RSC Men's Basketball Weekly Report: Week 11 -- Feb. 16, 2017 #RSC #RSCMBB
RSC Men's Basketball Weekly Report: Week 11 -- Feb. 16, 2017 #RSC #RSCMBB
FLORENCE, Ky. -- The River States Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Report for Week 11 comes to you with the final installment of the season. That's because we've reached the last weekend of the regular season. This weekly feature is at RiverStatesConference.com.
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 17-18 are the final two days of the regular season, and there is still much to play for be it divisional titles, regular-season championships or the last couple of playoff spots. All of that will be decided with two conference games on Friday and six more on Saturday.
AT THE TOP
A few teams are still in contention for the RSC regular-season championship and the NAIA Division II national tournament automatic bid that comes with it.
No. 24 IU Southeast (21-5, 15-2 RSC) is in the driver's seat as the leader of the RSC West Divsion. The Grenadiers can clinch the regular-season conference championship with a win in the RSC Men's Basketball Game of the Week at home versus Brescia on Saturday.
Should the Grenadiers not win that game, No. 11 WVU Tech (20-7, 12-3 RSC) could claim that prize by winning its games versus Carlow (Friday) and Point Park (Saturday) coupled with a loss by No. 12 IU East on Saturday at Ohio Christian. The Red Wolves (22-7, 13-3 RSC) can win the RSC East Division with a victory over OCU.
CLINCHED PLAYOFFS
Three other teams have already clinched playoff spots as the weekend begins. That includes Ohio Christian locked into the No. 3 seed out of the RSC East Division. Cincinnati Christian and Brescia are currently in second and third place, respectively in the RSC West and will both guaranteed among the top four playoff spots.
Cincinnati Christian finishes up at Asbury, Brescia is at IU Southeast, and Ohio Christian hosts No. 12 IU East as mentioned earlier.
IN THE HUNT
With six of the eight playoff spots already spoken for, that leaves two spots up for grabs, one from each of the divsions. Heading into the final weekend, fourth-place Rio Grande (6-9 RSC) holds a 1.0 game lead over fifth-place Point Park (5-10 RSC) for the final postseason spot in the RSC East. Rio Grande hosts Point Park on Friday, the first of two games for each team this weekend. On Saturday, Rio Grande hosts Carlow, and Point Park goes to WVU Tech.
In the RSC West, Asbury (8-9 RSC) is in fourth place with a 1.0-game lead over Alice Lloyd (7-10 RSC) for the final playoff spot. The teams split the season series and both finish up at home on Saturday. Asbury hosts CCU, and Alice Lloyd welcomes IU Kokomo.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Stay close to RiverStatesConference.com to follow the action this weekend. Log on for links to live coverage, which includes video streaming for seven of the eight conference games this weekend. Five of those games will be streamed on Stretch Internet. Visit the RSC Game Central presented by Stretch Internet for brodcast listings: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/RSC
PLAYOFF OUTLOOK
The River States Conference Men's Basketball Tournament begins Feb. 22 at campus sites around the RSC. The eight-team, single-elimination tournament begins with the top two teams from each division hosting games Feb. 22. The third- and fourth-place teams go on the road for the first round with matchups crossing over the divisions.
Winners advance to the semifinals on Feb. 25, and the finals are Feb. 28. The higher seed hosts each game throughout the tournament. All games of the RSC Men's Basketball Tournament will be streamed on the RSC Game Central presented by Stretch Internet. Subscribe for $7.95 per game or $19.99 for the entire tournament.