Men's Basketball | 2/19/2020 2:49:00 PM

    INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The West Liberty University men's basketball team checked in at No. 3 here Wednesday afternoon when the NCAA Division II Ranking Committee released its first weekly set of Atlantic Region rankings.
    These are the rankings which help determine the qualifiers for next month'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.
    A pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) squads fill the first two spots with Indiana, Pa. ranked No. 1 and Shippensburg holding down the No. 2 spot. Third-ranked West Liberty leads a trio of Mountain East Conference contenders rounding out the top five with Fairmont State at No. 4 and the University of Charleston at No. 5.
    Perennial Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) power Virginia State is No. 6 with another MEC squad, West Virginia State, opening at No. 7. Pitt-Johnstown squeezed ahead of two more CIAA teams to take the No. 8 spot with Bowie State at No. 9 and Johnson C. Smith at No. 10.
    Updated regional rankings will be released on Feb. 26 and March 4 with the announcement of the 2019-20 tournament field set for March 8. The Atlantic Region Tournament will be held March 14-17 on the home floor of the highest seeded team.
    The 2019-20 NCAA Division II Elite Eight and Final Four will be played March 26 and 28 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. with the 2019-20 NCAA Division II national championship game set for April 5 at Atlanta's State Farm Arena in conjunction with the NCAA Division I "Final Four" festivities.
    The Hilltoppers head to Frostburg State tonight for a 7:30 p.m. game before making the trek to Fairmont on Sunday for a regionally-televised showdown with the No. 4-ranked Falcons. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Joe Retton Arena.
                                                             Div. II    In-Region
Team                                               Record         Record
  1. Indiana (Pa.)                                20-2              20-2
  2. Shippensburg                              19-5              19-5
  3. WEST LIBERTY                             20-3              20-4
  4. Fairmont State                            17-5              17-5
  5. Charleston                                   19-5              19-5
  6. Virginia State                               19-7              19-7
  7. W.Va. State                                  16-6              16-6
  8. Pitt-Johnstown                            16-6              16-6
  9. Bowie State                               16-10            16-10
10. Johnson C. Smith                        17-7              17-7