From IUP Sports Information
Basketball Times has ranked the IUP men’s basketball team No. 5 in the nation in its Division II preseason poll released Thursday.
IUP is one of four teams from the Atlantic Region, and the only squad from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), in the Basketball Times’ top-20. The Hawks are joined by West Liberty at No. 4, Charleston at No. 18 and Fairmont State at No. 20. Northwest Missouri State is the No. 1 team in the preseason poll followed by West Texas A&M at No. 2.
The Crimson Hawks are coming off one of the finest years in program history before the COVID-19 pandemic ended their 2020 NCAA tournament run before it started. IUP finished with a 28-2 overall record, winning its fifth straight PSAC West Division regular season and second straight conference tournament title. The Hawks earned the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Region and were set to host the regional championships before the cancellation of the season.
The Hawks reached as high as No. 3 in the national rankings before finishing the year ranked No. 6 in the NABC poll.
The PSAC suspended all sports during the 2020 fall semester, so the Crimson Hawks cannot start their abbreviated year until January 2021. No schedule or start date has been determined by the conference.
Basketball Times Preseason Top 20
1. NW Missouri State (31-1 last year)
2. West Texas A&M (32-1)
3. Lincoln Memorial, Tenn. (32-1)
4. West Liberty, W.Va. (27-4)
5. Indiana, Pa. (28-2)
6. Florida Southern (29-2)
7. Missouri-St. Louis (27-6)
8. Nova Southeastern, Fla. (23-6)
9. Azusa Pacific, Calif. (25-4)
10. Northern State, S.D. (26-6)
11. Colorado School of Mines (22-10)
12. Queens, N.C. (24-7)
13. Augustana, S.D. (19-11)
14. St. Thomas Aquinas, N.Y. (25-5)
15. Point Loma, Calif. (24-6)
16. Alabama-Huntsville (26-5)
17. Ferris State, Mich. (27-6)
18. Charleston, W.Va. (25-6)
19. Sioux Falls, S.D. (22-8)
20. Fairmont State, W.Va. (23-7)
Comments