North Central and the NCAA Regional Rankings: Week 2 Edition

It took until later on yesterday afternoon, but the NCAA finally dropped its second set of regional rankings. These preceded another round of CCIW games that took place last night, so these rankings are going to be subject to a little bit of change in the aftermath. But at the same time, we need to take a look at how these rankings impact North Central as well as the CCIW as a whole. You can view last week's post here.

Women's Basketball

Record: 12-11 overall, 6-8 CCIW (6th)
Central Region: Unranked (out of 9 teams)
Last week: Unranked

With the Cardinals eliminated on Saturday, yesterday's game was nothing more than the home finale and an opportunity for some stat and record padding, as the Cardinals blew out last place Carroll. I couldn't attend due to another commitment, but the team played incredibly well without me in their final game at Gregory Arena for the season. All they have left at this point is the opportunity to play spoiler at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday and then at Augustana on Tuesday.

The rankings shifted around a little bit from last week, with Illinois Wesleyan leapfrogging Wheaton into third in the Central region, while the Thunder fall to fifth and Augustana replaces Elmhurst and moves up to eighth in the conference. Washington University of St. Louis leads the region, followed by UW-Oshkosh. Given the automatic bids, I do think there's a decent chance that the CCIW gets two teams into the NCAA Tournament. If Illinois Wesleyan wins the regular season title, they should be in regardless of the conference tournament, and Wheaton is going to be at the table and, I assume, should also make The Dance.

Men's Basketball

Record: 14-10 overall, 8-7 CCIW (6th)
Central Region: Unranked (out of 8 teams)
Last week: Unranked

The Cardinals have not done themselves any favors the last two Wednesdays. After blowing the Augustana game, they blew out a bad Elmhurst team on Saturday before blowing the game at Carthage last night. The pair of unacceptable losses has put the Cardinals in a bad position with one game to go at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday. It is the very definition of "must-win," as a loss eliminates North Central from the CCIW Tournament, but even if they win, they are going to need a ton of help that day as well as on Tuesday if they want to sneak into the conference tournament.

Moving to the rest of the CCIW, Augustana fell to fifth in the region, Illinois Wesleyan moves up to sixth, Carthage joins the rankings in eighth, and North Park falls completely out of the rankings. Given the heavy WIAC presence in the rankings (they take up three of the top four), I have my doubts as to whether the CCIW can manage to steal an at large bid. A lot of it will depend on the next set of rankings and how the conference tournament unfolds. If Augustana gets the #1 seed again and wins their semi before dropping the title game, it may be enough to get them in, but most of the rest of the conference might find it tough to grab a bid, especially with Illinois Wesleyan falling to Wheaton last night.