4th place Eagles stay seated above Flagler in the regional standings.
The NCAA released the final round of regional rankings before the NCAA tournament, which has Carson-Newman still in the fourth-place slot in the standings.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA released the final round of regional rankings before the NCAA tournament, which has Carson-Newman still in the fourth-place slot in the standings.
The Eagles were ranked last season in the regional, but have not been ranked as high as fourth since 2022 when they were third in the standings.
The only teams ranked above Carson-Newman in the standings are the fellow SAC competitors, all of which C-N lost head-to-head matches to. Despite this, Carson-Newman's successful weekend at the USC Aiken Tournaments saw victories over fellow ranked teams like Aiken and Francis Marion, boosting the Eagles above all the other teams under consideration.
Since last week, teams above and below the Eagles have shuffled around. Lenoir-Rhyne fell to the third spot, swapping places with the now #2 ranked Anderson. Emmanual (GA) has re-entered the regional standings to grab the eighth spot, sending Francis Marion and USC Aiken down to ninth and tenth, respectively. Converse was bumped out with Emmanual's entry. Wingate still holds top honors in the region.
Aside from the four SAC schools receiving consideration, five schools from the Peach Belt Conference are also represented in the Southeast regional, including Augusta (23-7), Flagler (19-9), Lander (17-9), Francis Marion (21-8), and USC Aiken (15-15). One Conference Carolinas team rounds out the ranked teams, Emmanuel (19-9).
Carson-Newman is 5th in the conference in RPI (.596), trailing only the three other SAC schools and Augusta, which narrowly holds the .002 advantage at .598. Flagler, Aiken, and Lander are the podium finishers in strength of schedule. C-N has the 17th hardest strength of schedule in the Southeast Region out of the 35 teams. Only Emmanual and Francis Marion are below them in that mark.
Despite dropping in strength of schedule, Carson-Newman has gained ground in the KPI standings, climbing five spots to sit 42nd nationally with a .263 KPI. They sit just below Lenoir-Rhyne in that mark, who dropped to 41st after their loss to Coker. Lenoir-Rhyne's best win this season was the one at Holt Fieldhouse against C-N. Carson-Newman earned .700 for their win over West Virginia Wesleyan at the beginning of the season, and their worst valued loss was to the Bears at -0.058.
This is the last of three region rankings that the NCAA publicizes leading up to the NCAA tournament. The rankings are the official poll utilized by the NCAA in the championship selection process.
The NCAA selection show takes place on November 24th and 7:30 PM where the committee will announce the 23 automatic qualifiers and select 41 teams at large. Following the selection show, the regional will take place on December 4-7. The National Championship game will be on December 13th.
Before that, Carson-Newman will have the chance to earn a higher seed. They face #15 Wingate in the conference semifinals at 4:30 PM on Friday, November 21st at the Rock Hil Sports and Events Center.
| Overall | In-region | ||
| 1 | Wingate | 25-0 | 25-1 |
| 2 | Anderson (SC) | 20-5 | 20-6 |
| 3 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 20-5 | 20-6 |
| 4 | Carson-Newman | 20-4 | 23-4 |
| 5 | Flagler | 19-9 | 19-12 |
| 6 | Augusta | 23-7 | 24-7 |
| 7 | Lander | 17-9 | 18-9 |
| 8 | Emmanual (GA) | 19-9 | 19-9 |
| 9 | Francis Marion | 21-8 | 21-9 |
| 10 | USC Aiken | 15-15 | 15-15 |
