At the Top

From www.naia.org


DI Men's Basketball
Rogers State (Okla.) Becomes Sixth New No. 1 Team in 2008-09 Division I MBB Coaches' Top 25 Poll

Hillcats top-ranked team for first time in school history

	Chris Francis and his Rogers State (Okla.) teammates are No. 1 for the first time in school history

Jan. 26, 2009

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the sixth time this season, there is a different top-ranked team. Rogers State (Okla.) tallied 308 points and seven first-place votes to earn the No. 1 distinction in the sixth edition of the 2008-09 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, announced today (Jan. 26). Standing with a 17-1 overall record, the Hillcats are No. 1 in the country in three-point accuracy (.456). This top ranking is the first in school history for RSU. The Hillcats become the 22^nd team to be ranked No. 1 since 2000 and just the fourth such team from the Sooner Athletic Conference.

RSU moved up one spot thanks to the former No. 1, Westminster (Utah), losing to unranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Saturday. Georgetown (Ky.) moves up one spot to No. 2 as the Tigers hold the nation’s longest winning streak at 17 straight. GC nabbed three first-place votes and 301 total points. No. 3 Mountain State (W.Va.) also slides up one slot and receives one first-place vote. Snatching the remaining first-place vote is Westminster, which totaled 276 points and a No. 4 ranking. No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist, the only team to defeat Rogers State, checks in with 273 votes.

Four teams enter the Top 25 after sitting out last week: No. 12 West Virginia Tech, No. 16 Azusa Pacific (Calif.), No. 23 (tie) MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and No. 23 (tie) Illinois-Springfield. The ranking for West Virginia Tech is the first in school history.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The seventh regular season Top 25 poll will be announced on Monday, Feb. 2.

For more information on NAIA men’s basketball, please click here.

Notes: In seven polls this season (including preseason), there have been six different No. 1 teams (Oklahoma City, California Baptist, Cumberlands (Ky.), Mountain State, Westminster (Utah) and now Rogers State (Okla.)… Besides Rogers State, three other conference teams have been No. 1 since 2000 (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Baptist and Science & Arts (Okla.))… Mountain State (W. Va.) has been No. 1 a total of 39 times since 2000, which marks the highest total of any program in that span – Robert Morris (Ill.) is next in line with 12 No. 1’s… With 20 wins, Georgetown (Ky.) leads the country in total wins… MSU has been in the Top 25 for the last 103 consecutive weeks, which is the longest active streak in Division I – Robert Morris is in second place with 53 straight weeks… Southern Poly (Ga.) (No. 12), Evangel (Mo.) (No. 23, tie) and The Master’s (Calif.) (No. 23, tie) all dropped out of the Top 25 this week… No. 16 Azusa Pacific (Calif.) is ranked for the first time since Dec. 8 (a span of four polls)… No. 23 (tie) Illinois-Springfield sat out the poll last week but has been in six of the seven polls now… No. 23 (tie) MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) jumps into the poll for the first time since the Preseason Top 25 (Oct. 27).

2008-09 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – (Jan. 26)

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1st PLACE VOTES)	2008-09 RECORD*	TOTAL POINTS
1	2	Rogers State University (Okla.) (7)	17-1	308
2	3	Georgetown College (Ky.) (3)	20-1	301
3	4	Mountain State University (W.Va.) (1)	16-2	291
4	1	Westminster College (Utah) (1)	19-2	276
5	5	Oklahoma Baptist University	17-2	273
6	6	Fresno Pacific University (Calif.)	16-3	264
7	7	Cumberland University (Tenn.)	17-2	254
8	8	McKendree University (Ill.)	18-4	243
9	10	Union University (Tenn.)	16-4	233
10	11	Robert Morris College (Ill.)	14-3	215
11	13	Carroll College (Mont.)	14-2	195
12	RV	West Virginia Institute of Technology (WV)	15-5	180
13	17	Auburn University Montgomery (Ala.)	16-3	177
14	14	Jarvis Christian College (Texas)	13-4	175
15	21	Oklahoma Christian University	15-4	173
16	RV	Azusa Pacific University (Calif.)	13-6	161
17	9	University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)	15-5	149
18	18	Texas Wesleyan University	15-3	137
19	22	Lee University (Tenn.)	15-4	134
T20	19	Louisiana State University-Shreveport	12-6	115
T20	20	Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.)	15-6	115
22	15	California Baptist University	14-4	114
T23	RV	MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.)	12-6	78
T23	RV	University of Illinois at Springfield	13-4	78
25	16	Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.)	15-3	71

