INDIANAPOLIS – After losing to Tusculum one week ago, Carson-Newman slid two spots from fifth down to seventh of the Southeast Region in the most recent rankings released by the NCAA on Wednesday setting the stage for the final week of the regular season.
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 Birmingham, Ala. at the Birmingham Crossplex from March 24-27.
There was a shuffling between the SAC schools with Catawba rising to fourth, Anderson dropping to fifth and Tusculum rising above the Eagles to sixth. C-N drops to seven despite playing one of the hardest schedules of any team in the region at a .543 rating. Tusculum is not far behind at .537 but Anderson and Catawba have marks that sit at .491 and .499 respectively.
The four teams will have ample chances to sort things out in next week's SAC Tournament while Catawba and Anderson are slated to play in the penultimate regular season contest of the season.
According to the RPI, coach Mike Mincey's team is ranked fifth, ahead of sixth-place Anderson and eighth-place Catawba boasting eight wins against winning teams in the country.
The top three slots stood even with Lander, North Georgia and Belmont Abbey holding the top three rankings in the region with two contests to play in the regular campaign.
On C-N's heels is Clayton State, a team that beat the Lady Eagles on Nov. 22 handing the team their only double-digit loss of the season. From a numbers perspective, the two teams are almost identical. The Lakers host North Georgia on Saturday looking for a chance to solidify their resume.
Barton and Columbus State are on the outside looking in at ninth and 10th with work to do to get into the final eight that advance to the postseason.
The Lady Eagles get a chance to add to their resume Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. at UVa-Wise. Broadcast coverage can be found on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15.
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