

I thought Sager was keeping track of those.

I am. I have the numbers at home, and I'll post them here tomorrow. I can tell you off of the top of my head that the tournament winning percentage leaders currently are: 1) Ohio Wesleyan; 2) UW-Platteville; 3) NPU; 4) Oneonta State; and 5) UW-Stevens Point. I'll post the top ten, as well as the top ten that have at least ten wins (to weed out the one-timers such as Ohio Wesleyan and Oneonta State).

Those numbers are difficut to make out of since prior to 1988 you could lose a game and still play another.  For example in 1987 both Hope and Calvin lost in round one, but played each other in a consolation game in the Regional the next night.

They're not difficult to make out at all. Regional third-place games are listed in this site's playoff section as well. They were official tournament games, and they count towards a program's overall tournament W-L record, as does the national third-place game that is still played in Salem every year.

Here's the MIAA's 4 reps.

Albion 7-4  (.636)           4 appearances
Defiance 0-1                   1 appearance as MIAA member
Calvin 30-18.......(.625)   17 appearances
Hope 22-20         (.524)   18 appearances

You forgot Kalamazoo. In 1996 the Hornets made the D3 tourney field, only to get bumped off in the first round by your Dutch, 65-62.

After years of struggling to advance I bet Woosters records are looking pretty good now too.

Wooster's in the same boat as Hope, which is to say that after many years of early exits and essentially treading water around .500 the Scots are now starting to inch their way up the all-time winning percentage standings ... but they still have a way to go just to get up to the .600 level.

[David Collinge]

Folks, this discussion of "who has the best record since XXX" (accompanied by Greg's annual bashing of the NCAC ) is fascinating, but I think this is not the best place to have it.  We have a preseason Top 25 coming out in the very near future which will merit a lot of discussion.  In the meantime, we have a room assigned to discuss "Schools' all-time Division III record," and I think it would be wise to continue this conversation in that room so that it doesn't get lost in discussion of the new poll.