The No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team landed at No. 2 in NCAA Central Region Rankings for the second-straight week when the new rankings were released on Wednesday.
These new rankings only account for games played through Feb. 26. In that way, UMD's NSIC Tournament Semifinals win against Augustana and its NSIC Championship victory over Minnesota State are not considered. The Bulldogs' victory over Conccordia-St. Paul in the quarterfinals was factored in, however.
UMD remains one of three NSIC programs to make an appearance in the 10-team list. Minnesota State (No. 4) and Augustana (No. 5) also maintained their positions from last week's rankings.
The full Central Region Rankings can be found below:
(Through games Feb. 26)
| CENTRAL |
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| Rank |
School |
Overall DII Record |
In-Region Record |
| 1 |
Nebraska-Kearney |
25-3 |
25-3 |
| 2 |
Minnesota Duluth |
25-3 |
25-3 |
| 3 |
Central Missouri |
22-3 |
22-3 |
| 4 |
Minnesota State Mankato |
23-3 |
23-3 |
| 5 |
Augustana (South Dakota) |
22-4 |
22-4 |
| 6 |
Pittsburg State |
20-6 |
20-6 |
| 7 |
Missouri Southern State |
23-6 |
21-6 |
| 8 |
Missouri Western |
22-6 |
21-6 |
| 9 |
Southern Nazarene |
24-4 |
24-4 |
| 10 |
Fort Hays State |
17-11 |
17-10 |
The NSIC joins the Great American Conference (GAC) and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) as the list of conferences that make up the Central Region. There are 42 teams in total across the three leagues. The squads ranked in the top eight come Selection Sunday will make it to the NCAA Regional Tournament, which takes place between March 10-13. The Regional is hosted by the program that slots at No. 1 in its region. The three teams that win their respective conference tournaments within the Central Region automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament- the other five teams are selected as at-large bids.
Selection Sunday is set for March 5 at 10:30 p.m. CT. It can be viewed live on www.NCAA.com.
