INDIANAPOLIS – Carson-Newman is in the conversation for making the NCAA tournament in men's basketball, but on the outside looking in based on the second region ranking released by the NCAA Wednesday afternoon. 

Carson-Newman sits in 10^th in the second of three region rankings.  The rankings are the official poll utilized by the NCAA in the championship selection process and will continue to be released each week by the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Committee up to the NCAA Championship selections.

The field for the Southeast Region is comprised of the conference tournament champions from the South Atlantic Conference, Conference Carolinas and the Peach Belt Conference, as well as the top five teams in the region rankings who aren't tournament champions.

C-N is one of four South Atlantic Conference schools ranked.

Lincoln Memorial is the highest-ranked of that group with a 19-7 overall Division II record. The Railsplitters are fourth.  Wingate and Catawba check in in seventh and eighth respectively with 20-6 and 17-5 records.

The Peachbelt has the top three teams in the region in Lander (20-6), North Georgia (19-5) and USC Aiken (21-5).  Augusta is also ranked in ninth at 13-11. 

Conference Carolinas occupies the six and seven spots with Emmanuel and UNC Pembroke, both of whom are 21-5. 

C-N is hampered by its strength of schedule, which ranks 28^th in the region.  Its RPI is 12^th, and its performance indicator is ninth. C-N is 1-4 against teams in the top 10 of the region.  All four losses came away from Holt Fieldhouse. The win is in Holt against LMU. 

The Eagles wrap up the regular season Saturday against Mars Hill. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMBB.