KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rocky Mountain College shot up the latest NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll, which was released Wednesday.
The Battlin' Bears are tied for 11th with Bethel (Ind.), up 12 spots from their prior No. 23 ranking. Rocky (21-3) is the only Frontier Conference team in the men's top 25 after Montana Tech fell out of the rankings. Tech and MSU-Northern are in the receiving votes category.
The Rocky women are also ranked. They sit 23rd in the NAIA Women’s Basketball Top 25, which was released Tuesday, behind fellow Frontier teams Dakota State (S.D.) in sixth and Montana Tech in 17th and just ahead of No. 25 Carroll. MSU-Northern also received votes.
The No. 11 ranking is the highest for the Rocky men since the 2013-14 season. They've won 11 consecutive games under first-year head coach Danny Neville and haven't lost in 2026. Their last loss was an 84-81 overtime setback to then-No. 13 Hope International (Calif.) on Dec. 20. Hope International is now tied for sixth in the rankings.
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) received all 18 first-place votes to take the top spot in the men's rankings. Grace (Ind.) is second, followed by Indiana Wesleyan, Ave Maria (Fla.) and Oklahoma Wesleyan. View the men's top 25.
The Battlin' Bears have just four games remaining in the regular season and play their final home games this week against MSU-Northern on Friday and Providence on Saturday. Rocky (16-2 in Frontier play) has a two-game lead on Bellevue (Neb.) and Carroll in the conference standings.
On the women's side, sixth-ranked Dakota State (21-3 overall, 16-2 Frontier) leads the league standings, followed by No. 17 Montana Tech (18-4, 14-4) and No. 25 Carroll (16-8, 14-4) tied for second. No. 23 Rocky (16-8, 13-5) is fourth.
Dordt (Iowa) is the No. 1-ranked team in the women's poll, with Freed-Hardeman, Bethel, Marian (Ind.) and Campbellsville (Ky.) rounding out the top five. View the women's top 25.
The Frontier Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments are Feb. 27 through March 2 in Butte. The top eight teams in the regular-season standings will advance to the tournaments.
For the men, Rocky, Bellevue, Carroll, Montana Tech, Dakota State, Montana Western and MSU-Northern have secured spots at the championships. Providence, Dickinson State (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.) are currently tied for eighth in the league standings with matching 5-13 conference records.
For the women, Dakota State, Montana Tech, Carroll, Rocky, MSU-Northern and Providence will be in the conference tournament. Montana Western and Bismarck State (N.D.) have the inside tracks at the seventh and eighth spots with 8-10 and 6-12 conference records, respectively.