Others receiving votes:

Concordia University (Calif.) 64; Rocky Mountain College (Mont.) 43; Central Methodist University (Mo.) 30; Southern Polytechnic State University (Ga.) 27; Northwestern Oklahoma State University 22; Loyola University (La.) 21; William Jewell College (Mo.) 11; Biola University (Calif.) 7; Martin Methodist College (Tenn.) 7; Brescia University (Ky.) 5; John Brown University (Ark.) 3; Montana State University-Northern 1; Oklahoma City University 1; Lambuth University (Tenn.) 1; Evangel University (Mo.) 1; Tougaloo College (Miss.) 1; Westmont College (Calif.) 1; Xavier University (La.) 1

* Records as submitted by schools and raters

No-Fun Friend

{This isn't complaining...just explaining and sharing my sadness. }

In order to graduate next December, I made the choice to take 9 hours this semester. For a grad student, that's considered full-time. Plus 40 hours of work. (Yikes.) Now, I can do this, but there are things I know have to change.

For example, I might have to be the no-fun friend for four months.

That's sooo hard for me. Just this week, the first week of class, I have been home one night. One. And that was Thursday night, when RSU played OCU, and of course I couldn't not listen to that game! It was critical to our season! (Men won, by the way. 14-1 record. Come see a game!)

Sunday night was the first two hours of the 24 season premier, and it's been a 2-year ritual to watch that as a group. It's my favorite time of the entire week! I love my Monday night group!

Monday night was 24 again.

I work 7:30-3:30 on Tuesdays, with no lunch hour.

Tuesday night was class.

Wednesday night, a dear friend called and invited me to eat a free home-cooked meal with the family. I needed to read, but I also needed to hang out with them. I hadn't spent time with them in a very long time, I'd been thinking about them within the past week, and she'd been thinking of me all day. Soooo....I went to their house.

Another friend and I had a monthly lunch scheduled Thursday.

Thursday night was the game. (I did do some reading during it, but as I'm sure you can imagine, I was pretty distracted.)

Friday night was a Volunteer Appreciation Banquet at church.

After the banquet I actually came home and finished book #3. (Except for the appendixes...Do I have to read those? I don't know.)

This afternoon we have home basketball games. (I'm so addicted...It's true.)

Sunday afternoon I go to mom and dad's for Bekah's 22nd birthday celebration.

Monday is 24.

Tuesday is class.

And I have to have a bunch of stuff read by then.

So.

All that to say this: I am going to have to start saying no, and that makes me very sad.

Like Friday I was supposed to have lunch with friends (it's our Friday thing) but I had to bail b/c I needed to spend the hour in my office, with the door shut, reading. It was so hard to not go to be with them!

It's a struggle for me...I really have a hard time saying no to friends...They've always been vitally important to me, and I thrive on friendships. But right now, by my choice, I have to be a grown-up. Sad. But the discipline is good for me. I need more discipline in my life, and this semester is a great way to get it.

See you in May?

This is Plumb(er) Crazy

While cleaning my shower one day, I noticed a mildew spot on the ceiling directly above my shower head. Gross. Thinking it was from steam or condensation, I gently rubbed the spot with my Comit-filled sponge...and poked right through the ceiling. Like any good tenant, I did not immediately call my landlord. (Be honest...Who wants to call the landlord and tell him you poked a hole in your ceiling??) It wasn't a big deal until I noticed that every now and then, that indention dripped. And then the small caved in spot became a small caved out spot. And then Sheetrock started falling out tiny piece by tiny piece.

Have you ever taken a shower while dodging water drops that come from an unknown source in a black hole?

It was time to make the call.

Maintenance came to check it out and fix it, and I took pictures of the remaining hole. I took these on May 21.

And this one was taken on May 26.

I called. When I came home, they had fixed the leak and patched the hole. Which, within a few days, was soggy. I didn't call again. I was tired of calling, and at least it wasn't dripping on my head for the time being.

But then it started dripping again. So I called. Came home and a large square of my ceiling had been cut out and re-sheetrocked/etc.

I get lost in all this somewhere. At some point I called again because it still wasn't fixed, they checked it out yet again and re-did an even larger portion of my ceiling. Oh, and painted over that new portion. I was so happy to have my leak fixed that having 1/4 of my ceiling with new paint and 3/4 with nasty old paint was a relatively small thing.

