The 14th-ranked University of Southern men’s basketball team is ranked second in the first NCAA Division II Midwest Region poll of 2016-17. This is the highest regional ranking for USI since the end of the 2006-07 season when the Screaming Eagles were the second seed in the NCAA II Midwest Regional.
The Eagles follow fourth-ranked Bellarmine University in the first poll that includes five teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference in the region’s top 10 teams. Following USI and Bellarmine from the GLVC is the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (sixth), Quincy University (seventh) and Truman State University (eighth).
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was represented by 24th-ranked Ferris State University (third); University of Findlay (fifth) Wayne State University (ninth); and Lake Superior State University (10th), while 13th-ranked Kentucky Wesleyan College (fourth) was the lone representative from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
The top eight team from the Midwest Region advance to the NCAA Division II Tournament at the end of the season. The regional is routinely hosted by the top seed in the regional.
USI is back in action tomorrow night when it begins its final homestand of the 2016-17 regular season by hosting the University of Illinois Springfield. The Eagles finish the homestand with Senior Day on Saturday when they welcome McKendree University to the Physical Activities Center.
A win this week will clinch a first round bye in the upcoming GLVC Tournament at the Ford Center, March 2, 4-5.
