(BEAVERTON, Ore.)-Capital University's women's basketball team has been tabbed as the No. 1 team in the nation in the 2007-08 preseason national top-25 poll by Women's DIII News.
The Crusaders return four starters, including a pair of all-conference selections and nine letterwinners from a team that 20-7 last season and advanced to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship game a year ago.
"Capital has the depth and experience to be one of the favorites this season in women's Division III basketball," said Women's DIII News editor Gary Rubin. "Any one of our top five teams realistically could have been the top pick but we went with Capital because it plays in a tough conference, has four starters back and has the experience that is necessary to be a national favorite."
"It says a lot about the respect people have for our program and what we try to do here at Capital," commented two-time national coach of the year and 22-year head coach Dixie Jeffers. "We are still a very young team, with just one senior on the roster, and will need to work very hard to meet the challenges and opportunities that this season will provide."
Maintaining any ranking will be a challenge for the Crusaders given the schedule that awaits them. Three teams in the preseason top-25 are on the slate, a season opening game at No. 24-ranked Manchester (Ind.) College, a game against preseason No. 3-ranked Washington (Mo.) University on Sunday, Dec. 2, at The Capital Center and matchups with OAC-rival and No. 17-ranked Wilmington College.
Women's DIII News Preseason Top 25:
- Capital
- N.Y.U.
- Washington (Mo.)
- Bowdoin (Me.)
- Kean (N.J.)
- DePauw (Ind.)
- Calvin (Mich.)
- Wisconsin-Eau Claire
- Southern Maine
- Illinois Wesleyan
- Messiah (Pa.)
- Hope (Mich.)
- Millikin (Ill.)
- Luther (Iowa)
- Emmanuel (Mass.)
- Mary Washington (Va.)
- Wilmington
- St. Benedict (Minn.)
- Scranton (Pa.)
- Oglethorpe (Ga.)
- George Fox (Ore.)
- Randolph-Macon (Va.)
- Puget Sound (Wash.)
- Manchester (Ind.)
- Carroll (Wis.)