Men's Basketball | 3/6/2019 3:02:00 PM

    INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team checked in at No. 2 for the third consecutive week on Wednesday when the NCAA Division II National Ranking Committee released its final weekly set of Atlantic Region rankings.
    These are the rankings which help determine the qualifiers for next week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament. Each league's tournament champion receives an automatic regional bid with the top five remaining teams in the final set of regional rankings filling out the 8-team field.
    The highest-ranked team earns the right to host the regional tournament.
    There was no change at the top as Indiana (Pa.) remained locked in at No. 1 heading into this week's PSAC Tournament. Virginia State stayed put at No. 3 behind the Hilltoppers after winning the CIAA Tournament last week.
    Fairmont State continued to climb the ladder, moving up to No. 4 this week after closing the season with two more wins to clinch the No. 2 seed in this week's MEC Tournament. East Stroudsburg moved up two spots to round out the top five.
    Shippensburg made the biggest jump of the week, vaulting from No. 10 a week ago to No. 6 this week on the strength of a win against West Chester, which dropped from No. 6 to No. 7. Mercyhurst dropped from No. 4 to No. 8 following a double-digit loss to unranked Pitt-Johnstown while Notre Dame slipped one spot to No. 9 after a tough one-point road loss at West Liberty. Slippery Rock fell to No. 10 after its second loss of the season to a sub-.500 Gannon squad.
    Brackets, seedings and sites for all eight NCAA Division II regional tournaments will be announced Sunday night at 10:30 on a live Selection Sunday webcast on the NCAA website. The Atlantic Region Tournament will be held March 16-19 with the 2019 NCAA Division II Elite Eight scheduled for March 27-30 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
    The West Liberty men are the No. 1 seed in this week's MEC Tournament at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling. They will play in Friday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal against the winner of Wednesday's first-round game between West Virginia Wesleyan and Wheeling Jesuit.
                                                                    Div. II     In-Region
Team                                                   Record           Record
  1. Indiana (Pa.)                                    25-2                25-2
  2. WEST LIBERTY                                24-3                24-3
  3. Virginia State                                  25-4                25-4
  4. FAIRMONT STATE                        21-7                21-7
  5. E. Stroudsburg                                19-6                19-6
  6. Shippensburg                                  21-6                21-6
  7. West Chester                                  20-7                20-7
  8. Mercyhurst                                      19-6                19-6
  9. NOTRE DAME                                 19-8                19-7
10. Slippery Rock                                  17-9                17-9