INDIANAPOLIS--Four Pacific West Conference men's basketball teams upgraded their positions in today's NCAA Division II West Region rankings, and Point Loma retained the top spot and the hosting opportunity that goes with it.
The final rating and Selection Sunday that will finalize the eight teams will be on ncaa.com on Sunday at 7:30 pm Pacific Time for the women and 8 pm PT for the men. The champions from the three conference tournaments this week will grab three of those spots, and the other five positions will be determined by Sunday's final rating.
On the women's side, PacWest champion Azusa Pacific repeated their No. 8 positioning. Should the Cougars win the PacWest tournament, they gain the automatic qualifier berth into the NCAA tournament. Should they lose, they would have to anxiously await the Selection Show to see if they are in, along with whomever won the PacWest tournament.
On the men's side, Azusa Pacific moved from fourth to third, Academy of Art went from sixth to fifth and Biola moved closer to the qualifying group, going from tenth to ninth. Hawaii Hilo was the only one to fall into a more challenging position, dropping from eighth to tenth.
Biola and Hawaii Hilo play each other in Thursday's late PacWest Tournament game at 7:15 HT/9:15 PT. Academy of Art (#3 seed) will tackle host Chaminade at 5 pmHT/7 pm PT. No. 2 seed APU and No. 1 Point Loma await the winners.
APU will do the same on the women's side as the No. 1 seed, facing the winner of Thursday's Point Loma-Biola match-up (2:45/4:45 pm). The opening game of the tournament features #6 seed Hawaii Pacific against #3 Concordia at 12:30 HT/2:30 PT.
Tickets for the PacWest tournament can be accessed here.
You can follow the tournament action via video stream here
Live Stats can be found here.
NCAA West Region Men's Basketball Rankings (D-II record, 3/1/23)
1. Point Loma (24-3)
2. Cal State San Bernardino (24-3)
3. Azusa Pacific (21-6), 3/1/23
4. St. Martin's (20-5)
5. Academy of Art (19-7)
6. Montana State Billings (18-7)
7. Cal State San Marcos (18-9)
8. Seattle Pacific (14-10)
9. Biola (14-10)
10. Hawaii Hilo (14-8)
NCAA West Region Women's Basketball Rankings (D-II record, 3/1/23)
1. Cal State Dominguez Hills (26-1)
2. Western Washington (22-3)
3. Cal State San Marcos (21-5)
4. Montana State Billings (21-6)
5. Cal State LA (19-7)
6. Central Washington (17-7)
7. Cal Poly Pomona (17-9)
8. Azusa Pacific (23-4)
9. Chico State (17-10)
10. Alaska Anchorage (16-9)