KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Carroll College women and University of Providence men maintained their top-10 rankings in the final NAIA basketball coaches' top 25 polls of the 2020-21 season.
The Carroll women, who won the Frontier Conference regular-season title, are again ranked sixth, as the entire top eight of the women's rankings remained intact. Thomas More (Ky.) received 14 first-place votes to take the top spot, followed by Wayland Baptist (Texas), Campbellsville (Ky.), Westmont (Calif.) and Marian (Ind.) to round out the top five.
Carroll is the only team from the Frontier Conference in the top 25 of the women's poll, though Providence and Montana Western both received votes.
The Providence men, who also won the Frontier's regular-season title, are stilled ranked 10th, as the majority of the top 10 stayed in place from last week's rankings. Only Talladega (Ala.) jumped into the top 10, climbing to ninth after Morningside (Iowa) slipped from eighth to 12th. Indiana Wesleyan took 20 first-place votes to claim the No. 1 ranking. William Penn (Iowa), LSU Shreveport (La.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Arizona Christian complete the top five.
No other Frontier Conference teams are ranked in the men's poll, but Carroll just missed the cut. The Fighting Saints received 75 points, finishing just shy of No. 25 Cumberlands (Ky.) with 80.
The Frontier Conference playoffs begin Thursday with first-round games. All four teams from Carroll and Providence have first-round byes and will host semifinal games on Saturday.
The opening rounds of the NAIA national tournaments are scheduled for March 12-13.
2020-21 NAIA Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Final Poll (February 24, 2021)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Indiana Wesleyan [20] | 28-1 | 591 |
| 2 | 3 | William Penn (Iowa) [1] | 21-1 | 570 |
| 3 | 2 | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 13-1 | 537 |
| 4 | 4 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 16-1 | 530 |
| 5 | 5 | Arizona Christian | 22-2 | 517 |
| 6 | 6 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 23-2 | 511 |
| 7 | 7 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 22-2 | 480 |
| 8 | 9 | SAGU (Texas) | 9-1 | 452 |
| 9 | 11 | Talladega (Ala.) | 23-2 | 416 |
| 10 | 10 | Providence (Mont.) | 15-2 | 404 |
| 11 | 12 | Science & Arts (Okla.) | 14-2 | 401 |
| 12 | 8 | Morningside (Iowa) | 20-4 | 391 |
| 13 | 13 | Marian (Ind.) | 19-4 | 376 |
| 14 | 15 | Stillman (Ala.) | 14-2 | 343 |
| 15 | 14 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 15-6 | 298 |
| 16 | 16 | Loyola (La.) | 12-4 | 267 |
| 17 | 20 | Texas A&M Texarkana | 10-1 | 264 |
| 18 | 18 | Bethel (Kan.) | 16-6 | 225 |
| 19 | 19 | LSU Alexandria (La.) | 16-3 | 221 |
| 20 | 22 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 17-5 | 195 |
| 21 | 17 | Bethel (Ind.) | 20-9 | 174 |
| 22 | 25 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 17-5 | 164 |
| 23 | RV | Northwestern (Iowa) | 20-5 | 156 |
| 24 | RV | Saint Francis (Ind.) | 22-7 | 125 |
| 25 | RV | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 17-8 | 80 |
Dropped from the top 25: Jamestown (N.D.), Warner (Fla.), William Jessup (Calif.)
Others receiving votes: Carroll (Mont.) 75, William Jessup (Calif.) 73, Warner (Fla.) 66, Dillard (La.) 60, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 60, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 56, Jamestown (N.D.) 54, Rochester (Mich.) 36, Lyon (Ark.) 35, Texas Wesleyan 30, Holy Cross (Ind.) 16, Point (Ga.) 16, Thomas More (Ky.) 14, Xavier (La.) 10, Park (Mo.) 8, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 7, Central Baptist (Ark.) 6, Vanguard (Calif.) 4, The Master's (Calif.) 3, Ave Maria (Fla.) 3.
2020-21 NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Final Poll (February 24, 2021)
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORDS | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Thomas More (Ky.) [14] | 22-1 | 581 |
| 2 | 2 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) [4] | 10-0 | 567 |
| 3 | 3 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 16-1 | 546 |
| 4 | 4 | Westmont (Calif.) [3] | 8-1 | 542 |
| 5 | 4 | Marian (Ind.) | 24-4 | 518 |
| 6 | 6 | Carroll (Mont.) | 19-2 | 493 |
| 7 | 7 | Morningside (Iowa) | 23-2 | 479 |
| 8 | 8 | Clarke (Iowa) | 18-2 | 444 |
| 9 | 10 | Sterling (Kan.) | 24-0 | 430 |
| 10 | 11 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 22-2 | 427 |
| 11 | 13 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 18-4 | 401 |
| 12 | 15 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | 16-3 | 381 |
| 13 | 9 | Indiana Tech | 22-2 | 352 |
| 14 | 17 | Dakota State (S.D.) | 22-3 | 332 |
| 15 | 12 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 5-4 | 320 |
| 16 | 20 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 21-4 | 300 |
| 17 | 22 | Concordia (Neb.) | 18-7 | 238 |
| 18 | 21 | Lyon (Ark.) | 10-1 | 236 |
| 19 | 19 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 14-2 | 232 |
| 20 | 16 | Indiana Wesleyan | 19-6 | 219 |
| 21 | 23 | Loyola (La.) | 17-1 | 204 |
| 22 | 24 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 12-5 | 181 |
| 23 | 14 | Oklahoma City | 4-0 | 175 |
| 24 | NR | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 14-4 | 142 |
| 25 | NR | Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 9-1 | 136 |
Dropped from the poll: Shawnee State (Ohio), College of the Ozarks (Mo.)
Receiving votes: Shawnee State (Ohio) 97, Rust (Miss.) 86, College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 83, Providence (Mont.) 66, Grand View (Iowa) 40, Bryan (Tenn.) 24, Northwestern (Iowa) 22, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 16, Montana Western 14, Columbia (Mo.) 14, Central Methodist (Mo.) 13, Talladega (Ala.) 10, LSU Shreveport (La.) 9, Science & Arts of Oklahoma 6, Benedicitine (Kan.) 3.
