Thursday, December 13, 2012

Gold Rush in NAIA top 25 for the 14th consecutive time

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana fell three places to 16th Tuesday in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. But despite the drop, the Gold Rush are in the top 25 for the 14th consecutive time — the program's longest streak since the start of the 1999-2000 season.

Xavier is in the top 25 for the 27th time in 28 polls.
    

This is the third poll of 2012-13 and the second of the regular season. The next poll will be announced Jan. 8.
    

The Gold Rush lost 77-67 at home to city rival Loyola in the only XU game of the past week. Xavier will play Martin Methodist at 5 p.m. Friday and Voorhees at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Spring Hill Classic at Mobile, Ala.
    

This is the third time in as many polls this season that the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference has a pair of top-25 teams. Joining GCAC member Xavier in the rankings is city rival SUNO, which fell four places to 25th.
    

Oklahoma Baptist received 8-of-11 first-place votes and is No. 1 for the second consecutive week.

   
NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, Dec. 9)
Rank
Team
Record
Points
Last
1
Oklahoma Baptist (8)
10-1
279
1
2
Cumberlands (3)
12-0
274
2
3
Lee (Tenn.)
11-0
263
3
4
Pikeville
11-1
250
tie-4
5
Westmont
7-1
242
NR
6
Columbia (Mo.)
9-0
235
6
7
Westminster (Utah)
9-1
228
7
8
Lindsey Wilson
12-1
219
8
9
Rogers State
10-2
215
tie-4
10
William Carey
9-1
183
15
11
Lewis-Clark State
12-0
181
10
12
Texas Wesleyan
8-1
180
11
13
MidAmerica Nazarene
10-2
174
12
14
Science & Arts
7-1
162
14
15
Cal State San Marcos
8-4
160
9
16
Xavier
9-2
140
13
17
Bethel (Tenn.)
12-1
132
24
18
Evangel
9-3
130
16
19
Concordia (Calif.)
6-3
119
NR
20
Campbellsville
8-3
92
tie-18
21
Faulkner
10-2
90
17
22-tie
Oklahoma City
6-1
89
22
22-tie
Montana State Northern
11-2
89
23
24
Texas College
9-1
83
RV
25
SUNO
4-1
79
21

Others receiving votes: John Brown 68, Biola 37, Southwestern Assemblies of God 29, Georgetown (Ky.) 25, Loyola 11, Montana Western 10, Mid-Continent 5, Culver-Stockton 5, Wiley 4.


By Ed Cassiere, SID
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

XU achieves highest pre-Christmas rank of Browder era

NEW ORLEANS — For the second consecutive week, Xavier University of Louisiana climbed one spot in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The Gold Nuggets are ninth, their highest pre-Christmas ranking in Bo Browder's 14 seasons as head coach.
    
This is the third poll of 2012-13 and the second of the regular season. The next poll will be announced Jan. 8.
    
The Gold Nuggets (7-1) defeated city rival Loyola 54-44 at the Convocation Center on Wednesday in their only game between polls. Xavier's next game will start at 6 p.m. Friday at William Carey, where the Nuggets lost each of the last two seasons.
    
Xavier is in the top 25 for the 34th consecutive time dating to January 2010. That matches the longest streak of the Browder era. The back-to-back top-10 appearances are the first since the Nuggets did it in five consecutive polls from Jan. 11-Feb. 8, 2005.
    
William Carey will be Xavier's final opponent before Christmas. Then the Nuggets will play Dec. 28 against Belhaven and Dec. 29 against 24th-ranked Faulkner in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Montgomery, Ala. The Nuggets' next home opponent will be No. 12 Bethel (Tenn.), starting at 2 p.m. on Jan. 2 in the new Convocation Center.
NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, Dec. 9)
Rank
Team
Record
Points
Last
1
Lubbock Christian (10)
12-0
281
1
2
Freed-Hardeman (1)
11-0
272
2
3
Vanguard
5-0
263
3
4
Westmont
7-1
254
5
5
Westminster (Utah)
8-2
245
4
6
Lee (Tenn.)
8-1
233
6
7
Cumberland
9-0
227
7
8
Oklahoma City
5-2
221
8
9
Xavier
7-1
209
10
10
Campbellsville
8-2
195
11
11
MidAmerica Nazarene
10-1
188
9
12
Bethel (Tenn.)
10-1
187
13
13
The Master's
7-0
175
14
14
Rogers State
9-2
161
15
15
Shawnee State
8-3
156
12
16
Cumberlands
8-2
148
16
17
LSU-Shreveport
8-1
138
17
18
William Woods
7-1
121
19
19
Our Lady of the Lake
9-0
114
tie-20
20
Auburn Montgomery
10-1
101
tie-20
21
Georgetown (Ky.)
4-3
93
18
22
Benedictine (Kan.)
11-1
90
RV
23
Lyon
7-1
88
23
24
Faulkner
9-2
72
25
25
Central Methodist (Mo.)
11-1
67
RV

Others receiving votes: Carroll (Mont.) 52, Southern Poly 39, Oklahoma Baptist 35, Biola 33, Wiley 23, Robert Morris (Chicago) 7, Columbia (Mo.) 3, San Diego Christian 3.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

SU coaching search is down to Spady and Odums

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Southern University’s search for a new football coach is down to two.
And the two remaining finalists have already interviewed for the job.

Brian Jenkins, the Bethune-Cookman coach who had perhaps the strongest résumé of the three finalists, is no longer in the running. SU Athletic Director William Broussard confirmed Wednesday night that Jenkins will not come to campus Thursday for is face-to-face interview as originally scheduled.

That leaves two finalists: James Spady, the offensive tackles and tight ends coach at Nevada and a former offensive coordinator at Grambling; and Dawson Odums, the interim head coach at SU, the man who led the Jaguars to a 4-5 record in their final nine games this season.

Broussard said he still intends to present his final choice to the SU System Board of Supervisors at their meeting Friday.

“Thursday, in lieu of the interview, we now give ourselves a few hours’ head start, instead of going into what would be very late night. ... We’re going to take more time Thursday to evaluate,” Broussard said.

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