Story by Wyatt Ebersole
After a pair of fantastic victories this past week, the Butler Men's Basketball Team has found themselves back in the NJCAA National Rankings for the second time this season. The Grizzlies are ranked in the poll at #24 after an exhilarating, come from behind 70-64 victory over #11 Coffeyville on Wednesday, and a 68-63 win over arch-rival #RV Hutchinson on Saturday. The Grizzlies are in the poll for the first time since the Week 2 NJCAA Poll where they were ranked #12 after a 6-0 start to the season, but back-to-back losses to Colby and Seward County pushed the Grizzlies out.
The Grizzlies are one of five Jayhawk Conference teams to appear in the poll. The others being Dodge City who is ranked 8th, Coffeyville who stayed put at #11, the Grizzlies at #24, Barton at #25, and Cloud County who is receiving votes.
After the losses to Colby and Seward County, the Grizzlies have been on a terror. Winning four straight and winning back-to-back games against teams who were in the Week 4 NJCAA Poll.
The Grizzlies have three games left in the 2022 calendar year, all of which will be big tests. The Grizzlies play #8 Dodge City in the Power Plant on Wednesday, then they play #RV Cloud County on Saturday in Concordia, and then wrap up the trio of games at home on Monday against #25 Barton.
| 2022 NJCAA DI Men's Basketball Rankings | Week 5 - 12-5-22 | |||||||
| Place | Team | Record | Points | First Place Votes | Previous Rank | ||
| 1 | Indian Hills | 13-0 | 375 | 15 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Salt Lake | 8-0 | 336 | 2 | |||
| T3 | Odessa | 13-1 | 312 | 3 | |||
| T3 | Chipola | 13-0 | 312 | 4 | |||
| 5 | Southern Idaho | 12-0 | 300 | 5 | |||
| 6 | Vincennes | 12-0 | 280 | 6 | |||
| 7 | Tallahassee | 10-1 | 263 | 7 | |||
| 8 | Dodge City | 9-1 | 251 | 10 | |||
| 9 | John A. Logan | 6-1 | 222 | 13 | |||
| 10 | Kilgore | 9-2 | 220 | 12 | |||
| 11 | Coffeyville | 10-2 | 175 | 11 | |||
| 12 | Moberly Area | 9-1 | 163 | 9 | |||
| 13 | Snow | 10-1 | 150 | 16 | |||
| 14 | Monroe College | 10-2 | 149 | 8 | |||
| 15 | Connors State | 13-0 | 147 | 15 | |||
| 16 | Northeast Mississippi | 7-2 | 139 | 17 | |||
| 17 | Daytona State | 9-0 | 129 | 19 | |||
| 18 | Midland | 13-1 | 120 | 23 | |||
| 19 | Triton | 7-3 | 109 | 18 | |||
| 20 | South Plains | 10-1 | 56 | RV | |||
| 21 | Pearl River | 7-2 | 52 | 21 | |||
| 22 | Northwest Florida State | 11-3 | 43 | RV | |||
| 23 | Weatherford | 10-2 | 37 | 14 | |||
| 24 | Butler | 10-2 | 28 | RV | |||
| 25 | Barton | 8-3 | 26 | 22 | |||
Receiving Votes: Panola, East Mississippi, Indian River State, Lee, Mineral Area, Southeastern, Northeastern, Cloud County, Cochise, Lincoln Train, Arizona Western
