Liberal High School and Seward County graduate and former Seward coach Dave Wilbers is the head coach of the number one team in the country in NCAA Division 2 women’s basketball. Wilbers graduated from LHS in 1986 after helping the Redskins win the school’s only boys basketball state title. He assisted Jim Littell at Seward to a 143-21 record from 1993-1998. He was head volleyball coach of a SCCC team in 1996 which went 54-6 and finished ranked ninth in the country.

NCAA Division 2 Pre-season Poll

Rank School W-L Points Prev

1 Arkansas Tech (15) 31-3 671 6

2 Delta St. (4) 27-4 621 8

3 Tusculum (2) 23-10 569 9

4 Lander (1) 27-4 516 11

5 Holy Family 30-3 478 13

6 Emporia St. (6) 30-5 464 1

7 West Tex. A&M 30-4 460 12

8 Seattle Pacific 27-4 450 7

9 Washburn 27-4 414 10

10 Indianapolis 26-4 397 14

11 UC San Diego 25-5 376 15

12 Fort Lewis 35-4 363 3

13 Alas. Anchorage 24-5 362 16

14 Franklin Pierce 32-2 261 4

15 Gannon 37-1 252 2

16 Drury 28-7 241 21

17 Michigan Tech 28-2 240 5

18 Wayne St. (Neb.) 26-5 198 NR

19 California (Pa.) 24-8 197 NR

20 Fort Valley St. 26-3 182 17

21 Clayton St. 24-7 177 22

22 Northeastern St. 28-7 161 24

23 Grand Valley St. 18-10 150 NR

24 Bentley (1) 19-11 148 NR

25 Tampa 26-5 132 18

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Millersville 100; Concordia (Minn.) 95; California State-Chico 77; Francis Marion 68; Charleston (W.Va.) 52; West Liberty 44; Wisconsin-Parkside 38; Augustana (S.D.) 34; Western Washington 34; Barton 30; Indiana-Pennsylvania 30; Carson-Newman 26; Florida Southern 26; Saint Mary’s (Texas) 26; Findlay 23; Shaw 22; Pace 17; Fairmont State 16; Minnesota State-Mankato 16; Southern Indiana 16; Tarleton State 15; Bowie State 13; Stonehill 13; Colorado Mines 11; Central Missouri 11; Adams State 10; Colorado State-Pueblo 10; Northern Michigan 10; Assumption 9; Glenville State 8; Virginia State 8; Fayetteville State 7; Grand Canyon 6; South Carolina-Aiken 5; Lenoir-Rhyne 4; Rollins 4; Central Oklahoma 3; New Haven 3; Lewis 2; CW Post 1; Northern Kentucky 1; Southeastern Oklahoma State 1.

DROPPED OUT: No. 19 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 20 Francis Marion, No. 23 Millersville, No. 25 Western Washington.

Ranking includes number of first-place votes and record in parentheses, total points and previous ranking