The Master’s University has been ranked among the top 25 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches.

LSU Alexandria (La.) is the new No. 1 team in the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, announced Tuesday by the national office. The Generals are the remaining undefeated team in NAIA Division I with a 13-0 record. The third regular-season Top 25 will be announced Jan. 17.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000):

• LSU Alexandria (La.) earns its sixth all-time No. 1 ranking, which is tied for ninth most since 2000. The Generals become the third different team in as many polls to be the No. 1-ranked team this season.

• The previous No. 1 rankings all occurred during the 2015-16 season for the Generals.

• As the only undefeated team remaining at 13-0, LSU Alexandria has won by an average margin of nearly 17 points.

• As a team, the Generals rank No. 5 statistically in field goal percentage defense (.378) and No. 6 in blocks per game (4.9).
• LSU Alexandria recorded all 10 first-place votes and 250 total points.

• Holding steady at No. 2 is Georgetown (Ky.). The Tigers raked in 236 total points to remain in the second position (outright or tied) for the fourth-straight week.

• Biola (Calif.) drops down to No. 3 after suffering its first loss on Dec. 10 against William Jessup (Calif.). The Eagles were the No. 1-ranked team in the Dec. 6 edition.

• No. 4 William Penn (Iowa) and No. 5 Oklahoma City both remain in their positions from the last installment.

• Biola, No. 6 Columbia (Mo.) and No. 11 Pikeville (Ky.) lead the NAIA in wins thus far with 14.

• Pikeville leads the active group of being ranked in the Top 25 with 53-straight mentions, which dates back to the start of the 2012-13 season. The second longest streak belongs to Georgetown (48-straight) and is followed by Talladega (Ala.) (41-straight)
• By not being ranked this week, Hope International (Calif.) has its 31-straight week streak stopped, which was fourth longest.
• Six teams enter into the Top 25 as newcomers: No. 9 Dalton State (Ga.), No. 15 Montana State-Northern, No. 19 William Woods (Mo.), No. 20 Cumberlands (Ky.), No. 21 (tie) The Master’s (Calif.) and No. 23 LSU Shreveport (La.).

• The Master’s is snapping the longest drought within the bunch, posting its first ranking since the 2011-12 season. The Mustangs held a No. 25 (tie) spot in the Feb. 6, 2012 edition.

• Dalton State, Montana State-Northern, Williams Woods and Cumberlands were all in the Top 25 at some point last season.
• LSU Shreveport is the only one of the group that was ranked earlier this year in the Preseason Top 25 (No. 24).

• The Golden State Athletic Conference lands the most teams in the Top 25 with four: Biola, No. 7 Westmont (Calif.), No. 14 Arizona Christian and The Master’s.

• Nine of 10 conferences claim at least two ranked programs.

• Through all three polls this year, there have been 39 different teams to be ranked at least once.

• There have been 37 different teams since 2000 to hold the No. 1 position. Former NAIA member Mountain State (W.Va.) leads the all-time charts with 48 all-time No. 1 rankings, followed by NAIA Division II member Robert Morris (Ill.) 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.

• Robert Morris, now a NAIA Division II member in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC), is the only program to start and end a season ranked No. 1, doing so during the 2006 – 07 season.

Poll Methodology:

• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.

• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.

• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.

• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”

• Frequency of polls occur bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) for the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.

2016 – 17 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Jan. 3 (No. 2)