Some Early Branson Buzz

[Deleted]

Okay – let’s see if we can get some excitement stirred up here. The 7th regular season ranking came out today, and it’s as follows:

2013 – 14 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll - (Feb. 4)
RANK LAST WEEK SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) 2013-14 RECORD TOTAL POINTS
1 1 Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) (11) 21-3 372
2 2 Indiana Southeast (3) 16-3 364
3 5 Dordt (Iowa) 23-2 349
4 6 Cornerstone (Mich.) 21-3 334
5 4 Saint Xavier (Ill.) 21-3 324
6 3 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 20-3 314
7 7 Midland (Neb.) 21-3 304
8 10 College of Idaho 20-5 286
9 11 Indiana Wesleyan 19-5 282
10 15 Davenport (Mich.) 19-5 253
11 9 Saint Francis (Ind.) 17-7 252
12 8 Bellevue (Neb.) 18-5 249
13 12 St. Thomas (Fla.) 16-5 222
14 19 Huntington (Ind.) 20-4 205
15 13 Hastings (Neb.) 17-6 201
16 18 Northwood (Fla.) 17-5 198
17 20 Bethel (Ind.) 19-5 174
18 14 Southern Oregon 19-6 158
19 RV Northwest (Wash.) 17-6 146
20 17 Cal Maritime 20-5 145
21 16 Robert Morris (Ill.) 17-6 140
22 22 Union (Ky.) 20-3 127
23 24 Ashford (Iowa) 19-7 100
24 RV Marian (Ind.) 12-4 87
25 RV Southeastern (Fla.) 17-4 83

Others receiving votes: St. Ambrose (Iowa) 77; Sterling (Kan.) 65; Oklahoma Wesleyan 61; Cincinnati Christian (Ohio) 31; Concordia (Ore.) 30; Madonna (Mich.) 10; Morningside (Iowa) 9; Waldorf (Iowa) 8; Bethany (Kan.) 3.

So, IF:

1. The final ranking on March 5, following the conference tournaments, were identical to this ranking, and
2. All the automatic berths rose as high as possible (i.e. the top 1 or 2 seeds won their conference regular season championship and/or their conference tournament), the following would happen:

(And I realize these are pretty big IF’s, but go with me on this.

The last team to get in with an at large would be #28 Oklahoma Wesleyan. The first team out of the at-large field would be #30 Concordia (OR). (By this scenario, #29 Cincinnati Christian would receive the second automatic berth from the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference).

The tournament field would be as follows, including conference/league affiliation:

Crossroads League – 5 teams – Bethel, Huntington, Indiana Wesleyan, Marian, Saint Francis

The Sun Conference – 4 teams – Embry-Riddle, Northwood, Saint Thomas, Southeastern

Cascade Collegiate Conference – 3 teams – College of Idaho, Northwest, Southern Oregon

Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference – 3 teams – Cardinal Stritch, St. Xavier, Robert Morris

Great Plains Athletic Conference – 3 teams – Dordt, Hastings, Midland

Appalachian Athletic Conference – 2 teams – Union, Bryan (currently the 2nd place team, thus #2 seed for the AAC tournament)

Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference – 2 teams – Sterling, Friends

Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – 2 teams – IU Southeast, Cincinnati Christian

Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference – 2 teams – Bellevue, Oklahoma Wesleyan

Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference – 2 teams – Cornerstone, Davenport

Association of Independent Institutions – 1 team – Ashford

California Pacific Conference – 1 team – Cal Maritime

Midwest Collegiate Conference – 1 team – Saint Ambrose


I’m disappointed that the WHAC would only get 2 teams in based on this scenario – I think Madonna is better than #31 in the rankings – their only conference losses this season are twice to #4 Cornerstone, and twice to #10 Davenport. Congrats to the Crossroads League, which stands an excellent chance of getting 5 teams to Branson - #9 IWU, #11 Saint Francis, #14 Huntington, #17 Bethel, and #24 Marian.

[Deleted]

Also -Ozarks as the host berth. I either forgot them, or I just repressed them in my mind!

[blue2blue]

It seems strange to not see Oregon Tech and Warner Pacific from the Cascade Conference, it seems they always qualify. There are a couple other familiar names not on the list, but I can't remember their names.

[Deleted]

True. Northwestern (IA) is one team with a proud history at Branson that, right now at least, looks to be out of this year's tournament.

[blue2blue]

Walsh of Ohio is another traditional power, but it seems that maybe they left DII.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2014 22:20:11 GMT -5 blue2blue said:

Walsh of Ohio is another traditional power, but it seems that maybe they left DII.

Walsh is NCAA D2. They play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association (GLIAC) with schools like Grand Valley, Ferris State, Saginaw Valley, etc. They were a part of the American Mideast Conference which basically blew up as a bunch of its teams (Cedarville, etc.) jumped ship to the NCAA.

[tamrik]

I will be shocked if the crossroads league gets more than 4 - even though there are 5 teams that deserve it. My guess is that whoever ends in fifth stays home.

If Madonna is done with CU and Davenport, and if they win out, they should move up some...