Defending-national-champion Washington University (Mo., 29-2 final record in 2009, 25 first-place votes) was ranked first in the pre-season “D3hoops.com” poll, followed by John Carroll University (25-5) second, Guilford College (26-6) third, the University of St. Thomas (Minn., 30-1) fourth, Richard Stockton College (30-3) fifth, Franklin & Marshall College (26-7) sixth, DeSales University (25-6) seventh, Massachusetts-Dartmouth (27-4) eighth, the College of Wooster (23-7) ninth, Wisconsin-Stevens Point (24-5) 10th, Bridgewater State College (22-7) 11th, Texas-Dallas (26-5) 12th, Wisconsin-Whitewater (23-6) 13th, California Lutheran University (18-8) 14th and CCIW-member Wheaton College (Ill., 26-4) ranked 15th. CCIW-member Illinois Wesleyan University (13-12) was ranked 26th, conference-member Augustana College (Ill., 18-8) 39th, CCIW-member Elmhurst College (20-8) was tied for 44th place and Carthage (15-10) was tied for 55th place.
