Leading up to the National Collegiate Athletic Association National Tournament starting March 10, the NCAA has announced preliminary regional rankings and has the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team No. 1 in the South-Central Region.
The NCAA National Tournament features eight regional sites that will host the round of 64 through the Sweet Sixteen. The eight regions consist of the Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West.
The top team in each region will be granted the right to host the initial three rounds of the national tournament. The Elite Eight will be hosted at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
Regional rankings will be released weekly leading up to the selection show at 9 p.m. March 5, when the eight teams from each region will officially be selected.
FLC also moved up in the national rankings this week and is now ranked No. 5 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and No. 6 by the Division II College Sports Communicators.
Fort Lewis closes out its regular season this week with a pair of home contests against Metropolitan State University of Denver (11-15, 8-12) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Colorado School of Mines (22-4, 16-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Skyhawks are currently in first place in the RMAC at 24-2, 18-2 with Black Hills State (24-3, 18-3) and Colorado Mesa (24-3, 18-3), the region’s No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams, on their heels. FLC, however, can win the league, and the rights to host the RMAC Tournament, with two wins this weekend.
The FLC women’s basketball team (9-17, 6-14) is also home this weekend against Metro and Mines. Mines is currently tied with Regis for first in the RMAC with 17-3 conference marks, so Saturday’s game could also determine the women’s regular-season league champ.
The final weekend of play will determine the eight-team field for the postseason tournament, but FLC is currently 12th out of 16 teams in the conference standings, trailing eighth-place CSU Pueblo (13-13, 10-10) by four games.
FLC will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Metro (14-12, 12-8) and at 5 p.m. Saturday against Mines (21-4, 17-3).
