MBB 0840: Mavericks Return To Top-10

Kansas City, Mo. --- The Minnesota State men’s basketball team climbed two spots in the most recent edition of the National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) Top-25 poll.
The jump in the poll comes after Minnesota State earned a pair of victories last week, downing MacMurray, 107-73, and Crown College 111-43.
Findlay remains the top-ranked team in the nation, receiving all eight first-place votes. South Carolina Aiken, Southwest Baptist, Gannon and Arkansas-Monticello close out the top-five.
Minnesota State is the highest of three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams ranked in the top-25. Northern State is #19, and Augustana entered the poll this week at #24.
A pair of MSU’s nonconference foes are also ranked in the top-25. Saint Martins is #15, while Southern Indiana is #18. The Mavericks defeated Saint Martins, 88-79, and Southern Indiana, 68-60, in the Disney East Coast Division II Tip-Off Classic to open the season.

Minnesota State is idle until Jan. 2, when it hosts Minnesota, Crookston in NSIC competition.NABC/Division II Coaches Poll (Dec. 23, 2008) Record Points Pvs 1. Findlay, Ohio (8 first place votes) 8-0 200 1 2. South Carolina Aiken 6-0 190 2 3. Southwest Baptist, Mo. 9-0 186 3 4. Gannon, Pa. 4-0 176 4 5. Arkansas-Monticello 9-0 164 8 6. LIU-C.W. Post, N.Y. 5-0 150 7 7. Augusta State, Ga. 5-1 149 10 8. Central Oklahoma 10-2 137 5 9. Minnesota State 11-2 132 11 10. Missouri Southern 12-0 127 14 11. Kentucky Wesleyan 8-1 107 13 12. BYU-Hawaii 5-1 103 6 13. Bellarmine, Ky. 9-0 95 18 14. Catawba, N.C. 8-2 92 9 15. Saint Martin’s, Wash. 12-2 82 19 16. Grand Valley State, Mich. 7-2 68 21 17. Northern Kentucky 6-2 62 17 18. Southern Indiana 11-2 59 22 19. Northern State, S.D. 9-1 49 23 20. Arkansas Tech 9-2 40 NR 21. Claflin, S.C. 9-0 38 NR 22. Pittsburgh-Johnstown, Pa. 6-2 32 15 23. Edinboro, Pa. 8-0 24 NR 24. Augustana, S.D. 8-2 19 NR 25. (tie) Clayton State, Ga. 8-0 18 NR (tie) Valdosta State, Ga. 11-2 18 20 Others receiving votes: Christian Brothers (Tenn.) 13, Central Washington 12, Benedict (S.C.) 10, Mars Hill (N.C.) 9, Saint Anselm (N.H.) 6, Johnson C. Smith (N.C.) 5, Lynn (Fla.) 5, Francis Marion (S.C.) 4, Cal State-Dominguez Hills 3, Central Missouri 3, Harding (Ark.) 3, Mercyhurst (Pa.) 3, Elizabeth City State (N.C.) 2, Merrimack (Mass.) 2, Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) 2. Records are through games of Dec. 21, 2008.