KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Carroll College men’s basketball program continued its season of program-bests on Monday. The Fighting Saints were selected No. 2 in the latest NAIA Top 25 coaches poll, the highest ranking in program history.
Carroll, 14-0, is off to its best-ever start, and enters 2018 as one of only four unbeaten teams remaining in NAIA Division I men’s basketball. The Fighting Saints join top-ranked Georgetown (15-0), No. 6 Pikeville (15-0) and No. 8 Lindsey Wilson (14-0) with unblemished records. All three programs hail from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Georgetown received 14 of the 15 first-place votes in the poll, with Carson Cunningham and Carroll College receiving the other. The Saints have competed in the NAIA national tournament each of the past two seasons, appearing in the quarterfinals each season. Carroll fell to Life University 73-71 in the NAIA’s version of the Elite Eight last season, and dropped an 83-67 contest to Campbellsville University in the same round the season before.
Carroll has been led by returning all-American Ryan Imhoff, who was named Frontier Conference player of the week for the fourth time this season on Monday. Imhoff enters 2018 averaging 21 points, six rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Matt Wyman and Match Burnham have each chipped in with 16 points per contest for the undefeated Saints.
Carroll looks to add to its 2-0 Frontier Conference record this week when it hosts No. 16 Montana Western. The Bulldogs (12-2) climbed one spot in this week’s poll. Carroll rounds out the weekend on Saturday against No. 10 Lewis-Clark State.
Montana Western travels to Rocky Mountain College on Saturday. Dom Robinson (18.2 points per game) leads four Bulldogs – including Brandon Jones, Kooper Kidgell and Zaccheus Darko-Kelly – in averaging double-digit points this season.
MSU-Northern received votes in the coaches poll, which can be found below.
