RSC Men's Basketball Weekly Report -- Week 7 -- Jan. 19, 2017 #RSC #RSCMBB
FLORENCE, Ky. -- Week 7 of the River States Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Report comes to as things begin to take shape in the conference standings. Look for this weekly feature at RiverStatesConference.com.
SHAPING UP
The standings in the RSC East and West Divisions are beginning to shape up as we hit the third weekend in January. No. 11 IU East and No. 25 WVU Tech have separated in the RSC East with conference records of 8-1 and 7-1, respectively. Likewise (RV) IU Southeast has separated in the RSC West at 6-1 conference.
Only one of the other 10 teams in the conference is more than one game above .500 in RSC play as we head into the weekend, IU East, WVU Tech and IU Southeast have the edge for the titles within their divisions and possibily the best conference record across both divisions, the latter of which locks up a NAIA Division II national tournament bid.
While the above mentioned information will provide an exciting race at the top of each division, there are also tight battles going on farther down the standings of each division. All 13 conference teams are still within reach of a playoff spot as the last-place teams are just 2.0 games out of fourth place with about 10 games to go. That margin is just 1.5 games in the RSC East. The top four teams in each division qualify for the eight-team River States Conference tournament that begins Feb. 22.
In the RSC East, Ohio Christian (5-3 RSC) and Point Park (4-4 RSC) currently hold the third and fourth playoff spots, but Rio Grande (3-5 RSC) and Carlow (2-5 RSC) are both within 1.5 games of playoff qualification.
The RSC West has six teams that are separated by just 3.0 games from second place to seventh place. Cincinnati Christian (3-3 RSC) currently leads that group followed by Asbury and IU Kokomo at 4-5, Alice Lloyd at 3-6, Brescia at 2-6 and Midway at 2-7. Asbury and IU Kokomo are in the final playoff placements as of now, but Brescia and Midway each play multiple games this weekend sitting just 1.5 and 2.0 out, respectively.
BIG WEEKEND
With the standings as covered previously, this coming weekend is an important one for teams that want to move up in the standings or prevent themselves from falling further behind. Making up two games in the standings with 10 to go is a lot easier than making up four games with eight to go, as is the case for some teams in action depending on if they win or lose.
The weekend action gets started with three conference games on Friday night at 8 p.m. ET with Carlow at IU Southeast, Point Park at Brescia and Rio Grande at Midway. Alice Lloyd is hosting Warren Wilson in non-conference at 6 p.m. ET.
Saturday features five more RSC matchups tipping off at 3 p.m. ET with Cincinnati Christian at No. 11 IU East, No. 25 WVU Tech at Midway, IU Kokomo at Ohio Christian and Brescia and IU Southeast switching their opponents from Friday night of Point Park and Carlow.
STREAKING
There are several RSC teams on win streaks currently. Ohio Christian leads that group with six straight wins, five of which have in conference play. That has taken the Trailblazers from 0-3 to 5-3 RSC and right into the middle of the RSC East race. No. 25 WVU Tech has won five in a row overall, but more importantly has won six RSC games in a row to vault up to second place in the East. Not to be out-done, first-place IU East has extended its RSC record to 8-1 with five conference wins in a row.
(RV) IU Southeast has won three straight -- all in conference -- to take control of its division. Also on a win streak in the RSC West is Brescia (2-6 RSC) which has won its last two conference games and three straight overall.
NAIA DII TOP 25
The next edition of the NAIA Division II Top 25 Poll will come out next Tuesday, Jan. 24. There was no poll this week as the NAIA has adopted a new format this year of releasing rankings every two weeks, with the exception of the semester break when their was a month gap. The River States Conference has three teams in the top 30 spots nationall with No. 11 IU East, No. 25 WVU Tech and No. 28 IU Southeast in the last poll released Jan. 10.
STRETCH INTERNET
Five of this weekend's eight RSC men's basketball matchups will be broadcast on Stretch Internet, the official streaming home of the RSC and the RSC championships. Log on to the RSC Game Central presented by Stretch Internet at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/RSC for broadcast listings. Stretch Internet is also the official streaming partner of the NAIA and NAIANetwork.com.