It has been quite the last two weeks in-between rankings. We thought it was hard enough to rank teams when you are comparing teams who are 0-0 to those who are 6-2! All and all we try to gauge teams off of their body of work and/or the returners/impact players they have on their roster. With the craziness of this past week, where #1, #2, #3, #6 (Twice) and #7 all lost we elected to not drop the 1-loss teams that much from our last rankings.
Keeping the #1 spot for this week is Indiana Wesleyan. Even though they lost this week they have the best body of work in the NAIA. At 18-1 overall they are 3-0 against teams in the NAIA Top 25, 17-1 against NAIA teams and despite the loss, they have looked like the best team in NAIA.
LSU-Shreveport will be the team to watch to see if they dethrone IWU in this weeks NAIA coaches poll. The Pilots have one of the best back court duos in the entire NAIA and they just added big man Akeem White to their roster. White is a transfer from Texas Wesleyan that averaged 15pts and 8reb a game. They are 10-0, but quite frankly their schedule isn’t good. Of their 10 wins, 4 of them are against non NAIA members. They have another win over a UT-Dallas squad who just started a new basketball program and is a new NAIA member. While we still love this team and think they are a legit National Title Contender, their wins aren’t enough for them to dethrone IWU.
The big drop of the week go to Georgetown. Georgetown has a lot of young talent, but back to back losses with one of those being by 40 made it hard to keep them in the rankings for now. Chris Briggs is one of the best coaches in NAIA, we have no doubt he will have his young squad ready to go come March.
Those last few spots of the Top 25 will be interesting on Wednesday in the Coaches Poll. Right now we kept LSU-A in over Cumberlands (Ky) and Bethel (In). LSU-Alexandria lost two of their best players at Christmas break, but right now they get the nod over a 4-loss Cumberlands (Ky.) team, and a Bethel (In.) team who we had in until they lost to Lincoln (Il) this past week.
These rankings are always fun for us to put together. We work hard and watch a ton of games each week, so while we aren’t perfect, this is how we view things as they currently are. Still plenty of season left for teams to play themselves both in, and out, of the Top 25 polls.
NAIA HOOPS REPORT TOP 25
| 1 | Indiana Wesleyan | 18-1 |
| 2 | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 10-0 |
| 3 | William Penn (Iowa) | 12-1 |
| 4 | Loyola (La.) | 7-0 |
| 5 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 9-1 |
| 6 | Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 4-1 |
| 7 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 9-1 |
| 8 | Arizona Christian | 13-2 |
| 9 | The Master’s (Calif.) | 6-0 |
| 10 | Marian (Ind.) | 8-1 |
| 11 | John Brown (Ark.) | 0-0 |
| 12 | Providence (Mont.) | 4-0 |
| 13 | Shawnee State (Ky.) | 12-2 |
| 14 | Science & Arts (Ok.) | 6-0 |
| 15 | Xavier (La.) | 3-1 |
| 16 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 13-2 |
| 17 | Morningside (Iowa) | 13-2 |
| 18 | SAGU (Texas) | 2-0 |
| 19 | Martin Methodist | 10-1 |
| 20 | Bethel (Kan.) | 10-3 |
| 21 | College of Idaho | 4-6 |
| 22 | Talladega | 10-2 |
| 23 | Texas A&M Texarkana | 5-0 |
| 24 | Saint Francis (Ind.) | 15-2 |
| 25 | LSU-Alexandria | 9-2 |
