The 2019-2020 season didn’t end like anyone expected it to as Covid-19 ended the season at the drop of a hat. NAIA DII was in the middle of 1st round games, and NAIA DI had just released their bracket when the news hit that the season was over. There were a lot of mixed emotions, both from peoples opinions on the pandemic, and because we didn’t get any closure on the end of an era as the end of the 2019-2020 season meant that we no longer would have two divisions at the NAIA level. As we turn the page to the 2020-2021 season, and see the divisions combine into one, it creates a lot of new storylines to watch across the NAIA! We saw a wave of teams switching leagues for this year, and more deciding to join new leagues for the 2021-2022 season. The NAIA National Tournament has also been revamped, and while there are still questions looming on the actual seeding process, it will be fun to have basketball back again, and to see how teams fair now that we are back to having just the one division. Yes, it was a LONG offseason, but it is good to finally have NAIA basketball games just a week away. While there are still many questions about how the National Tournament seeding and pairings will be awarded, we are just happy to finally start the season. From there, whatever adjustments need to be made, can be made. 

With the start of the NAIA basketball season upon us, the NAIA coaches released their NAIA DI Preseason Poll today. While many teams will play their way both into, and out of the Top 25 over the course of the season, this at least gives us a starting point. With Covid-19 regulations, every league this year has their own rules and regulations on how many games teams can play, and how the league schedule is set up. We do have a few teams who won’t play a single game until January, so it was great to see that the release of the Preseason Top 25 Polls didn’t leave out those who have a later start to the season. It was interesting though to see the dynamics of where the NAIA DI and DII teams were ranked now that we are one division. 

Here is a deeper dive into the Polls:

– The “DI” teams dominated the Preseason Top 25, as they made up SEVEN of the Top 10 teams and placed 16 teams inside the Top 25 overall.

– With no National Champions crowned in 2020, both of the 2019 Champs (DI) #1 Georgetown (KY) and (DII) #3 Indiana Wesleyan come into 2020-2021 ranked inside the Top 5.

– The most teams inside the Top 25 for any league is 3 teams: Cascade Collegiate Conference and Sooner Athletic Conference.