Williamstown, MA - Williams men’s basketball held firm in the D3hoops.com national rankings this week, remaining second following consecutive defeats of Colby and of Bowdoin this weekend. The Ephs, who picked up their first no. 1 vote of the season in the most recent poll, are 21-1 on the season and sit atop the NESCAC standings with a 7-0 record and have won 12 straight games.
NESCAC rival Middlebury moved up from eighth to seventh in the poll and is the only other member of the conference to receive votes. Colby, who was formerly ranked 25th and fell to the Ephs 82-58 on Friday and the Panthers 72-57 on Saturday, fell out of the top 25. The Mules, who received six votes, are the only other NESCAC team to receive votes.
Williams continues to lead the conference and the nation in scoring margin and field goal percentage, with +21.4 ppg and 52.3%, respectively. In addition, the team stands atop the NESCAC and fifth in the country in points per game with 87.4.
Eph co-captain Blake Schultz leads the team and the conference with 19 ppg. Schultz, Troy Whittington, and James Wang stand in eighth, first, and sixth respectively in the conference in field goal percentage. Wang and Whittington stand second and third on the Ephs in scoring with 16 ppg and 11.5 ppg, respectively. Wang leads the team in assists per game with 4.6, putting the sophomore guard in second in the NESCAC, while co-captain Joe Geoghegan leads the Ephs in boards with 8.2 per game, good for third in the conference.
NESCAC statistics are available here, while NCAA statistics can be found by following this link.
The Ephs will travel to Amherst on Friday to face off against the Jeffs at 8 p.m. The team will then travel to Trinity College to play the Bantams at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Ephs will clinch the no. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament with a win in either game.
The entire top 25 poll, through games played Feb. 7, 2010:
| # | Team | W-L | Pts. | Last Week |
| 1 | Guilford (23) | 19-1 | 623 | 1 |
| 2 | Williams (1) | 21-1 | 586 | 2 |
| 3 | Washington U. (1) | 18-2 | 576 | 3 |
| 4 | St. Thomas | 19-2 | 542 | 5 |
| 5 | Virginia Wesleyan | 18-2 | 492 | 7 |
| 6 | UW-Stevens Point | 18-3 | 469 | 4 |
| 7 | Middlebury | 19-2 | 432 | 8 |
| 8 | Whitworth | 19-2 | 420 | 10 |
| 9 | UW-Whitewater | 17-4 | 411 | 6 |
| 10 | William Paterson | 21-1 | 382 | 13 |
| 11 | MIT | 19-2 | 370 | 12 |
| 12 | Chapman | 20-2 | 368 | 11 |
| 13 | Anderson | 18-2 | 315 | 14 |
| 14 | St. Norbert | 18-2 | 286 | 9 |
| 15 | Franklin and Marshall | 17-3 | 269 | 15 |
| 16 | Eastern Mennonite | 16-3 | 262 | 16 |
| 17 | Randolph-Macon | 16-4 | 218 | 18 |
| 18 | St. Mary's (Md.) | 17-3 | 212 | 20 |
| 19 | Wooster | 17-4 | 199 | 21 |
| 20 | Texas-Dallas | 17-4 | 155 | 17 |
| 21 | Brandeis | 15-4 | 98 | 19 |
| 22 | Carthage | 16-5 | 95 | 23 |
| 23 | Illinois Wesleyan | 17-4 | 76 | — |
| 24 | Cabrini | 18-2 | 58 | — |
| 25 | St. John Fisher | 18-4 | 49 | — |
Dropped out: No. 22 Medaille, No. 24 Mississippi College, No. 25 Colby.
Others receiving votes: Medaille 43,
Mississippi College 37, John Carroll 17, Stevens 12, Central 11,
Merchant Marine 8, Colby 6, Defiance 6, Augustana 4,
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 4, Hope 4, Bridgewater State 3, Gordon 2,
Western Connecticut 2, Catholic 1, SUNY-Old Westbury 1, UW-Stout
1.
Poll courtesy of D3Hoops.com
