BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Like their fellow Lady Lions, the Freed-Hardeman Lions are #2 in the NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25, the national office announced Wednesday.

The Lions have had three Mid-South Conference games since the last poll, going 3-0 in that span. They won each contest by an average of 24 points, coincidentally that is their season-long scoring margin (+24).

After reaching #3 a couple of rankings ago, the #6 Cumberlands (Ky.) Patriots have climbed back up two spots from #8. Like Freed-Hardeman, the Patriots have gone undefeated in conference play since the last national rating, besting Cumberland (Tenn.) by 18 points and then defeating #18 Georgetown (Ky.) by five points. The #18 Georgetown Tigers went 1-1 in the time frame between polls, winning over the Phoenix before that loss to the Patriots.

Grace (Ind.) kept their place at #1 with 17 first-place votes and 509 voting points. Oklahoma Wesleyan was third with 478 points, Ave Maria (Fla.) landed fourth with 430 points, and fifth was Indiana Wesleyan with 410.

The sixth regular-season poll is set to be released Wednesday, February 11.

Poll Methodology

• The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
• A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
• The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system: 
  • 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
• The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
• Teams receiving only one point are not listed as “receiving votes.”
• For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.