Mines Athletics
Tim Flynn
KANSAS CITY – For a fifth straight week, Colorado School of Mines is NCAA Division II’s top-ranked men’s basketball program at No. 1 in the NABC Top 25 poll.
The Orediggers (10-0) picked up a first-place vote from last week’s poll with 13 of the 16 nods and 396 total votes ahead of No. 2 Northern State (383, 2 first) and No. 3 Northwest Missouri State (371, 1 first). The top five remained unchanged with No. 4 Lincoln Memorial and No. 5 West Texas A&M rounding it out. RMAC rival Colorado Mesa moved up one spot to No. 8.
Mines has ridden a suffocating defense to success this season, ranking second nationally in scoring defense (59.9 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (.374), while also producing one of the most efficient offenses in the country ranking fourth in field-goal percentage (.526) and seventh in scoring margin (+17.0). Individually, Brendan Sullivan is leading the way with 18.8 points, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, with Kobi Betts and Ben Boone each chipping in just over 11 points per game. The Oredigger frontcourt pairing of Michael Glen and Austin Means has been dominant with a combined 17.2 points and 12 rebounds per game.
After missing games over the weekend due to contract tracing concerns, Mines is expected to be back on the floor this weekend with a trip to Fort Lewis on Friday and Western Colorado on Saturday.