KANSAS CITY – Coach Jim Crutchfield’s undefeated West Liberty men’s basketball team was a unanimous pick as the nation’s No. 1 NCAA Division II squad for the seventh consecutive week on Tuesday when the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) ranking committee released its weekly Top 25 poll.
The Hilltoppers’ 7-week run at the top of the national poll ties the all-time West Virginia Conference record for consecutive weeks at No. 1 set by former WVIAC member Salem Teikyo (now Salem International) during the 1999-00 season.
It also marks West Liberty’s 21st straight week in the Top 25. That’s the longest streak by a current West Virginia Conference member and ranks second in WVIAC annals only to Salem’s NCAA Division II record 76-week stay in the Top 25 from Jan. 21, 1997 to March 11, 2003.
Pitt-Johnstown had a 24-week streak from Nov. 24, 1997 to Dec. 6, 1999 while UPJ was competing as an NCAA Division II independent. The Mountain Cats didn’t become a WVIAC member until the 2007-08 academic year.
Now the nation’s only unbeaten men’s basketball team at any level, the Hilltoppers (25-0) avoided the upset bug which feasted on most of the ranked NCAA Division II teams last week with three more blowout wins.
After opening the week with an 86-66 shellacking of Alderson-Broaddus – A-B’s worst home loss in a decade – West Liberty coasted to a 94-78 win against West Virginia State before hanging a 124-85 loss on Glenville State.
The rest of the Top 25 received a thorough reshuffle as there were 16 losses by Top 25 teams last week.
Bellarmine (Ky.) stayed at No. 2 despite a loss because every one of last week’s Top 10 teams lost at least once last week with the exception of West Liberty and No. 10 Humboldt State, Calif.
As a result, Humboldt State jumped all the way from No. 10 to No. 3. Alabama-Huntsville held onto the No. 4 spot but Augusta State (Ga.) vaulted from No. 11 to No. 5 and Minnesota State made the week’s biggest move, rising from No. 14 to No. 6.
Central Oklahoma, Missouri Southern, Arkansas Tech and Findlay (Ohio) round out this week’s Top 10.
Also the No. 1-ranked team in the Atlantic Region, West Liberty is once again the only West Virginia Conference team receiving votes in this week’s Top 25. No. 22 Bowie State (Md.) and No. 25 Mercyhurst (Pa.) are the only other Atlantic Region teams to crack the national poll while Indiana (Pa.) – last year’s Atlantic Region champion and national runner-up – has been added to the list of teams also receiving votes.
The Hilltoppers will try to close out the third undefeated season in West Liberty men’s basketball history on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Elkins for a 4 p.m. game at Davis & Elkins.
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