Posted: Feb 18, 2014
Central Methodist is one of three newcomers. The Eagles, who are 9-1 in their last 10 games, are ranked for the first time since March 2, 2010 when they were No. 13. The 81-78 win over then-No. 10 Culver-Stockton (Mo.) on Feb. 13 was the second top 10 victory in seven days for Central Methodist.
Eagles' senior guard Melvin Tillman was named the National Player of the Week on Tuesday after averaging 33.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in two wins last week.
The Green and Black host Evangel (Mo.) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CT with third place in the Heart of America Athletic Conference standings and a potential at-large berth in the NAIA National Championship at stake. Evangel was ranked 17th last week but is one of three programs to fall out of the Top 25. The Crusaders reached as high as No. 5 on Jan. 21, but have gone 3-5 since that day, including an 87-83 overtime loss to the Eagles on Feb. 6.
For the fourth-straight week, Cal State San Marcos stands in the No. 1 position.
All 10 conferences and independents are represented in this week's poll. Six conferences continue to have a trio of programs ranked among the Top 25.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conference and unaffiliated groups.
The ninth regular-season Top 25 Poll will be announced on Feb. 25.
NOTES: (All information dates back to 2000 01 season) By dropping out this week, Evangel (Mo.) snaps a streak of 22-straight weeks appearing in the Top 25, which was the third-longest active stretch... Top-ranked Cal State San Marcos joins a group of 12 other schools with four-or-more No. 1 rankings... The combo of No. 5 Freed-Hardman (Tenn.) and No. 7 Columbia (Mo.) out of the American Midwest Conference have now been ranked in the top 10 in each of the last six polls... This year, there have been six different No. 1-ranked teams: Cal State San Marcos, Freed-Hardeman, SAGU (Texas), Pikeville (Ky.), Georgetown (Ky.) and Columbia... Twenty-nine different teams have held the No. 1 ranking since 2000... Through nine polls (including Preseason), there have been 44 different teams ranked... Preseason No. 1 and defending national champion Georgetown looks to become the first team since Oklahoma City in 2008 to be the Preseason No. 1 and win the national championship in the same season -- the Tigers are currently ranked No. 16... Last year, five programs earned the No. 1 ranking: Georgetown, Columbia, Concordia, Cumberlands (Ky.) and Oklahoma Baptist... Xavier (La.) leads the active group of being ranked with 33-straight mentions, followed by Columbia at 31, Cal State San Marcos at 22 and Pikeville at 22 Former NAIA member Mountain State (W.Va.) leads this group with 48 No. 1 rankings, followed by Robert Morris (Ill.) with 24... Concordia and Georgetown are next with 12 and Columbia is at nine mentions 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... A conference change this year saw the CCAC move to NAIA Division II.
2013 14 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll Feb. 18
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2013-14 RECORD | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Cal State San Marcos (9) | 27-1 | 250 |
| 2 | 2 | Pikeville (Ky.) (1) | 22-2 | 242 |
| 3 | 4 | William Carey (Miss.) | 20-2 | 234 |
| 4 | 5 | SAGU (Texas) | 22-3 | 223 |
| 5 | 3 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 22-2 | 219 |
| 6 | 7 | Talladega (Ala.) | 22-4 | 207 |
| 7 | 6 | Columbia (Mo.) | 24-2 | 203 |
| 8 | 7 | Emmanuel (Ga.) | 22-2 | 193 |
| 9 | 9 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 21-4 | 182 |
| 10 | 11 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 20-6 | 180 |
| 11 | 16 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 18-6 | 170 |
| 12 | 10 | Culver-Stockton (Mo.) | 19-5 | 155 |
| 13 | 18 | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 17-6 | 149 |
| 14 | 12 | Xavier (La.) | 18-7 | 146 |
| 15 | 13 | Concordia (Calif.) | 19-7 | 143 |
| 16 | 19 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 18-7 | 129 |
| 17 | 14 | Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 14-8 | 109 |
| 18 | 20 | Montana State-Northern | 22-6 | 100 |
| 19 | 15 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 16-9 | 99 |
| 20 | 23 | Wiley (Texas) | 18-5 | 92 |
| 21 | RV | Westminster (Utah) | 17-10 | 83 |
| 22 | RV | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 16-10 | 78 |
| 23 | 21 | St. Gregory's (Okla.) | 18-6 | 75 |
| 24 | 25 | Martin Methodist (Tenn.) | 16-7 | 73 |
| 25 | NR | Arizona Christian | 19-6 | 70 |
