INDIANAPOLIS - With conference tournaments beginning, the NCAA released its final batch of region rankings Wednesday afternoon as Carson-Newman holds onto the second spot in the Southeast Region after moving up to the slot last week.
The selection committee uses these rankings as a guideline to make up the NCAA Tournament field. The top eight teams in the region make the NCAA Tournament with three automatic bids going to the winners of the conference tournaments from the South Atlantic Conference, Conference Carolinas and the Peach Belt Conference.
For the No. 1 team in the region, that school gets to host the Southeast Region tournament over the second weekend of March with three wins needed to advance to the National Quarterfinals in Columbus, Ohio at Alumni Hall from March 26-29.
Anderson remains atop the list having won the SAC regular season title winning the final 23 games of the season, the fourth-longest streak in the country with two undefeated teams on top.
Carson-Newman is 16-3 in its last 19 games after opening the year 6-3 with the Lady Eagles winning eight of their last 10 games. The Lady Eagles have an RPI of .602 slightly better than North Georgia's .597 for second-best in the region while holding a 12-6 mark against teams .500 or better.
There was no change in the middle of the rankings with North Georgia at three, Wingate at four, Lander at five and Barton sitting in sixth. The only changes came in the seven through nine spots. Tusculum dropped out of the top eight sliding down to ninth with Clayton State moving up to seven and Flagler entering the group at eight. Emmanuel is hanging out to the No. 10 slot.
The selection show is scheduled for Sunday evening, March 10, at 10 p.m. that can be found on NCAA.com with links posted on the @NCAADII page.
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