INDIANAPOLIS – Carson-Newman's men's basketball program has been ranked 10th in the first Southeast Region ranking, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
The Eagles are one of four South Atlantic Conference institutions that appear in the rankings, which will help decide who moves on to the NCAA tournament in March.
Queens occupies the top spot. Lincoln Memorial is ranked second. Wingate checks in in seventh place and the Eagles round things out in ninth.
This marks the first time since 2014 that the Eagles have been regionally ranked. Carson-Newman rose as high as sixth that year before earning the seven-seed and an at-large bid in the 2014 NCAA tournament.
Carson-Newman wasn't ranked at all in 2015-16 when they made a run to the SAC title game before taking a 63-48 win over No. 3 Lincoln Memorial and an autobid for a second straight NCAA tournament berth.
The Eagles are trying to earn their third postseason trip in four years.
The Peach Belt is represented by four schools in the poll. Conference Carolinas has two.
Augusta is the top-ranked PBC school at four. UNC Pembroke follows at fifth. Columbus State and USC Aiken are eighth and ninth, respectively.
Limestone and Pfieffer represent Conference Carolinas in third and sixth, respectively.
The Southeast region is comprised of the SAC, Peach Belt and Conference Carolinas. The three tournament champions of those leagues and the top five at-large teams following the conference tournaments qualify for the NCAA Division II Tournament in mid-March.
|
SOUTHEAST |
|||
|
Rank |
School |
Overall DII Record |
In-Region Record |
|
1 |
Queens (North Carolina) |
21-2 |
21-2 |
|
2 |
Lincoln Memorial |
20-4 |
20-4 |
|
3 |
Limestone |
20-4 |
20-4 |
|
4 |
Augusta University |
18-6 |
17-6 |
|
5 |
UNC Pembroke |
18-7 |
18-7 |
|
6 |
Pfeiffer |
18-3 |
18-3 |
|
7 |
Wingate |
16-8 |
16-8 |
|
8 |
Columbus State |
15-8 |
15-8 |
|
9 |
South Carolina Aiken |
16-7 |
16-7 |
|
10 |
Carson-Newman |
15-9 |
15-8 |