JUCO Top 25: March 1

Brian Sakowski

Troy Sutherland Blaine Peterson Cameron McElwaney

With the calendar flipping to March, we figured an update to the JUCO Top 25 was in order, our first update since the preseason Top 50. We like to hold off for a solid month for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is trying hard not to work off of tiny samples of data, and we're not really in the business of jerking teams up and down the rankings every week depending on 1-2 games. That doesn't really make any sense to me, so we always opt to give it a month before returning to a weekly poll.

That poll is below, with a fair bit of movement since the beginning of the season, starting with a usurper at No. 1. College of Central Florida came out of the gates like gangbusters and sit at 20-1, having ascended to the top spot in all the land. We were highest on CCF heading into the season (No. 3 overall) amongst the other relevant rankings (NJCAA, JBB), and that bullishness has paid off for us in the short term, with the Pats atop the country as of right now.

Following CCF, preseason No. 1 Central Arizona drops to No. 2 overall, hardly a knock on their season to date but more of a nod to CCF's dominance. CAC has played a very tough schedule right out the gate and sitting with a .750 win percentage through the first 20 games is obviously impressive. McLennan was preseason No. 2 and they fell just the one spot to No. 3 as of this writing, with a similar story to CAC having played well through a very difficult schedule to start the spring. Iowa Western has made a big jump out of the gate, moving from No. 8 to No. 4 on the strength of an 8-0 start and no slowing down anywhere on the horizon. Walters State rounds out the top 5 at No. 5, up from a bearish preseason ranking of No. 14.

It would have been hard for us to have been more impressed by Gulf Coast State than we were in PCB, and at 13-3 they take a huge jump from No. 22 preseason all the way to No. 6 overall, easily their highest ranking since I've been doing this. South Mountain out in Arizona took a big jump as well, rising up to No. 7 overall on the strength of a huge start at 16-4. Pearl River stays inside the top 10 at No. 8, our top-ranked NJCAA DII club still. San Jacinto dropped a few spots from their preseason perch but stay within the top 10 at No. 9, while Florence-Darlington rounds out the top 10 at No. 10, their highest ranking of the season to date with a record of 15-3.

Other notables include LSU-Eunice at No. 11, they are up 6 spots from the preseason poll and sit at a standout 17-0. Likewise, San Joaquin Delta from NorCal is a huge riser to No. 12, as they also sit undefeated at 13-0. Johnson County jumped a handful of spots to No. 16 overall with a big start at 12-2, they are off to the best start of anyone in Kansas so far. Santa Fe out of Florida made the biggest leap, jumping from unranked preseason to No. 17 overall with a record of 23-0. Midland at No. 21 is another of the undefeated clubs at 12-0, and their jump from the 40's preseason to No. 21 now reflects that.

Some notable departures from the preseason top 25 include Florida SouthWestern and Salt Lake, who have gotten off to slower starts than either would have liked, but the good news obviously is that this is a very long season, especially in the case of Salt Lake, who have not played a ton of games yet.

It's been a fun start to the 2023 season, and we're excited to make this a weekly poll from now on. Our next Top 25 will be Tuesday, March 7th and then continuing on throughout the rest of the season every Tuesday. We appreciate you coming along on this journey with us.

-Brian Sakowski

Rk.	Team	St.	Rec.
1	Central Florida	FL	20-1
2	Central Arizona	AZ	15-5
3	McLennan	TX	13-4
4	Iowa Western	IA	8-0
5	Walters State	TN	15-2
6	Gulf Coast State	FL	13-3
7	South Mountain	AZ	16-4
8	Pearl River	MS	12-2
9	San Jacinto	TX	13-6
10	Florence-Darlington	SC	15-3
11	LSU-Eunice	LA	17-0
12	San Joaquin Delta	CA	13-0
13	Heartland	IL	3-0
14	Crowder	MO	11-4
15	Miami-Dade	FL	13-6-1
16	Johnson County	KS	12-2
17	Santa Fe	FL	23-0
18	Cowley	KS	2-4
19	Cochise	AZ	13-6
20	Pensacola State	FL	16-3
21	Midland	TX	12-0
22	Folsom Lake	CA	12-1
23	Northwest Florida State	FL	11-6-1
24	Southern Nevada	NV	12-4
25	Pima	AZ	12-5