Pioneers improve one spot to No. 19

Wayland Baptist jumped one spot to No. 19 in the first NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll of the regular season.
 
The Pioneers were ranked 20^th in the preseason poll and, after a 7-2 start to the season, managed to improve one spot. One of the two teams to defeat Wayland, Central Baptist (Ark.), went from not receiving any Top 25 votes to being ranked No. 18. The Mustangs, who finished last season No. 24, are 8-0. (Wayland's other loss came to NCAA Division II Colorado State-Pueblo.)
 
Wayland was the only Sooner Athletic Conference team appearing in the preseason Top 25 to move forward. Oklahoma City (6-2) went from fifth to 14^th while Texas Wesleyan (6-4) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (6-1) both fell out of the poll after being ranked 11^th and 18^th, respectively.
 
The biggest jump in the poll belonged to Langston, Okla., (9-0), which went from the equivalent of 38^th in the preseason to No. 6. Langston knocked off OCU on the road in its conference opener, 93-84.
 
John Brown, Ark., went from not receiving votes to No. 23, while USAO (7-2) moved from the equivalent of 28^th to the equivalent of 34^th.  Wayland defeated USAO in one of its two conference-opening wins, 95-88.
 
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 next poll will be released Jan. 2. After that, new polls will be released every two weeks throughout the rest of the season. 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.
 
The Pioneers next play Dec. 13 at Central Christian, Ark., followed two days later by No. 6 Langston.
 
NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll (Dec. 4)

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [1st Place Votes]	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	t-2	LSU Alexandria (La.) [8]	8-1	219
2	1	The Master's (Calif.)	8-1	208
3	22	Carroll (Mont.)	11-0	203
4	t-2	William Penn (Iowa)	11-1	202
5	RV	Campbellsville (Ky.) [1]	11-0	189
6	RV	Langston (Okla.)	9-0	186
7	RV	Faulkner (Ala.)	8-0	181
8	RV	Missouri Baptist	10-0	171
9	4	Georgetown (Ky.)	11-1	158
10	17	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	8-1	145
11	RV	Stillman (Ala.)	8-0	140
12	NR	Arizona Christian	7-1	136
13	RV	Wiley (Texas)	7-1	134
14	5	Oklahoma City	6-2	131
15	NR	Benedictine (Kan.)	9-2	121
16	8	Pikeville (Ky.)	11-2	110
17	RV	Peru State (Neb.)	7-1	106
18	NR	Central Baptist (Ark.)	8-0	104
19	20	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	7-2	79
20	t-23	Westmont (Calif.)	6-2	76
21	16	Cumberlands (Ky.)	9-2	66
22	7	LSU Shreveport (La.)	7-4	63
23	t-11	Dillard (La.)	7-4	57
23	NR	John Brown (Ark.)	7-2	57
25	RV	Graceland (Iowa)	7-3	54

Dropped from the Top 25: Columbia (Mo.), Hope International (Calif.), William Carey (Miss.), Central Methodist (Mo.), Texas Wesleyan, Rocky Mountain (Mont.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Dalton State (Ga.), Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas), Menlo (Calif.), Xavier (La.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).
Others Receiving Votes: Providence (Mont.) 50, William Carey (Miss.) 44, Hope International (Calif.) 44, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 18, Tougaloo (Miss.) 17, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 7, Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) 6, Loyola (La.) 3, Science & Arts (Okla.) 3.