Jaguars No. 3 In Final Poll

Jaguars No. 3 In Final Poll

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Augusta State climbed two spots up to No. 3 in the national rankings Tuesday in the 15th and final NABC Coaches poll of the season, according to a release from the NABC national office in Kansas City, Mo.

The Jaguars backed up their Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship last weekend by claiming the PBC Tournament title with three consecutive victories over Francis Marion, Montevallo and UNC Pembroke. The Jags have now appeared in the top 25 for a school-record 65 consecutive weeks, and have been ranked in the top 20 for 54 consecutive weeks.

The ranking marks the highest final national ranking in school history. With their No. 3 ranking, the Jags have now appeared in every national poll for four entire seasons. The Jags have cracked the top 10 in 43 of the last 49 national polls and have reached the top five 27 times over the last three-plus seasons, including 26 times in the last two-plus seasons.

At 65 weeks, ASU owns the nation's longest active streak. Only Grambling and Salem International (76), Kentucky Wesleyan (71) and Cal-State Bakersfield (66) have appeared for more consecutive weeks in the national rankings than ASU. With the ranking, the Jags matched Stephen F. Austin (65) for the fifth-longest streak in NCAA Division II history.

The Jags are the only PBC institution in the top 25 after Georgia Southwestern dropped out of the national poll two weeks ago.

West Liberty, which has spent the last eight weeks as the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II, will head into the this weekend's NCAA Tournament as the No. 1-ranked team in the final NABC/Division II men's basketball rankings for the 2010-11 campaign. The Hilltoppers, who will host the Atlantic Regional starting Saturday, completed a 29-0 regular season by winning the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship.

Bellarmine won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament title game in overtime and finished second in the final rankings, while Peach Belt champion Augusta State moved up to No. 3 in the final poll. Central Oklahoma, the winner of the Lone Star Conference Tournament, is fourth and Great Northwest Athletic Conference champ Central Washington is fifth in the last ranking of the year.

The weekly poll is conducted by eight members of the NABC Division II Congress, one representing each of the eight NCAA Division II regions.

  Record Pts. Pvs.
1. West Liberty (W.Va.) Hilltoppers (8) 29-0 200 1
2. Bellarmine (Ky) Knights 27-2 192 2
3. AUGUSTA STATE JAGUARS 28-3 184 5
4. Central Oklahoma Bronchos 28-3 171 7
5. Central Washington Wildcats 26-3 165 10
6. Humboldt State (Calif.) Lumberjacks 26-3 155 3
7. Alabama-Huntsville Chargers 26-4 153 4
8. Minnesota State Mavericks 24-4 138 6
9. Missouri Southern Lions 25-4 133 8
10. Lincoln Memorial (Tenn) Railsplitters 27-2 128 12
11. Harding (Ark) Bisons 25-4 119 17
12. Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles 24-5 105 11
13. Fort Hays State (Kan) Tigers 25-6 93 19
14. Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys 24-5 91 13
15. Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros 23-6 85 20
16. Rollins (Fla) Tars 25-6 81 21
17. Tarleton State (Texas) Texans 24-5 65 15
18. Mary (N.D.) Marauders 23-5 61 14
19. Bowie State (Md.) Bulldogs 22-5 51 16
20. Colorado School of Mines Orediggers 22-4 61 23
21. Indiana (Pa.) Crimson Hawks 24-5 42 NR
22. Bentley (Mass) Falcons 22-7 33 22
23. West Texas A&M Buffs 23-6 25 t24
24. Benedict (S.C.) Tigers 21-7 18 t24
25. Wayne State (Mich) Warriors 22-7 15 NR

Others receiving votes: Findlay (Ohio) 14, Ferris State (Mich.) 11, American International (Mass.) 6, Northern Kentucky 6, Drury (Mo.) 3, Fort Lewis (Colo.) 2, Kentucky Wesleyan 2, Metropolitan State (Colo.) 2, Georgia Southwestern 1, Stonehill (Mass.) 1

Dropped out: Findlay (9), Ferris State (23).

*Records are through games of Sunday, March 6

*This is the final poll of the 2010-11 season