KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Milligan (Tenn.) opens the 2024 season at No. 1 in the Coaches Top 25 Preseason Rating after being crowned the 2023 champion. Oklahoma City made the largest jump in the rating to No. 11 after being ranked at 20 in the final regular season rating. The Stars boasted an 11th-place finish at the 2023 championship. Spring Arbor (Mich.), Embry-Riddle (Ariz.), Marian (Ind.) and Rio Grande (Ohio) joined the Top 25 after receiving votes in the final regular season rating.  

Rating Methodology:

• The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and unaffiliated groupings.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team’s rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”.

Receiving Votes: Grace (Ind.) 113, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 103, Southern Oregon 88, Campbellsville (Ky.) 61, IU East (Ind.) 54, UC Merced (Calif.) 18, Montana Tech 13, John Brown (Ark.) 8, William Woods (Mo.) 5, William Carey (Miss.) 4, Cornerstone (Mich.) 4, Benedictine (Kan.) 4, Madonna (Mich.) 2