Amherst is No. 1 in WBCA NCAA Division III Preseason Top 25 Coaches’ Poll
2016-17 Women's Basketball Honored at National Championship Ring Ceremony! https://t.co/vmEDqPA1VT #tusksup #goamherst
— Amherst College Athletics (@AmherstMammoths) October 30, 2017
Amherst College opens the season as No. 1 in the WBCA NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. Last season the team defeated Tufts University for the program’s second-ever national championship. Amherst finished 2016-17 undefeated at 33-0.
The WBCA NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll with teams’ records from the 2016-17 season, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, first-place votes received in parenthesis and ranking in the 2016-17 postseason poll:
| Rank | School | 2016-17 Record | Total Points | 2016-17 Rank |
| 1 | Amherst (7) | 33-0 | 198 | 1 |
| 2 | Tufts (1) | 30-3 | 184 | 2 |
| 3 | St. Thomas (MN) | 31-1 | 183 | 3 |
| 4 | Christopher Newport | 29-3 | 165 | 4 |
| 5 | Thomas More | 28-1 | 162 | 7 |
| 6 | Ohio Northern | 30-1 | 155 | 5 |
| 7 | Trinity (TX) | 28-2 | 133 | 8 |
| 8 | Washington-St. Louis | 26-3 | 127 | 6 |
| 9 | Whitman | 26-5 | 113 | 9 |
| 10 | Hope | 24-4 | 101 | 10 |
| 10 | Puget Sound | 26-3 | 101 | 11 |
| 12 | Wisconsin-Oshkosh | 26-4 | 100 | 12 |
| 13 | Scranton | 26-4 | 93 | 13 |
| 14 | Wartburg | 25-3 | 91 | 17 |
| 15 | DePauw | 27-3 | 87 | 15 |
| 16 | Trine | 25-3 | 83 | 18 |
| 17 | Montclair State | 26-3 | 66 | 16 |
| 18 | Gustavus Adolphus | 25-2 | 56 | 21 |
| 19 | Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham | 25-4 | 45 | 25 |
| 20 | SUNY Geneseo | 28-2 | 42 | 13 |
| 21 | Mary Washington | 24-5 | 41 | 19 |
| 22 | George Fox | 21-6 | 38 | NR |
| 23 | Bowdoin | 21-5 | 37 | 24 |
| 24 | Rochester (NY) | 18-9 | 35 | NR |
| 25 | Chicago | 19-8 | 29 | 25 |
Others receiving votes:Â Texas-Dallas (25-4) 18; Marymount (VA) (24-6) 16; Messiah (25-3) 16; Wisconsin-Whitewater (22-6) 11; Babson (24-6) 10; Catholic (23-5) 10; Albright (23-6) 8; Guilford (24-4) 8; Bethel (MN) (22-5) 7; Ithaca (25-4) 7; Wheaton (IL) (24-5) 7; Baldwin-Wallace (21-5) 4; Gettysburg (20-8) 4; Muhlenberg (20-8) 3; St. Joseph’s (24-5) (ME) 2; Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (20-9) 1; Massachusetts-Dartmouth (25-6) 1; Rose-Hulman (24-4) 1; Transylvania (20-8) 1.
The WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll Committee is made up of nine head coaches at Division III institutions. All are members of the WBCA. The 2017-18 committee members are Mary Beth Spirk, non-voting chair (Moravian ), Kristen Dowling (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), Renee DeVarney (Swarthmore), Jessica Ott (Alverno), Kate Pearson (Cabrini), Jennifer Reimer (Case Western Reserve), Alex Richey (Oglethorpe), Dan Roiger (Saint Lawrence) and Kelly Thompson (Roger Williams).
