Orange City Iowa — Northwestern College dropped one spot in this week’s edition of the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball coaches’ poll released Tuesday by the national office.
The Red Raiders slipped to 11th in the Feb.20 poll after losing to No.18 Dakota Wesleyan last week in Mitchell, S.D. They came back with a road win against Doane over the weekend to close the regular season with a 23-5 overall record, 13-5 and tied with Briar Cliff for second in the GPAC standings. Northwestern, the third-seed in the GPAC postseason tournament, joins four other GPAC teams in this week’s top 25; Morningside (6), Briar Cliff (9), Dakota Wesleyan (18) and Hastings (RV).
Cornerstone (Mich.) holds down the top spot for the fifth consecutive coaches’ poll, owning a 27-3 overall record and earning nine first place votes. IU East is second, collecting the final three first place votes, followed by Indiana Tech, College of Idaho and Indiana Wesleyan.
2017-18 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 6 (Feb. 20)
1 Cornerstone (Mich.) (9) 27-3 310
2 IU East (Ind.) (3) 28-2 304
3 Indiana Tech 25-5 283
4 College of Idaho 24-6 281
5 Indiana Wesleyan 23-7 274
6 Morningside (Iowa) 23-6 260
7 St. Thomas (Fla.) 22-6 252
8 Saint Francis (Ind.) 23-7 240
9 Briar Cliff (Iowa) 24-6 233
10 Union (Ky.) 20-7 214
11 Northwestern (Iowa) 23-5 211
12 Southwestern (Kan.) 24-6 192
T13 Warner Pacific (Ore.) 21-8 181
T13 IU Southeast (Ind.) 21-7 181
15 Bethel (Ind.) 22-8 171
16 Governors State (Ill.) 22-8 159
17 Stillman (Ala.) 24-4 153
18 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 21-9 144
19 Oklahoma Wesleyan 22-8 142
20 Roosevelt (Ill.) 24-6 108
21 Oregon Tech 21-9 106
22 Bellevue (Neb.) 20-10 104
23 Keiser (Fla.) 19-9 103
24 Marian (Ind.) 20-10 64
25 WVU Tech 19-10 57
Others Receiving Votes: Southeastern (Fla.) 47; Trinity International (Ill.) 46; Jamestown (N.D.) 42; Hastings (Neb.) 39; Antelope Valley (Calif.) 23; Warner (Fla.) 23; Michigan-Dearborn 13; Southern Oregon 4; Milligan (Tenn.) 3; Eastern Oregon 3.
Dropped Out: Eastern Oregon (No. 21); Spring Arbor (Mich.) (No. 22); Jamestown (N.D.) (No. 23); Allen (S.C.) (No. 25)
