Box Score Matt Barker, Sports Information Director
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Freed-Hardeman Lion basketball team continued to climb the rankings this week as they jumped two spots and came in at No. 12 in the latest NAIA Coaches poll, released Tuesday by the national office.
Louisiana State University-Alexandria (23-2) took home the No. 1 spot for a third straight week with eight first-place votes while Georgetown (Ky.) (23-3) remained at No. 2. Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (24-2) remained at No. 3 with one first-place vote.
AROUND THE AMC
American Midwest Conference member Columbia (Mo.) College (22-4) dropped three spots to No. 8 following a loss to Missouri Baptist University on Saturday. Park (Mo.) University (16-7) climbed one spot in the poll and came in at No. 19.
NEWS AND NOTES
LSU Alexandria (La.) captured eight-of-nine first-place votes and tallied 219 total points. The Generals own the NAIA's longest win streak at 16-straight games. LSU Alexandria has not lost since Dec. 3, 2015.
Pikeville now leads the active group of being ranked in the Top 25 with 47-straight mentions. The second longest streak belongs to Georgetown (41-straight) and is followed by Talladega (34-straight), Arizona Christian (27-straight) and Hope International (Calif.) (25-straight).
Nine of 10 conferences claim at least one ranked program in the Top 25.
Out of a possible 21 total polls since the 2014-15 season, LSU Alexandria has been ranked in the last 19-consecutive editions. The team has been in the top 10 in all nine rankings this year.
The Golden State Athletic Conference landed the most Top 25 teams with five: No. 6 Hope International (Calif.), No. 9 Biola (Calif.), No. 17 Arizona Christian, No. 22 William Jessup and No. 23 Westmont.
The Mid-South Conference has four teams represented while four other conferences have three teams each.
There have been 35 different teams since 2000 to hold the No. 1 position. Former NAIA member Mountain State leads the all-time charts with 48 all-time No. 1 rankings, followed by NAIA Division II member Robert Morris with 24. Georgetown is next with 13, former member Concordia (Calif.) at 12, former member Cal State San Marcos at 11 and Columbia at nine No. 1 recognitions.
2015 – 16 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll – Feb. 16 (No. 8)
|
RANK
|
LAST WEEK
|
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)
|
2015-16 RECORD
|
TOTAL POINTS
|
|
1
|
1
|
LSU Alexandria (8)
|
23-2
|
219
|
|
2
|
2
|
Georgetown (Ky.)
|
23-3
|
209
|
|
3
|
3
|
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (1)
|
24-2
|
206
|
|
4
|
4
|
Pikeville (Ky.)
|
23-3
|
197
|
|
5
|
6
|
Talladega (Ala.)
|
22-4
|
189
|
|
6
|
7
|
Hope International (Calif.)
|
22-4
|
183
|
|
7
|
8
|
Texas Wesleyan
|
21-4
|
175
|
|
8
|
5
|
Columbia (Mo.)
|
22-4
|
169
|
|
9
|
T9
|
Biola (Calif.)
|
24-3
|
162
|
|
10
|
T9
|
William Penn (Iowa)
|
21-5
|
161
|
|
11
|
12
|
Langston (Okla.)
|
19-5
|
144
|
|
12
|
14
|
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
|
20-5
|
140
|
|
13
|
11
|
Mid-America Christian (Okla.)
|
20-6
|
137
|
|
14
|
15
|
William Carey (Miss.)
|
18-8
|
124
|
|
15
|
13
|
Carroll (Mont.)
|
18-6
|
121
|
|
16
|
17
|
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
|
20-6
|
118
|
|
17
|
19
|
Arizona Christian
|
20-5
|
104
|
|
18
|
18
|
Peru State (Neb.)
|
17-9
|
90
|
|
T19
|
20
|
Park (Mo.)
|
16-7
|
87
|
|
T19
|
21
|
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)
|
15-6
|
87
|
|
21
|
T23
|
Cumberlands (Ky.)
|
18-9
|
83
|
|
22
|
25
|
William Jessup (Calif.)
|
17-7
|
78
|
|
23
|
16
|
Westmont (Calif.)
|
17-8
|
54
|
|
24
|
RV
|
Middle Georgia State
|
14-6
|
49
|
|
25
|
T23
|
Oklahoma City
|
11-8
|
48
|
Dropped from rankings: No. 22 Campbellsville (Ky.)
Others Receiving Votes: Campbellsville (Ky.) 37; Xavier (La.) 37; Dillard (La.) 22; Montana Western 20; Avila (Mo.) 17; LSU Shreveport (La.) 8; Voorhees (S.C.) 7; Bethel (Tenn.) 7.
