INDIANAPOLIS – The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team is ranked sixth in the first NCAA Division II 32-team Central Region rankings released on Wednesday by the NCAA national committee.

The Mustangs are 19-7 overall this season and currently in second place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division standings with an 15-5 record. SMSU has an 18-7 record versus both Division II and in-region opponents. Only games versus Division II opponents are counted for the NCAA region rankings.

SMSU is one of four NSIC schools to appear in the region rankings along with No. 2 Northern State, No. 4 St. Cloud State and No. 8 Minnesota State. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) has five teams ranked with No. 1 Northwest Missouri State, No. 5 Central Missouri, No. 7 Washburn (Kan.), No. 9 Missouri Southern State and No. 10 Central Oklahoma. The Great American Conference (GAC) has one team ranked with No. 3 Southern Nazarene (Okla.).

The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA Central Region Tournament on Mar. 10-11, 13. Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the NSIC, MIAA and GAC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis.

Region rankings will also be released on Feb. 21 and Feb. 28, before the 64-team NCAA tournament is released on Sunday, March 4, at 9:30 p.m. (CST) at NCAA.com. The NCAA Elite 8 will take place on March 20, 22 and 24 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Southwest Minnesota State concludes the regular season this Friday and Saturday with home games versus Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul, respectively. SMSU will host an NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament first round game on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m.

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