Not too long after this, I noticed that I had a bubble in my ceiling. Oh, well, there's no drip. And the bubble got larger. No drip. I knew exactly what was happening, though, because sometimes the bubble was big and bulging, but sometimes it was small. Then a little drip sometimes. Then a little drip more times. Tape started coming unglued. Resulting in...a call.

{To chase a rabbit...Over the summer (?) I noticed that I had water in my hallway. A lot of water. Long water-logged story later, they tore up my carpet, jack-hammered through my floor, fixed the leak under the floor, re-cemented my floor, put in a new pad and new carpet. Part of that long story is really funny. (I've debated on telling this story to the world, but it's really hilarious.) To unclog my drains, the plumber had to come pour acid through them. I came home for lunch that day, and the plumber walked out of my bathroom and said to me...OK, wait, let me set this up. The plumber is a nice man. That said, he is a smoking, skinny, hairy, snaggle-tooth, dirty-plumber-clothes, 50-ish man. So he walked out and drawled, "Some uh that acid ate through yer pipes and got under yer sink. It ruined a box uh yer tampons." Um, OK, thank you for letting me know. Funny, too, is that it ruined other things, like toilet paper and other miscellaneous under-the-sink things, but he didn't mention any of those. Just the box of tampons.}

Back to the present. In early-to-mid December, I decided I couldn't take the dripping bubble and tape anymore. Called. Fixed. Next day...

Called again the Thursday before Christmas. The conversation went something like this...

"Hi, Charles, it's Joy Lin again. I still have a leak. I'm going to be gone for a few days next week and just want to make sure I don't come home to a flooded bathroom."

"Oh, of course. I'll have them look at it again. Are you having company this weekend? No? OK. Well, as always, thank you for your good attitude and patience."

My landlord is possibly the most absent-minded and bumbling man I've ever met. One day I watched him drive away from a gas pump while the nozzle was still in his tank. He never had a clue.

Plumber-man came, no idea what the problem is, there's nothing wrong. Which is why water pours out of my ceiling, right. Charles mentioned in passing that the plumber would come back the next Monday. I filed that info away since I knew I'd be at home that day. Monday morning, I woke up and thought, "You know, maybe I should get out of bed. I think the plumber might stop by. I'd rather not still be in bed." So I got up around 9:00. Did nothing to myself, and at 9:30 I heard keys jingle and Charles say, "Hello?" Um, did ya not see my car out front? "Hello? Can you give me a few minutes?" "Oh, OK, sorry." After putting on some clothes and wetting down my hair so it wasn't ca-razy, I opened the door to a whole host of men. I let the plumber and his assistant in, and I went to the kitchen. As they were walking down my hall, I heard the plumber say, "This is the one we had to tear up the floor in."

Yep, this is the one.

That day the plumber decided there really was nothing wrong. It must be water getting on the floor upstairs and dripping down. Really? That is your professional opinion? You honestly think the two inches of water I collect in my bucket twice a day is because of water on their floor? As my upstairs neighbors said...pretty sure they know how to take a shower by now and not get water on the floor. Never-the-less, the solution to the problem was shower doors.

Shower doors.

Water pours.

Call.

Saturday morning, I came home from being out and about. My upstairs neighbors were outside.

"The plumber is here fixing our toilet. I've been telling them for two weeks that it's the toilet! We can hear it dripping."

Out loud: "OK, good, I hope this gets if fixed. I laughed so hard when they installed shower doors for you!"

In my head: "I'm about to throw up. It's bad enough thinking about someone else's shower water dripping, but someone else's toilet water?!? That is a completely new level of bad."

Later that afternoon...Drip, drip, drip, drip. So I ran upstairs. Not to get personal or anything, but what are you doing right now? Draining bath water. So it's not the toilet. Thank You, Lord!!

Called. Plumber will come back Monday. Thanks for your attitude and patience.

Five minutes later, my toilet didn't flush right. Tried again...nope. Called. Meaning the plumber fixing the toilet upstairs and mine not working, I said, "I don't know if it's connected, but..." His response? "Probably not. I'll come check on the chain." OK, I wasn't talking about the chain being connected...I'm a girl, but I know what it looks like when the chain's not on...it was on. Whatever. He came. I was in the kitchen (uh, no, I was not going to hang out in the bathroom with him) and he said it flushed OK 3 times. Mmm, questionable. That night, I went to the basketball game. Came home, piddled around, then went to take a shower.



Bubbles in my toilet!

Fragrant bubbles.

Bubble bath bubbles.

Bubbles don't flush.

Charles: "It was no doubt the City blowing water into the pipes."

No doubt.



