The Loop

Texas forever ... or at least another few weeks

While voting for the latest Golf World/Nike Golf men's coaches polls closed on March 16, a day prior to Texas finishing off its convincing victory at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate, it seemed that the voting coaches must have had an inkling that the Longhorns were en route to their fifth victory of the 2011-12 season. For the fourth straight poll, UT earned top honors, claiming 13 of the available 18 first-place votes.

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The timing of the voting also likely explains the fact that Alabama fell from third to sixth despite winning the Schenkel Invitational last weekend in record-setting fashion. The Crimson Tide's ninth-place showing at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters obviously left a bad taste in voters' mouths.

The results from Southern Highlands also obviously influenced the rise of California and UNLV in the polls. The Golden Bears' one-stroke loss, on the heels of a victory at the John Burns in February, pushed them to their highest ever ranking in the Golf World poll (No. 3). UNLV, winner at Southern Highlands, moved from 12th to fifth in the poll.

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As for D-II, the revolving door of No. 1 teams continued with Barry becoming the fourth different school to hold the title thus far in 2011-12. The Buccaneers jumped Lynn and CSU-Stanislaus but voting for the D-II poll is dispersed as they only received five of the 14 available first-place votes.

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Conversely, most coaches are in agreement about Guilford being the head of the class in Division III golf. The Quakers have won twice this spring to match their two victories of the fall. All four of the top-ranked squads held firm to their spots from the March 5 poll.

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While Oklahoma Christian has won four times in the 2011-12, their playoff loss to Oklahoma City at the UST Mamiya Texas Intercollegiate cost them the top spot in the NAIA coaches' poll ... or at least their outright hold of the No. 1 ranking. The Stars and Eagles both earned 305 total points to share top honors.

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Spring success for both Meridian and South Mountain--each squad has yet to lose a tournament in 2012--helped keep both schools at No. 1 in the NJCAA D-I and D-II polls, respectively.