Entering 2004-05 season:
| # | Team | W-L | Pts. | 2003-04 final |
| 1 | Bowdoin (14) | 30-1 | 585 | 2 |
| 2 | Southern Maine (2) | 29-2 | 577 | 5 |
| 3 | New York University (3) | 23-4 | 536 | 7 |
| 4 | UW-Stevens Point (2) | 28-5 | 529 | 4 |
| 5 | Rochester | 25-5 | 400 | 3 |
| 6 | Hardin-Simmons | 27-3 | 376 | 10 |
| 7 | Scranton | 27-3 | 374 | 6 |
| 8 | DePauw | 26-4 | 368 | 11 |
| 9 | McDaniel | 25-4 | 358 | 14 |
| 10 | Washington U. | 22-5 | 343 | 8 |
| 11 | Wilmington (3) | 27-6 | 328 | 1 |
| 12 | Carleton | 25-3 | 271 | 21 |
| 13 | Capital (1) | 20-7 | 266 | — |
| 14 | Marymount | 26-5 | 254 | 9 |
| 15 | Puget Sound | 23-5 | 253 | 16 |
| 16 | UW-Oshkosh | 21-6 | 234 | 24 |
| 17 | Trinity (Texas) | 24-3 | 196 | 12 |
| 18 | Millikin | 22-6 | 176 | — |
| 19 | Hope | 23-4 | 172 | — |
| 20 | Messiah | 23-4 | 170 | 17 |
| 21 | Buena Vista | 27-3 | 121 | 19 |
| 22 | Brandeis | 22-5 | 104 | 18 |
| 23 | Thomas More | 21-6 | 96 | 15 |
| 24 | Johns Hopkins | 24-4 | 94 | 13 |
| 25 | Washington and Jefferson | 20-9 | 87 | — |
Others receiving votes: Cortland State 73, DeSales 70, Union 68, Randolph-Macon 58, Eastern Mennonite 56, Baldwin-Wallace 51, UW-Eau Claire 48, St. Benedict 48, Whitworth 44, Ithaca 39, Catholic 32, Calvin 31, Whitman 30, Rowan 29, Maryville (Mo.) 28, Gwynedd-Mercy 26, Eastern Connecticut 24, Albion 23, Wittenberg 16, St. John Fisher 13, Wheaton (Ill.) 13, Wesleyan 8, Ripon 8, Maryville (Tenn.) 6, Salem State 5, Colby-Sawyer 5, Bridgewater (Va.) 4, Chapman 1.
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.