OBU Squads in NAIA Top Seven

January 4, 2005

OBU's basketball teams are one of the highest-ranked duos in the NAIA as of the rankings released Jan. 4.

The OBU women moved up from ninth to sixth while the Bison held onto seventh in the men's poll. That combined ranking of 13 is second only by Union University, whose women are ranked No. 1, while the Bulldog men are ranked 11th. OBU is the only school with two teams in the the top seven of both polls.

The Lady Bison moved up three slots with its one win over Hillsdale Free Will Baptist. They shot past The Master's College, which went 2-1; Georgetown, who lost its one game since the last poll; and Freed-Hardeman, losers of two games since the mid-December rankings.

The No. 6 ranking for the OBU women is the program's best since Jan. 15, 2002, when they also were ranked sixth.

The OBU men picked up nine points in the poll, going 1-0 since the holiday break, but held the No. 7 spot for the second week in a row. The Bison are one of 10 one-loss teams in the poll. There are no unbeaten men's teams in NAIA Division I.

The Bison have been ranked in the NAIA Top 10 all season long, a station they have held since Feb. 10, 2004 - a streak of eight NAIA polls.