INDIANAPOLIS - The Fort Hays State women's basketball team is again ranked first in the second release of the 2022 NCAA Division II Central Region rankings, distributed on Wednesday (Feb. 23) by the NCAA office.
This week's rankings look fairly similar to the first release, with the same 10 programs recognized again this time around. The top four teams all stayed in the same place, with the bottom six moving around slightly. Harding fell from fifth to 10th after two losses, while Missouri Southern, Minnesota State-Mankato and Nebraska-Kearney all moved up two spots to fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Missouri Western, FHSU's opponent Wednesday evening, dipped two spots to eighth after taking a loss while Central Missouri jumped from 10th to ninth.
The Tigers are one of five MIAA programs listed amongst the top 10 teams in the region at this point of the season. Fort Hays State and St. Cloud State are tied for the fewest losses in the region with three, but the Tigers defeated SCSU earlier this season in Hays. The Northern Sun has three teams ranked in the top six, while the Great American Conference has two teams in the rankings. Fort Hays State has the top performance indicator in the region and the second-best in-region RPI behind SWOSU.
The Tigers and the rest of the MIAA programs, along with the teams from the Great American Conference, still have two more games to go in the regular season. The Northern Sun, on the other hand, will open its conference tournament tonight before crowning a champion next Tuesday (March 1).
This year's NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship will be back to a full field of 64 teams made up of eight eight-team regionals. The top seed in each region will have the opportunity to host the first three rounds of the tournament (March 11-14) before the eight regional champions meet up in Birmingham, Ala. for the Elite Eight (March 21-25).
In the Central Region, the conference tournament champions from the MIAA, NSIC and GAC receive an automatic bid with the rest of the field filled with the top five remaining teams at-large.
Final selections for the 2022 NCAA Division II Central Region Championships will be announced on Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.
NCAA DII Central Region Rankings - February 23, 2022
(Overall DII Record)(In-Region Record)
1. Fort Hays State 21-3 21-3
2. St. Cloud State 21-3 21-3
3. Minnesota Duluth 21-4 21-4
4. Southwestern Oklahoma State 24-4 24-4
5. Missouri Southern State 19-5 19-5
6. Minnesota State Mankato 19-5 17-5
7. Nebraska-Kearney 18-6 18-6
8. Missouri Western 19-6 19-6
9. Central Missouri 16-10 15-10
10. Harding 17-8 17-8
*Through games played Sunday, February 13, 2022