Central opens at No. 7 in regional men’s basketball rankings
PELLA-Central College opened in seventh in the NCAA Division III Region 9 men’s basketball rankings.
The initial regional poll last week only listed ranked teams alphabetically. The Dutch are 16-7 coming off a 96-64 defeat Saturday at the University of Dubuque, snapping Central’s seven-game win streak.
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville (19-4), which used a last-second bucket to escape Central 66-65 at Platteville Nov. 25, is rated No. 1 in the region, ahead of Nebraska Wesleyan University (20-3). Central plays at Nebraska Wesleyan Wednesday night in a women’s-men’s doubleheader with the men’s game starting at 7:30 p.m. Coe College is No. 3 at 19-4, with Loras College (19-4) at No. 4, Dubuque (19-4) at No. 5 and Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) (20-3) at No. 6.
The winner of the American Rivers Conference tournament, which begins Feb. 20, receives one of 44 automatic berths in the 64-team NCAA Division III tournament field, with 20 at-large teams also selected. The field will be announced Feb. 26 at noon on NCAA.com and the tourney begins March 1-2.
