The Dordt Defender men’s basketball team is ranked no. 23 in the NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll released Wednesday, March 4 in conjunction with the NAIA DII National Championship field. The Defenders are the highest ranked team to not make the 32-team field.
Dordt finishes the season with a 22-9 record and was the runner-up in the GPAC regular season title chase with a 13-7 GPAC record. The Defenders earned 79 points in the voting done by 12 coaches representing each of the conferences and Association of Independent Institutions and Unaffiliated Groups. The Defenders fell four spots from the February 26 poll when they had 126 points.
IU Kokomo, the no. 22 team in the voting with 86 points, grabbed the final of seven available at-large berths in the National Championship field with a 26-7 mark.
The Great Plains Athletic Conference had two other teams in the top-25 with regular season champion Morningside holding on to no. 3 in the poll and Dakota Wesleyan, who was tied with Dordt as regular season runner-up, held on to the no. 11 rating it held last week. Concordia, the GPAC Tournament Champion, was in the ‘Receiving Votes’ Category of the poll.
2019-2020 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 – Final (March 4)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1ST PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | College of Idaho [12] | 30-3 | 312 |
| 2 | 3 | Indiana Wesleyan | 29-4 | 302 |
| 3 | 2 | Morningside (Iowa) | 26-3 | 292 |
| 4 | 4 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 30-3 | 282 |
| 5 | 6 | Ottawa (Kan.) | 27-6 | 268 |
| 6 | 5 | Marian (Ind.) | 24-7 | 263 |
| 7 | 8 | Oregon Tech | 26-7 | 248 |
| 8 | 7 | Southern Oregon | 23-7 | 246 |
| 9 | 12 | Antelope Valley (Calif.) | 27-4 | 223 |
| 10 | 9 | Holy Cross (Ind.) | 26-6 | 219 |
| 11 | 11 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 23-9 | 215 |
| 12 | 14 | Madonna (Mich.) | 25-8 | 206 |
| 13 | 13 | Grace (Ind.) | 19-12 | 181 |
| 14 | 18 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 25-8 | 169 |
| 15 | 17 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 23-8 | 167 |
| 16 | 20 | Union (Ky.) | 24-9 | 153 |
| 17 | 15 | WVU Tech | 23-8 | 150 |
| 18 | 16 | Saint Francis (Ind.) | 20-11 | 142 |
| 19 | 24 | Spring Arbor (Mich.) | 20-12 | 124 |
| 20 | 23 | Indiana East (Ind.) | 23-10 | 101 |
| 21 | 10 | Washington Adventist (Md.) | 23-7 | 91 |
| 22 | 22 | IU Kokomo (Ind.) | 26-7 | 86 |
| 23 | 19 | Dordt (Iowa) | 22-9 | 79 |
| 24 | NR | Indiana Tech | 21-11 | 72 |
| 25 | 25 | Southwestern (Kan.) | 23-8 | 57 |
Receiving Votes: Indiana South Bend 54, Keiser (Fla.) 46, Concordia (Neb.) 43, Bellevue (Neb.) 39, Mayville (N.D.) 36, Montreat (N.C.) 33, St. Thomas (Fla.) 22, Rochester (Mich.) 20, Bethel (Ind.) 16
