NAIA DI Women?s Basketball Coaches? Postseason Top 25 Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – National champion MidAmerica Nazarene headlines the postseason edition of the 2015-16 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday. The Pioneers captured their first-ever national title with a 49-35 victory over Baker (Kan.) on March 22.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999-2000)
• MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) tallied all nine first-place votes and 219 points en route to the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking. Previously, the Pioneers highest ranking was a No. 4 mark on Jan. 21 and Jan. 28, 2014.
• The Pioneers, who ran the table at the national championship as the No. 2 seed in the Duer Bracket, won 11-straight to finish the year with a 32-5 overall record. MidAmerica Nazarene’s 32 wins are the most in Division I women’s basketball this season.
• MidAmerica Nazarene has been ranked among the top 10 in every poll this season.
• Five teams have held the No. 1 ranking this season – MidAmerica Nazarene (once), Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) (six times), Campbellsville (Ky.) (three times), Westmont (Calif.) (two times) and Vanguard (Calif.) (once).
• No. 2 Our Lady of the Lake, No. 3 Westmont, No. 4 Lyon (Ark.) and No. 5 Campbellsville round out the remainder of the top five. Among the quintet, Campbellsville was the only team to advance past the second round at the national championship.
• Four teams record positive movements of eight places or more, led by national runner-up Baker’s (Kan.) 11-spot vault from No. 22 to No. 7. Prior to this year’s run, the Wildcats had never advance beyond the second round of the national championship.
• Baker’s No. 7 ranking is its highest in program history.
• MidAmerica Nazarene (eight), No. 8 Benedictine (Kan.) (11) and No. 14 Pikeville (Ky.) (nine) were the other three teams that jumped eight-or-more places. All four squads made up the Fab Four.
• Conversely, No. 12 Bethel (Tenn.) dropped down eight positions for the worst tumble. The Wildcats, who were the No. 1 seed in the Cramer Bracket, lost in the first round of the national championship to Cumberland (Tenn.), 56-51.
• No. 23 Cumberland is the lone newcomer. The Phoenix were last ranked on Jan. 19.
• The Mid-South Conference leads all leagues with five teams represented – Campbellsville, No. 6 Shawnee State (Ohio), Pikeville, No. 15 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Cumberland.
• No. 13 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and No. 22 Oklahoma City have been listed in all 204 polls dating back to the start of the 1999-2000 season. Vanguard is next in line with 171-straight mentions.
• Former member Union (Tenn.) leads all schools in all-time No. 1 rankings with 53, while Oklahoma City (49), Vanguard (41), Freed-Hardeman (18) and former member Southern Nazarene (Okla.) (15) are the only other programs with 10-or-more No. 1 rankings.
• Union (Ky.) and Vanguard are the only programs to have spent an entire season ranked No. 1 (Union: 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11) (Vanguard: 2005-06, 2006-07).
Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.
| RANK | LAST WEEK^ | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | Record | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 9 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (9) | 32-5 | 219 |
| 2 | 1 | Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) | 30-3 | 203 |
| 3 | 2 | Westmont (Calif.) | 29-4 | 202 |
| 4 | 3 | Lyon (Ark.) | 30-4 | 193 |
| 5 | 8 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 27-8 | 184 |
| 6 | 5 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 29-6 | 173 |
| 7 | 22 | Baker (Kan.) | 28-9 | 164 |
| 8 | 19 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 29-7 | 159 |
| 9 | 7 | The Master’s (Calif.) | 25-6 | 158 |
| T10 | 6 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 25-7 | 156 |
| T10 | 13 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 27-7 | 156 |
| 12 | 4 | Bethel (Tenn.) | 26-7 | 150 |
| 13 | 10 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 27-8 | 149 |
| 14 | 23 | Pikeville (Ky.) | 26-9 | 138 |
| 15 | 18 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 28-7 | 133 |
| 16 | 20 | Great Falls (Mont.) | 24-11 | 129 |
| 17 | 11 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 25-5 | 103 |
| 18 | 12 | Columbia (Mo.) | 27-6 | 96 |
| 19 | 14 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 26-5 | 95 |
| 20 | 16 | Montana State-Northern | 23-9 | 88 |
| 21 | 15 | Talladega (Ala.) | 23-6 | 80 |
| 22 | 17 | Oklahoma City | 20-9 | 71 |
| 23 | RV | Cumberland (Tenn.) | 18-12 | 65 |
| 24 | 21 | Carroll (Mont.) | 22-9 | 64 |
| 25 | 24 | Loyola (La.) | 23-8 | 53 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Xavier (La.) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: Langston (Okla.) 37; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 35; Xavier (La.) 29; LSU Shreveport (La.) 24; Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 22; Huston-Tillotson (Texas) 3.
^2015-16 Poll on March 9, 2016
