DENVER – The MSU Denver men's basketball team is back in the national rankings for the first time since 2015.
 
The Roadrunners, who own the fifth-best winning percentage in Division II history at .694, winners of two national championships and participants in four Division II Final Fours, returned to the top 25 Tuesday at No. 15 in the NABC (coaches) poll and No. 18 in the D2SIDA (sports information directors) poll.
 
"It's a good and bad thing," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "Once you get that, there's a target on your back. So now it's learning to play with that. This group hasn't played with a ranking next to their name. You're going to get everyone's best shot when you start to get into that conversation.
 
"We've talked a lot about this year is about making a statement that we are on our way back. We're not all the way there yet. We're climbing the mountain. But we want to be in a position where the RMAC (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) better be ready. Because when RMAC play starts, I think we're going to be someone to be concerned about when you have us lined up across from you."
 
MSU Denver is off to a 4-0 start, including wins last week against then Nos. 7/4 West Texas A&M and Fort Hays State (Kan.), which had been tied for 16^th in the D2SIDA poll.
 
The Roadrunners last national ranking came at the end of the 2014-15 season, when they were No. 11 in the final coaches' poll and No. 10 in the final D2SIDA poll.
 
MSU Denver has now been in the national rankings 170 times, 10^th most in Division II history – according to exhaustive research by the Missouri S&T sports information staff.
 
The Roadrunners are home this weekend for games Friday at 5 p.m. against Seattle Pacific and Saturday at 3 p.m. against Simon Fraser (B.C.).
 
"For us, it's just who's next on the schedule," guard Brayden Maldonado said. "Being ranked is cool, but we're here to win every game on our schedule. That's the plan. We've beaten ranked teams, we've lost to ranked teams, we've lost to unranked teams … it's college basketball and you could lose to anyone. Next on the schedule is all we're focused on."