Wednesday, February 19, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - Seattle Pacific and Western Washington earned No. 4 and No. 7 rankings in the first NCAA Division II West Regional Men's Basketball poll of the 2014 season.

The poll will eventually determine which five teams join the GNAC, PacWest and CCAA champions in the regional tournament, which begins Friday, March 14.  The league champions earn automatic berths.

The top-ranked team in the poll is Cal State Bernardino.  Cal Baptist of the PacWest Conference is ranked second and Cal Poly Pomona of the CCAA is ranked third.  Generally, the top-ranked team hosts the regional.

Two more polls will be held before the NCAA announces the regional field on Sunday, March 9 on ncaa.com.  The women's show will be at 7 p.m. Pacific followed by the men's show at 7:30.

The GNAC will determine its champion and its automatic berth winner with a tournament March 5-8.  Saint Martin's University will host the tournament at Marcus Pavilion.

NCAA West Region - 1. Cal State San Bernardino (18-3); 2. Cal Baptist (22-1); 3. Cal Poly Pomona (17-3); 4. Seattle Pacific (20-4); 5. Dixie State (19-4); 6. Chico State (16-5); 7. Western Washingon (13-6); 8. Chaminade (13-7); 9. Dominican (17-7); 10. Cal State Stanislaus (12-8).  Note: Record listed is in games against Division II opponents only.