2018-2019 NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll
Defending-champions Indiana Wesleyan start the year at No. 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After winning its third title in five years, Indiana Wesleyan begins the 2018 season as the No. 1 team in the 2018 NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll. The Wildcats received 11 of the 12 first-place votes in the initial ballots.
Top 25 Highlights
- Indiana Wesleyan returns 78-percent of the team’s scoring from its national-championship season in 2017-2018. That includes sophomore guard Kyle Mangas who was a first-team NAIA All-American and the NAIA National Championship MVP as a freshman.
- Indiana East, the No. 2 team in the preseason Top 25 Poll, picked up the final first-place vote. The Red Wolves finished 30-3 a year ago, but lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Indiana Wesleyan.
- The newcomers to the preseason poll, based on the final regular-season poll of 2017-2018, are No. 15 Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), No. 19 Warner (Fla.), No. 21 Trinity International (Ill.) and No. 22 Southern Oregon.
- No. 23 Bethel (Ind.) has the most active appearances at No. 1 with 35. Behind Bethel are No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan with 22, Cornerstone (Mich.) at 19 and Oregon Tech at 15.
- Indiana Wesleyan holds the longest active streak in the poll with 75-straight appearances. Bethel is next with 65. Following those two teams are Saint Francis (Ind.) with 56 and Cornerstone with 54.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Association of Independent Institutions.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
- The frequency of polls occurs bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) for the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.
2018-2019 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Preseason (Oct. 23)
| RANK | LAST RANK* | SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) | 2017-2018 RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 4 | Indiana Wesleyan (11) | 31-7 | 312 |
| 2 | 1 | Indiana East (Ind.) (1) | 34-3 | 294 |
| 3 | 3 | College of Idaho | 30-7 | 292 |
| 4 | 5 | Morningside (Iowa) | 28-7 | 280 |
| 5 | 6 | Indiana Tech | 27-7 | 272 |
| 6 | 16 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 26-9 | 259 |
| 7 | 2 | Cornerstone (Mich.) | 30-5 | 243 |
| 8 | 24 | Marian (Ind.) | 22-12 | 240 |
| 9 | 9 | Union (Ky.) | 23-8 | 237 |
| 10 | 11 | Briar Cliff (Iowa) | 26-8 | 229 |
| 11 | 21 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 21-10 | 202 |
| 12 | 21 | Oregon Tech | 22-11 | 201 |
| 13 | 25 | WVU Tech | 20-12 | 181 |
| 14 | 23 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 21-12 | 166 |
| 15 | RV | Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) | 18-14 | 165 |
| 16 | 7 | Saint Francis (Ind.) | 29-9 | 164 |
| 17 | 20 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 23-11 | 139 |
| 18 | 13 | Southwestern (Kan.) | 27-8 | 137 |
| 19 | NR | Warner (Fla.) | 20-16 | 131 |
| 20 | 15 | Indiana Southeast (Ind.) | 24-9 | 113 |
| 21 | RV | Trinity International (Ill.) | 21-11 | 112 |
| 22 | RV | Southern Oregon | 20-12 | 111 |
| 23 | 18 | Bethel (Ind.) | 22-10 | 81 |
| 23 | 12 | Warner Pacific (Ore.) | 24-10 | 81 |
| 25 | 8 | St. Thomas (Fla.) | 23-8 | 55 |
* Last rank in the final regular-season poll of 2017-2018. Beginning last year, there is no longer a postseason poll.
Others receiving votes: Roosevelt (Ill.) 34, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 33, Milligan (Tenn.) 33, Rochester (Mich.) 31, Keiser (Fla.) 22, Voorhees (S.C.) 17, Friends (Kan.) 13, Mayville State (N.D.) 11, Doane (Neb.) 9