AUGUSTA, Georgia -- The Paine men's basketball team begins SIAC conference tournament play on Wednesday. They may have to win that tourney to make the D2 NCAA Tournament. Despite winning the regular season title and finishing the regular season with a 22-5 record, the Lions were not ranked in the last D2 Men's College Basketball Regional Rankings released on February 25th. They had been ranked 7th in the South region in the previous rankings but fell out despite not losing (they won their final 8 games to end the regular season). The rankings are used to determine at large bids to the D2 NCAA Tournament.
WJBF Sports inquired with the NCAA about Paine surprisingly falling out of the rankings. Here is a statement from Donnie Wagner, NCAA Associate Director of Championships and Alliances:
"There are many factors that go into a team's ranking other than just a team's winning percentage. The committee has a number of criteria that they evaluate on a week to week basis to formulate their rankings for each particular week. The committee will evaluate a team's strength of schedule in comparison to others teams under consideration as well as any head to head results, results vs. common opponents and how they have done vs. other ranked teams. The committee had considerable discussion in regards to Paine but in the end, the committee determined that Paine had not done enough to be ranked in the top ten in the region for this particular week. They will continue to be evaluated vs. other teams in the region as the committee completes their rankings again this week."
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