Plumber came. Changed the overflow thing-a-ma-jig upstairs. Call if it leaks.




It does.


I call.

He'll call the plumber.

Next day, plumber apparently came and did something because that night...no dripping...no pouring...no leak!!

Next day...





And now...


After (at least) 8 months, a ceiling. Oh, and I requested they paint the whole ceiling instead of just the new square. Which they did do.

And that night, I stood in joyous wonder gazing at a smooth white ceiling.

Ahhhh......

Jack vs. Tony

Jack.

Tony.

Chloe.

Ahhh...Life is good again.

Bang

Of all the days ever played, this was one of them.

It was our first day back at work since December 23. I woke early, because this is now my plan. Got around, read my Bible, fixed my coffee-ish drink, headed out the door at 20-till. Just about right to travel the 3 miles across town to work.

Hit the lights, missed the train, cut over a block to avoid the handicap bus, gunned it across the highway, stopped at the stop sign, almost there.

BANG!

That was loud.

That was me.

Mirror-check.

That guy just ran into me.

Huh.

Got his information. On to work.



Walked to the building, saw a co-worker, made small talk.

Her: "Did you have a good brea-" Trip. Sprawl.



Work was surprisingly busy today. Not sure why that was surprising, considering we've been closed for almost two weeks and it's one week before classes start. But between tracking down insurance information and filing a claim, returning a lot (for me) of phone calls about probation and suspension, helping random students, catching up with a few co-workers, and talking basketball, I didn't have much time for thumb twiddling.

Julie and I visited with one of our basketball players for a long time today. Games, even great ones, are so much more exciting when you know the players. Speaking of basketball, the new rankings came out today at 5:30pm. Third in the nation. Only undefeated NAIA Division I team. And tonight we beat the #11 Oklahoma Christian. Not to be left out of the fun, our girls defeated OC's (18th ranked) team tonight. Keep it up, 'Cats!

Tonight I came home to an open ceiling and dirty tub. More to come.

What a fantastic end to your game, Texas! I actually yelled.

Gimme a Break

Ah, the last day of Christmas break. What a great time off it's been. This past week, especially, has been so relaxed. It is such a great feeling knowing that you have a full week to rest and do whatever you want. And believe me, that's what I've done. Here are a few of my accomplishments.

• Slept.

• Put away my Christmas decorations. Getting them out is so much easier than putting them away. But, wonder of wonders, even with the new things I bought this year, everything is put away.

• Worked my Rubik's Cube that I got at a Christmas party. I've always wanted to work a Cube, and I finally did. Granted, I had the instructions that came with the Cube, along with Internet, but I still did it. Next step is to scramble it and do it without instructions. I can do the first two levels without instructions, but the last level gets me. Maybe a year from now when I have nothing to do.

• Made a menu for January. I did this a few months last year, and it really helped. On the way home from work, instead of thinking, "Ugh, what do I have that I can throw together for supper," I could think, "Yea, I wonder what yummy food I get to eat tonight and not go to the store for because I've already done my shopping for the menu?"

• Paid bills and rent. This is usually not remarkable, but I wanted to pay special attention this month. Last month, I got online to pay one bill and realized I had never paid the previous months'. How did this happen? I don't know. But it did, and I felt like a redneck snaggle-tooth welfare abuser whose kids are always dirty and don't listen when I yell at them. So I wanted to make sure to pay my bills this month.

• Laundry. Gotta have clean clothes to wear to work.

• Called my landlord about the leak in my bathroom ceiling. This could actually be a blog all in itself...Maybe it will...

• Read Leading Change by John P. Kotter. It is a very good book and just one of six I have/get to read for my Planning and Change class this semester. Since I have to have four of them read by January 30, I thought I should go ahead and get started. I hope my others come in soon. If I read one a week, I'll be OK.

• Cleaned the giant pile off my desk. Most of the papers were from last semester's class. Check this out. Here's a comparison of my textbook (482 pages) and the papers accumulated from the class. The prof really enjoyed passing out paper.

• Cooked (semi-scorched, sadly) a pot of brown beans on the stove.

• Shopped a bit. Look at these great pillows I bought! Love 'em.

• Watched some great RSU basketball. The men are still undefeated - yippee! New national rankings come out Monday. We currently sit at #5, so maybe we'll move up. We also will maintain our #1 Sooner Athletic Conference rank.
  

• Watched some not-so-great football. Seriously, Big XII, can we not lay an egg in the bowls?

• Spent time with friends. Played games. Ate food.

• Bought textbooks. Yea for used books.