Wittenberg Men's Basketball Ascends To No. 1 Ranking In National Weekly Poll
For the first time in more than a decade and the third time since 1990, the Wittenberg University men's basketball team has made it to the top of the national rankings. The Tigers took over the No. 1 position in a weekly national poll administered by d3hoops.com, a Web site dedicated to NCAA Division III men's and women's basketball coverage, on Monday evening.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — For the first time in more than a decade and the third time since 1990, the Wittenberg University men's basketball team has made it to the top of the national rankings. The Tigers took over the No. 1 position in a weekly national poll administered by d3hoops.com, a Web site dedicated to NCAA Division III men's and women's basketball coverage, on Monday evening.
Research indicates that this is the first No. 1 national ranking for Wittenberg men's basketball since the 1993-94 season, when the Tigers reeled off 24 straight wins to open the season. Wittenberg also earned the No. 1 ranking in 1990 after winning 16 straight games to start the 1989-90 season.
This is the first time, however, that Wittenberg has reached the top of the d3hoops.com poll, published weekly after voting by 25 coaches, sports information directors and media members from around the nation since the start of the 1999-2000 season. It is currently the only weekly national poll conducted for NCAA Division III men's basketball, and both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the NCAA refer to it as an official coaches poll. Previously, the NABC conducted its own coaches poll.
The Tigers currently stand 12-1 overall and 3-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) heading into a big game against Earlham at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the HPER Center. Wittenberg and the Quakers are tied for fourth place in the current NCAC standings, just one game back of Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash and Wooster, which are all unbeaten so far in conference play. Wabash and Ohio Wesleyan square off on Wednesday in another key NCAC match-up.
Wittenberg started the 2005-06 season ranked No. 10 but quickly moved up after defeating No. 24 Rochester in the championship game of the Yellow Jackets' tip-off tournament on Nov. 19. Since then, the Tigers have also beaten then-No. 24 Ohio Northern at home and current No. 25 Transylvania on the road, adding to their credibility as a contender for the program's first national semifinal appearance since 1994 and first national title since 1977.
The Tigers are coming off a 25-4 overall record in 2004-05, which included an NCAC Tournament championship before a double overtime loss to John Carroll in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Wittenberg was ranked in the top 10 for the majority of the 2004-05 season.
Ranked third in the nation after winning the first six games of the season, the Tigers suffered their only loss at second-ranked NCAC rival Wooster, 86-83, on Dec. 10. The Scots are now ranked third in the nation after a recent loss to Baldwin-Wallace, while Illinois Wesleyan, which had been No. 1 for the entire first half of the season, dropped to No. 5 after a loss to North Central last week.
Wittenberg is atop the poll by the slimmest of margins. After garnering eight first-place votes and 594 total points, the Tigers lead No. 2 Hope, which is a perfect 13-0 heading into a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association showdown with fourth-ranked Albion on Wednesday, by just 18 points. Hope received nine first-place votes, Wooster and Albion picked up two votes each, and Illinois Wesleyan earned the other four top nods.
Of note, the top four teams in the current d3hoops.com poll all hail from two conferences in the Great Lakes Region. In addition, Baldwin-Wallace, Wilmington and Carnegie-Mellon are in the Great Lakes Region and also rank in the current top 25.
The men's basketball team became the second Wittenberg athletic program to reach No. 1 in a national poll since 2000. The Tiger volleyball team spent one week ranked first in the nation during the 2004 season en route to a 35-3 overall record. Wittenberg's volleyball team has won three Great Lakes Region titles in the last four years and advanced to the national semifinals for the first time in school history in 2005.
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