LCSC men’s basketball
team closes in on trip
to national tourney with
No. 21 ranking
3-5-08
The Lewis-Clark State
College men’s basketball
team found itself in good
position to make it to the
32-team NAIA national
tournament even before
opening the Frontier
Conference tournament on
Wednesday night.
In the last NAIA poll of the
season, the Warriors moved
up two spots to No. 21. The
final poll of the season is
used to determine the 15
at-large berths to
nationals, which will be
held March 19-25 in the
Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Mo.
That means the only way LCSC
cannot make the national
tournament is to have only
five of the 20 teams ahead
of it in the polls lose in
their conference tournaments
and have to settle for
at-large berths. If six
teams ahead of LCSC win
conference tournament titles
this week, then LCSC is in
the national tournament, no
matter how it fares at the
FC tournament.
The Warriors are 19-10
overall and wound up in a
four-way tie for first place
in the conference standings
at 10-4. LCSC, however, went
4-2 against the other three
teams it tied with and
earned the top seed for the
conference tournament.
Carroll, the No. 2 seed in
the FC tournament, also is
sitting well at No. 23 and
is 22-7 overall. The
remaining two FC teams that
tied for the top spot
received votes and will have
to win the tournament title
in order to qualify. Montana
State University-Northern is
No. 31 in poll, while
Westminster is No. 37.
LCSC opens the conference
tournament tonight
(Wednesday) against Montana
Tech at 7 p.m.
The championship is a
32-team, single-elimination
tournament featuring 16
automatic qualifiers from 11
Division I affiliated
conferences, one independent
qualifier, and 15 at-large
berths.
The official announcement of
the 32-team field for the 71st
Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA
Division I National
Championship will occur late
on Tuesday. The announcement
of the official bracket will
happen on Wednesday by 3
p.m.
2007-08 NAIA Division I
Men's Basketball Top 25
Coaches' Poll - March 5
(Rating #11 - FINAL)
|
RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL |
1st PLACE
VOTES |
2007-08 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
|
1 |
1 |
Georgetown
College
(Ky.) |
11 |
30-0 |
330 |
|
2 |
2 |
Lee
University
(Tenn.) |
|
28-1 |
318 |
|
3 |
3 |
Lambuth
University
(Tenn.) |
|
26-3 |
299 |
|
4 |
4 |
Louisiana State
University-Shreveport |
|
27-2 |
296 |
|
5 |
5 |
Mountain
State
University
(W.Va.) |
|
28-2 |
286 |
|
6 |
6 |
Concordia
University
(Calif.) |
|
25-4 |
281 |
|
7 |
8 |
Oklahoma City
University |
|
23-7 |
263 |
|
8 |
9 |
Robert
Morris
College
(Ill.) |
|
24-3 |
241 |
|
9 |
7 |
Southern
Nazarene
University
(Okla.) |
|
23-7 |
240 |
|
10 |
10 |
McKendree
University
(Ill.) |
|
25-7 |
226 |
|
11 |
11 |
Martin
Methodist
College
(Tenn.) |
|
24-6 |
220 |
|
12 |
15 |
Azusa
Pacific
University
(Calif.) |
|
21-9 |
206 |
|
13 |
13 |
California
Baptist
University |
|
21-7 |
174 |
|
14 |
12 |
Auburn
University
Montgomery (Ala.) |
|
19-7 |
163 |
|
15 |
14 |
Columbia
College
(Mo.) |
|
24-7 |
154 |
|
16 |
22 |
University
of
Mobile
(Ala.) |
|
21-8 |
151 |
|
17 |
RV |
Oklahoma
Baptist
University |
|
22-8 |
139 |
|
18 |
17 |
Texas
Wesleyan
University |
|
19-10 |
135 |
|
T19 |
19 |
Trevecca
Nazarene
University
(Tenn.) |
|
22-8 |
131 |
|
T19 |
18 |
University of the
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
|
18-12 |
131 |
|
21 |
23 |
Lewis-Clark
State
College (Idaho) |
|
19-9 |
130 |
|
22 |
20 |
Wayland
Baptist
University
(Texas) |
|
18-11 |
78 |
|
23 |
RV |
Carroll
College
(Mont.) |
|
22-7 |
75 |
|
24 |
RV |
Olivet
Nazarene
University
(Ill.) |
|
16-13 |
62 |
|
25 |
RV |
Point
Loma
Nazarene
University
(Calif.) |
|
22-8 |
61 |
Others receiving votes:
Cumberland
University (Tenn.)
39;
Campbellsville
University (Ky.)
37;
Xavier
University (La.)
36
Saint Xavier University
(Ill.) 34; Northwestern
Oklahoma State University
24; Montana State University
Northern 22; Union
University (Tenn.) 21;
University of Illinois at
Springfield 19; Wiley
College (Texas) 17;
Vanguard University (Calif.)
14; Texas College 13;
Westminster College (Utah)
11; Tougaloo College
(Miss.) 11; Freed-Hardeman
University (Tenn.) 10;
Faulkner University (Ala.)
9; Berry College (Ga.) 5;
Shorter College (Ga.) 3
* Record through games
played March 3
