October 24, 2011
2011-12 Season - Vikings second in D3hoops.com preseason poll
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| Troy Rorer and his Augustana Viking teammates have been ranked second in the nation in the D3hoops.com preseason men's basketball Top 25. Rorer will be one of three senior captains for the Vikings this year, along with Brian DeSimone and Bryant Voiles. |
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - D3hoops.com has released its 2011-12 preseason men's basketball poll with coach Grey Giovanine's Augustana squad holding down the number two spot. The Vikings, who last month achieved a number three ranking from The Sporting News, received two first-place votes and 545 total points in the D3hoops.com poll. They trail only top-ranked Virginia Wesleyan, which garnered eight first-place votes and 565 points.
Giovanine brings back four starters and 11 letter winners from last year's 27-4 club. Augustana recorded the second-highest win total in school history, won a share of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin regular season title and claimed the conference tournament championship before reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III tournament. The Vikings were eliminated by eventual national champion St. Thomas.
After Virginia Wesleyan and Augustana, three New England Small College Athletic Conference teams occupy spots three through five in the D3hoops.com poll. Williams, with seven first-place votes and 542 points, is third, followed by Amherst, who compiled 517 points despite not receiving a first-place vote. Middlebury earned the fifth spot with 490 points and five first-place votes.
Among Augustana's CCIW rivals, Wheaton, is ranked 25th, while Illinois Wesleyan and North Central each received votes. The Vikings' December 10 opponent, Wisconsin-Stevens Point, is ranked 24th.
The number two ranking equals the highest Augustana has achieved in the 13 years D3hoops.com has conducted its polling. The Vikings were also ranked second in the 2008-09 preseason poll.
Augustana, which finished the 2010-11 season ranked seventh, has been ranked in D3hoops.com's Top 25 in 76 of 91 polls over the past six years. The Vikings have been ranked in the top ten 48 times during that time. They were ranked in 56 consecutive polls from 2005 to 2010, which was the longest streak in the nation at the time.
2011-12 D3hoops.com Preseason Men's Basketball Poll
|
# |
School (1st votes) |
W-L |
Pts |
'11 final |
|
1 |
Virginia Wesleyan (8) |
25-5 |
565 |
10 |
|
2 |
AUGUSTANA (2) |
27-4 |
545 |
7 |
|
3 |
Williams (7) |
29-3 |
542 |
4 |
|
4 |
Amherst |
25-4 |
517 |
8 |
|
5 |
Middlebury (5) |
28-2 |
490 |
3 |
|
6 |
Marietta |
27-4 |
482 |
11 |
|
7 |
Rochester |
22-6 |
374 |
12 |
|
8 |
St. Thomas (2) |
30-3 |
353 |
1 |
|
9 |
Wooster |
31-3 |
352 |
2 |
|
10 |
MIT |
20-9 |
260 |
-- |
|
11 |
Wittenberg |
20-9 |
257 |
22 |
|
12 |
Whitworth |
28-2 |
255 |
5 |
|
13 |
Emory |
20-5 |
251 |
-- |
|
14 |
Cabrini |
24-6 |
246 |
19 |
|
15 |
St. Mary's (Md.) |
25-6 |
229 |
9 |
|
16 |
Mary Hardin-Baylor |
23-8 |
215 |
20 |
|
17 |
Franklin and Marshall |
23-6 |
173 |
15 |
|
18 |
Oswego State |
24-5 |
168 |
-- |
|
19 |
Buffalo State |
23-7 |
161 |
23 |
|
20 |
Centre |
21-6 |
153 |
-- |
|
21 |
UW-River Falls |
20-8 |
141 |
-- |
|
22 |
Birmingham-Southern |
23-4 |
124 |
-- |
|
23 |
Hampden-Sydney |
17-10 |
121 |
-- |
|
24 |
UW-Stevens Point |
26-4 |
117 |
6 |
|
25 |
Wheaton (Ill.) |
18-8 |
113 |
-- |
Others receiving votes: Brandeis 90; North Carolina Wesleyan 81; UW-Whitewater 53; WPI 51; Whitman 50; Ramapo 48; Hope 47; Texas-Dallas 45; Becker 44; Hartwick 42; Randolph-Macon 39; Manchester 38; Rhode Island College 35; Grinnell 34; Concordia (Wis.) 30; Salem State 30; Washington U. 29; Illinois Wesleyan 20; Western Connecticut 19; Chapman 18; North Central (Ill.) 17; Wabash 12; New Jersey City 8; Hanover 6; Christopher Newport 5; Capital 4; Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 4; Eastern Mennonite 4; Hobart 4; Penn State-Behrend 4; St. Olaf 3; Calvin 2; SUNY-Purchase 2; William Paterson 2; Gwynedd-Mercy 1.
