Findlay Remains On Top of This Week's NABC Division II Poll
Release and poll courtesy of the NABC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The top two teams remain the same for the third straight week in the NABC/Division II Coaches Poll, but losses by last week's third- and seventh-ranked teams have caused a shuffle in rest of the top 10 this week. The end result has teams from the Peach Belt Athletic Conference holding two of the top three spots and a significant group of teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference dotting the second half of this week's poll.
Findlay and South Carolina Aiken retain the top two spots after those squads opened conference play on a winning note last week, but Central Oklahoma lost at West Texas A&M to fall four spots to No. 7. Augusta State moved into UCO's spot at No. 3, while Southwest Baptist and Gannon also moved up one spot apiece to fill out the top five.
Minnesota State vaulted to sixth thanks to the losses by UCO and last week's No. 7 team, Grand Valley State. Central Oklahoma is then followed by Brigham Young-Hawaii, LIU-C.W. Post and the only new entry to the top 10 this week, Catawba.
Grand Valley State starts the second ten at No. 11, followed by Central Washington, Arkansas-Monticello, Kentucky Wesleyan and North Alabama, who edged Northern Kentucky for the No. 15 spot. Pittsburgh-Johnstown comes in at No. 17 and Missouri Southern, off to a 9-0 start, enters the poll for the first time this season at No. 18. Saint Martin's and Ouachita Baptist round out the second ten.
While the PBAC has USC Aiken and Augusta State in the top three, the GLVC has four teams in the top 25 in Kentucky Wesleyan, Northern Kentucky and newcomers Bellarmine (No. 21) and Southern Indiana (No. 25).
This week's poll does not include two schools who have held lengthy appearances in the Top 25. Winona State, which had been ranked in each of the last 43 polls, fell out of the Top 25 after losing twice last week to fall to 4-4 on the season, while Bentley suffered its third loss of the season Saturday to New Haven and saw its run of 30 straight weeks in the poll come to an end.
| Rank | School (first place votes) | Record | Points | Previous Rank |
| 1 | Findlay, Ohio (8) | 5-0 | 200 | 1 |
| 2 | South Carolina Aiken | 4-0 | 190 | 2 |
| 3 | Augusta State, Ga. | 3-0 | 183 | 4 |
| 4 | Southwest Baptist, Mo. | 7-0 | 178 | 5 |
| 5 | Gannon, Pa. | 4-0 | 163 | 6 |
| 6 | Minnesota State | 8-1 | 156 | 8 |
| 7 | Central Oklahoma | 8-1 | 142 | 3 |
| 8 | Brigham Young-Hawaii | 3-0 | 140 | 9 |
| 9 | LIU-C.W. Post, N.Y. | 4-0 | 134 | 10 |
| 10 | Catawba, N.C. | 8-0 | 129 | 14 |
| 11 | Grand Valley State, Mich. | 6-1 | 124 | 7 |
| 12 | Central Washington | 4-1 | 101 | 19 |
| 13 | Arkansas-Monticello | 8-0 | 97 | 23 |
| 14 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 7-1 | 83 | 12 |
| 15 | North Alabama | 6-2 | 60 | 11 |
| 16 | Northern Kentucky | 5-2 | 58 | 20 |
| 17 | Pittsburgh-Johnstown, Pa. | 6-1 | 57 | 15 |
| 18 | Missouri Southern | 9-0 | 52 | NR |
| 19 | St. Martin's, Wash. | 9-2 | 49 | 25 |
| 20 | Ouachita Baptist, Ark. | 7-1 | 45 | NR |
| 21 | Bellarmine, Ky. | 5-0 | 27 | NR |
| 22 | Cal State-Dominguez Hills | 7-0 | 26 | NR |
| 23 | Elizabeth City State, N.C. | 8-0 | 25 | NR |
| 24 | Valdosta State, Ga. | 8-1 | 24 | NR |
| 25 | Southern Indiana | 9-2 | 19 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Drury (Mo.) 18, Tampa (Fla.) 12, West Liberty State (W.Va.) 12, Arkansas Tech 11, Bentley (Mass.) 10, Southwestern Oklahoma State 10, Edinboro (Pa.) 9, Angelo State (Texas) 7, Northern State (S.D.) 7, Clayton State (Ga.) 5, Merrimack (Mass.) 5, Benedict (S.C.) 4, St. Edward's (Texas) 4, San Francisco State (Calif.) 3, Augustana (S.D.) 2, Francis Marion (S.C.) 2, Northern Michigan 2, West Texas A&M 2, Western Washington 2, Ashland (Ohio) 1, Southwest Minnesota State 1.
Records are through games of Dec. 7, 2008.
