JMU, Liberty, ODU ranked in preseason mid-major poll

We thought James Madison had a shot at being No. 1. Turns out the Dukes are No. 3 in the inaugural mid-major Top 25 released Wednesday night by Collegeinsider.com (kudos to JMU for garnering seven first-place votes).

Liberty notched No. 18 and Old Dominion No. 11. Delaware slipped in at No. 24. VCU, Hampton and Hofstra each received votes (though for the Pride, it was received vote. They got one).

Yes, we did our own last week, picking Xavier as No. 1 (we had Gonzaga at 8). But turns out schools in the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West are not eligible for this poll (does anyone believe these are major conferences?).

Check it out for yourself and if you wish, compare it to ours.

1.	Gonzaga (12)	0-0	709	-
2.	Green Bay (11)	0-0	693	-
3.	James Madison (7)	0-0	656	-
4.	Arkansas-Little Rock (1)	0-0	606	-
5.	Bowling Green	0-0	599	-
6.	Princeton	0-0	517	-
7.	Marist	0-0	461	-
8.	Liberty	0-0	457	-
9.	Middle Tennessee	0-0	440	-
10.	Hartford	0-0	395	-
11.	Old Dominion	0-0	369	-
12.	Lehigh	0-0	310	-
13.	Illinois State	0-0	297	-
14.	Florida Gulf Coast	0-0	284	-
15.	South Dakota State	0-0	276	-
16.	Toledo	0-0	241	-
17.	Chattanooga	0-0	233	-
18.	Vermont	0-0	228	-
19.	Oral Roberts	0-0	211	-
20.	Creighton	0-0	208	-
21.	Western Kentucky	0-0	173	-
22.	Butler	0-0	165	-
23.	Gardner-Webb	0-0	149	-
24.	Delaware	0-0	147	-
25.	St. Mary's	0-0	143	-

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:  Missouri State 141, Boston University 139, Lamar 96, Montana 93, Eastern Illinois 73, East Tennessee State 73, Virginia Commonwealth 61, UC Davis 40, Appalachian State 37, Samford 33, Hampton 30, North Carolina A&T 25, Pepperdine 25, Central Arkansas 22, Iona 21, Eastern Michigan 20, Northern Iowa 20, Eastern Washington 18, Robert Morris 18, UC Riverside 17, American 14, Columbia 11, Southern University 11, Sacred Heart 10, South Carolina Upstate 9, Harvard 8, Oakland 7, High Point 6, Loyola Marymount 6, Kent State 5, Louisiana Tech 5, Portland State 5, Long Island University 2, UMBC 2, Stephen F. Austin 2, Cal Poly 1, Cleveland State 1, Hofstra 1.

VOTING PANEL: Joan M. Bonvicini (Seattle), Brian Boyer (Arkansas State), Tony Bozzella (Iona), Kristin Caruso (Longwood), Beth Couture (Butler), Ed Davis (Delaware State), Denise Dillon (Longwood), Brooks Donald Williams (McNeese State), Jim Flanery (Creighton), Beckie Francis (Oakland), Stephanie Gaitley (Monmouth), Bill Gibbons (Holy Cross), Carey Green (Liberty), Aaron Johnston (South Dakota State), Lori Jones (Southeastern Louisiana), Tasha McDowell (Western Michigan), Lynn Milligan (Rider), Faith Mimnaugh (Cal Poly), Jennifer Mountain (Santa Clara), Cathy Nixon (Utah Valley), Autumn Rademacher (Detroit), Brady Sallee (Eastern Illinois), Michele Savage (Davidson), Sandy Simpson (UC Davis), Karl Smesko (Florida Gulf Coast), Dayna Smith (Cornell), Phil Stern (UMBC), Colby Tilley (Kennesaw State), Sue Troyan (Lehigh), Altherias Warmley (Alabama A&M), Jamie White (Northern Colorado))