Men’s basketball receives votes in final poll

By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION

Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball received votes in both of the final national polls produced by the NABC and D2SIDA for the 2021-22 season. D2SIDA released its final poll following the NCAA Tournament, but the NABC does not do a post-NCAA Tournament poll. The Tigers finished the 2021-22 season at 23-6 overall and placed third in the MIAA regular season standings.

The Tigers produced their best mark for a season in which they didn’t receive a selection to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers were in position for a bid until a pair of teams outside the top eight of the Central Region rankings got hot for a few games and won their conference tournaments (NSIC and GAC), automatically nabbing two of the eight spots in the regional field. One of those teams, GAC Tournament champion Southwestern Oklahoma State, was a sub-.500 team at 14-17 overall that finished seventh in the GAC regular season standings and was a team the Tigers defeated by 16 early in the season. The Central Region was stacked this year and at one point in February had six teams in the Top 25 of the NABC poll (which included FHSU). However, with regionalization in NCAA Division II and automatic bids still given to conference tournament champions, the Tigers (23-6) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (24-6) were casualties of bad luck from results of two of the three conference tournaments.

The 23-6 record tops a 21-7 record from 2001-02 (Mark Johnson‘s first year as head coach of the Tigers) as the best mark by the Tigers for a season they were not in the NCAA Tournament. A 20-8 record by the Tigers in 2012-13 was their previous best mark as members of the MIAA for a year they did not play in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers finished third in the MIAA standings only one game back of co-champions Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri State. Northwest Missouri State went on to win its third-consecutive NCAA national title. Northwest Missouri (three) and Central Oklahoma (two) accounted for five of Fort Hays State’s six losses on the season. The only other loss was a road loss at Rogers State.

Jared Vitztum closed out his storied Fort Hays State career with 1,580 points and 944 rebounds. He finished fourth on the all-time scoring list and second on the all-time rebounds list at FHSU. He is a three-time All-MIAA selection, a two-time NABC All-District selection, and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America selection. Nyjee Wright closed out his four years of competition on the floor for FHSU with 792 points, 202 rebounds, and 166 assists. He was an All-MIAA selection in 2021-22 as well.

D2SIDA Top 25 Poll – Final (March 28, 2022)

Rank	School	Pts	Record	Prev
1	Northwest Missouri State (15)	375	34-5	7
2	Augusta	359	33-4	10
3	Indiana (Pa.)	343	33-3	2
4	Nova Southeastern	322	31-1	1
5	Black Hills State	290	26-8	RV
6	Chico State	274	22-5	16
7	Bentley	273	25-5	11
8	Queens (N.C.)	269	30-4	4
9	Hillsdale	244	23-8	NR
10	Augustana	237	26-4	8
11	Lubbock Christian	205	27-4	5
12	West Liberty	173	29-3	3
13	CSU San Bernardino	169	24-4	9
14	Lincoln Memorial	156	26-5	12
15	UNC Pembroke	140	27-4	13
16	Embry-Riddle	134	24-10	T22
17	West Texas A&M	122	29-7	15
18	CSU San Marcos	117	20-5	6
19	Upper Iowa	104	26-6	17
20	St. Thomas Aquinas	80	28-5	20
21	Minnesota Duluth	69	25-6	14
22	Mercyhurst	59	25-7	T22
23	California (Pa.)	55	23-10	RV
24	Missouri-St. Louis	54	26-7	RV
25	Colorado Mesa	51	26-10	NR

Receiving Votes: Walsh – 48; Ferris State – 48; Central Oklahoma – 14; Union (Tenn.) – 14; Alaska Fairbanks – 13; Alabama Huntsville – 10; Barry – 9; Washburn – 9; Point Loma – 9; Flagler – 8; Fort Hays State – 5; Miles – 4; Fairmont State – 3; Truman State – 3; West Virginia State – 2; West Alabama – 2.

NABC Top 25 Poll – Final (March 8, 2022) – Final poll is done before NCAA Tournament

Rank	School	Record	Pts	Prev
1	Nova Southeastern (16)	28-0	400	1
2	West Liberty	29-2	381	2
3	Indiana	29-2	370	3
4	Queens (NC)	28-3	331	9
5	Augusta	28-3	328	10
6	Augustana	24-3	296	5
7	Lubbock Christian	24-3	288	4
8	Cal State San Bernardino	23-3	272	6
9	Cal State San Marcos	20-4	260	14
10	Northwest Missouri State	28-5	249	15
11	UNC Pembroke	26-3	224	8
12	Lincoln Memorial	25-4	214	7
13	Minnesota Duluth	25-5	203	12
14	Bentley	22-4	194	16
15	Chico State	19-4	186	11
16	West Texas A&M	28-6	172	18
17	Upper Iowa	25-5	147	13
18	Central Oklahoma	24-6	128	17
19	St. Thomas Aquinas	26-4	110	20
20	Walsh	22-6	86	NR
21	Miles	24-4	69	20
22	Black Hills State	22-7	52	NR
23	Mercyhurst	24-6	50	22
24	Fairmont State	23-7	46	23
25	Barry	20-8	29	NR

Receiving Votes: Fort Hays State 23, West Alabama 16, Flagler 14, Ferris State 12, Point Loma 5, Washburn 5, Embry-Riddle 3, Hillsdale 3, Missouri-St. Louis 2, MSU Moorhead 2, California 1, Franklin Pierce 1.