In other words, what eventually gets revealed in the form of regional brackets announced on the evening of Sunday, March 10 begins forming for real this week.
The season's first official ranking will be announced Wednesday. There will be weekly updates to the rankings on the following two Wednesdays as a leadup to the final announcement on March 10.
As we mentioned in this space last week, these six-person regional committees will sift through all kinds of season-long data in eventually determining the top teams in the region. (Remember: each conference's postseason tournament champion earns an automatic bid, meaning these committees ultimately decide the five at-large berths for the eight-team regional tournaments in each gender).
The chairs of the West Region committees hail from the GNAC -- athletic director Krista Montague of Montana State Billings for the women and head coach Rusty Osborne of the University of Alaska Anchorage for the men. Both are veterans in this process; Montague is in her third year as regional ranking chair, while Osborne, the incoming men's chair. served a previous stint on this committee.
Click here to see the names of those on the Regional Advisory Committee across Division II.
Potential Men's Regional Hosts
As we mentioned in our post last week, the No. 1 seed in the region earns hosting rights for the eight-team regional tournament. The top contenders continue to be Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene from the GNAC, Point Loma from the PacWest and Cal State East Bay and Cal Poly Pomona from the CCAA.
Potential Women's Regional Hosts
Unbeaten UC San Diego (22-0) is among a few top contenders for hosting rights, a group which includes the GNAC's Alaska Anchorage (23-1) and Northwest Nazarene (22-1).
OK, on to the standings leaders (top six plus ties) through games of Saturday, Feb. 16.
Men's Standings |
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| GNAC | Conf | Overall | Streak |
| Saint Martin's | 14-2 | 21-3 | Won 4 |
| Northwest Nazarene | 13-3 | 18-4 | Won 3 |
| Seattle Pacific | 12-4 | 15-6 | Won 6 |
| Western Oregon | 10-6 | 17-8 | Lost 2 |
| Alaska Anchorage | 8-8 | 13-11 | Won 1 |
| Montana State Billings | 8-8 | 13-11 | Won 2 |
| PacWest | Conf | Overall | Streak |
| Point Loma | 17-2 | 21-4 | Won 1 |
| Concordia-Irvine | 15-3 | 19-8 | Won 3 |
| Azusa Pacific | 13-5 | 16-9 | Won 2 |
| Chaminade | 12-5 | 18-5 | Lost 1 |
| Holy Names | 11-9 | 12-13 | Lost 1 |
| Hawai'i Hilo | 9-9 | 11-11 | Lost 1 |
| CCAA | Conf | Overall | Streak |
| Cal State East Bay | 15-4 | 20-5 | Won 4 |
| Cal Poly Pomona | 14-5 | 16-5 | Won 9 |
| UC San Diego | 13-5 | 18-7 | Lost 1 |
| San Francisco State | 11-7 | 15-8 | Won 1 |
| Humboldt State | 10-8 | 16-10 | Won 1 |
| Cal State Dominguez Hills | 10-8 | 12-11 | Won 1 |
Women's Standings |
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| GNAC | Conf | Overall | Streak |
| Alaska Anchorage | 15-1 | 23-1 | Won 16 |
| Northwest Nazarene | 14-1 | 22-1 | Won 5 |
| Simon Fraser | 12-4 | 16-7 | Won 4 |
| Central Washington | 10-5 | 15-7 | Won 4 |
| Western Washington | 9-7 | 14-10 | Won 2 |
| Concordia-Portland | 7-9 | 12-12 | Won 1 |
| PacWest | Conf | Overall | Streak |
| Azusa Pacific | 17-1 | 20-4 | Won 3 |
| Dominican | 16-3 | 19-4 | Lost 1 |
| Hawai'i Pacific | 15-3 | 17-7 | Lost 1 |
| Point Loma | 14-5 | 15-10 | Won 9 |
| Fresno Pacific | 13-6 | 17-8 | Won 2 |
| Concordia-Irvine | 9-9 | 10-13 | Won 3 |
| CCAA | Conf | Overall | Streak |
| UC San Diego | 18-0 | 22-0 | Won 2 |
| Cal Poly Pomona | 16-3 | 20-4 | Won 1 |
| Humboldt State | 13-5 | 15-6 | Won 4 |
| Cal State San Marcos | 10-8 | 13-9 | Won 2 |
| Chico State | 9-9 | 12-9 | Lost 4 |
| Cal State East Bay | 9-10 | 12-13 | Won 1 |
