Kansas City, Mo. - After tallying an 8-1 record in its first nine games of the 2021-22 campaign, the Central Methodist men's basketball program is receiving votes in the second edition of the NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll.
Other Heart programs featured in the Top 25 include; No. 3 William Penn, (RV) Benedictine, (RV) Park and (RV) Missouri Valley.
The Eagles opened the season with seven-straight wins, with the offense scoring 75 or more points in six of those contests. Overall, CMU has averaged 83.1 points/game so far this season.
Sophomore guard Jonathan Brown has led the Eagles' offense, averaging 17.3 points/game followed closey behind senior transfer Tim Cameron, who has averaged 14.6 points/game.
Central's offense has done a majority of its damage from beyond the arc, shooting 34.9-percent on average for the year from three.
The Eagles are set to hit the road to take on Park University Saturday, Dec. 4 at 4:00 p.m. in Parkville, Mo.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 poll, please see below.
Poll Methodology:
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and 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) beginning in the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.
- For the complete Top 25 calendar, click HERE.
2021-22 NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll One (December 1, 2021)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Saint Francis (Ind.) [17] | 10-0 | 588 |
| 2 | 2 | Loyola (La.) [3] | 10-0 | 573 |
| 3 | 3 | William Penn (Iowa) [1] | 9-0 | 549 |
| 4 | 5 | Carroll (Mont.) | 10-0 | 532 |
| 5 | 7 | Talladega (Ala.) | 10-0 | 515 |
| 6 | 4 | Arizona Christian | 9-1 | 475 |
| 7 | 8 | Indiana Wesleyan | 8-1 | 474 |
| 8 | 9 | SAGU (Texas) | 6-1 | 457 |
| 9 | 14 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 10-0 | 456 |
| 10 | 10 | Jamestown (N.D.) | 9-1 | 430 |
| 11 | 12 | Science & Arts (Okla.) | 6-2 | 367 |
| 12 | 17 | The Master's (Calif.) | 5-1 | 328 |
| 13 | RV | Grace (Ind.) | 9-0 | 312 |
| 14 | 15 | Stillman (Ala.) | 5-1 | 300 |
| 15 | 18 | College of Idaho | 7-2 | 296 |
| 16 | RV | Thomas More (Ky.) | 5-1 | 277 |
| 17 | 16 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 7-1 | 274 |
| 18 | 22 | Morningside (Iowa) | 5-1 | 259 |
| 19 | RV | LSU Alexandria (La.) | 7-1 | 222 |
| 20 | 19 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 7-1 | 201 |
| 21 | 6 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 5-2 | 197 |
| 22 | RV | Xavier (La.) | 6-1 | 167 |
| 23 | RV | William Jessup (Calif.) | 9-1 | 143 |
| 24 | 11 | Marian (Ind.) | 5-2 | 141 |
| 25 | 12 | Bethel (Kan.) | 6-2 | 131 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Cornerstone (Mich.), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.), LSU Shreveport (La.), Benedictine (Kan.)
Others Receiving Votes: Kansas Wesleyan 123, IU South Bend (Ind.) 110, Concordia (Neb.) 81, Park (Mo.) 74, Cornerstone (Mich.) 59, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 58, Menlo (Calif.) 38, Pikeville (Ky.) 31, Faulkner (Ala.) 21, WVU Tech 18, Southeastern (Fla.) 14, Montana Tech 13, Missouri Valley 12, Florida College 11, John Brown (Ark.) 10, Central Methodist (Mo.) 7, Northwestern (Iowa) 6, Tennessee Wesleyan 5, Westmont (Calif.) 3, Valley City State (N.D.) 3.
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