The Howard Payne Lady Jacket basketball team is pre-season ranked #16 in the D3hoops.com Pre-Season Top 25 Poll.

Howard Payne did not finish last season in the top 25 but were ranked the majority of last season. Three-time defending ASC champion Howard Payne (23-6, 16-5 ASC in 2008-09) have won four of the last five conference titles and claimed the NCAA III national championship in 2008. 

The D3hoops.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country, and is published weekly.

Howard Payne will start their season at Fred Jacoby Tip Off Classic at the University of Texas at Dallas on November 20-21, 2009. They will play the University of Texas at Tyler on Friday and the University of Texas at Dallas on Saturday. 

The full 2009 D3hoops.com Pre-season Top 25 Poll:

Rk  Team                   W-L   Pts. Last
1   Washington U. (7)     26-5   588   2
2   Amherst (5)           29-4   579   6
3   Hope (7)              28-2   577   4
4   George Fox (6)        32-0   509   1
5   Scranton              26-5   492   11
6   Illinois Wesleyan     30-1   441   3
7   Bowdoin               24-5   394   22
8   UW-Whitewater         23-5   385   17
9   Brandeis              20-8   359   13
10  Muhlenberg            26-4   331   14
11  Kean                  22-8   294   —
12  DePauw                22-8   261   —
13  Southern Maine        22-7   238   —
14  Chicago               17-8   222   —
15  Moravian              21-7   216   —
16  Howard Payne          23-6   205   —
17  Texas-Dallas          21-5   184   —
18  Trinity (Texas)       20-8   175   —
19  New York University   23-5   147   16
20  Marymount             20-7   144   —
21  New Jersey            28-5   141   5
22  Capital               22-6   119   —
23  UW-Stevens Point      26-4   110   7
24  St. Benedict          26-4   107   18
25  UW-Stout              16-11  104   —

Others receiving votes: Rochester 93, Tufts 87, Randolph-Macon 76, Messiah 70, UW-Eau Claire 49, DeSales 41, St. Norbert 39, Centre 38, Mary Washington 33, Cortland State 30, Thomas More 30, Roanoke 26, Washington and Jefferson 23, Transylvania 22, William Paterson 19, Baldwin-Wallace 17, Baruch 16, Stevens 16, Whitman 16, Simpson 15, Emmanuel 10, Eastern Connecticut 8, Calvin 5, Keene State 5, Pitt-Greensburg 4, Greensboro 3, Mount Union 3, Puget Sound 3, Hardin-Simmons 2, Western Connecticut 2, Babson 1, Occidental 1.