Belton, TX— The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team finished the 2007-08 season with the highest national ranking since the program moved to NCAA Division III. The Cru is ranked 17th nationally in the final D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll of the year. UMHB finished with 221 total points and fell five spots from its final regular season ranking of 12th. National champion Washington University is the consensus #1 pick in the poll, and Millsaps College, who ended the Cru’s season with a 57-56 defeat in the second round of the NCAA Division III National Championships, finished at #6 in the country in the poll.

The UMHB men won their first American Southwest Conference Championship this season and finished the year with a 26-4 overall record. The Cru advanced to the NCAA Division III National Championships for the second straight year and won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in school history, topping Fontbonne University 65-62 in a first-round game. UMHB was ranked as high as #4 in the country by D3hoops.com this season to post the highest national ranking in school history. The Cru was also ranked in the top 25 in the nation in every D3hoops.com poll of the season.

The D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, sports information directors and media members representing all eight of the geographic regions across the country.