Mid-Major Top 25
ABILENE, Texas — The ACU Wildcats just finished the most successful regular season in the 98 years of the men's program and they were rewarded for that performance on Tuesday when they made the program's first appearance in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
The Wildcats — who have received votes in the poll all season — finished the regular season ranked No. 25 in the mid-major poll, which has Gonzaga (29-2) ranked No. 1 in the nation in the mid-major poll. The Bulldogs are also the nation's top-ranked team in the latest Associated Press and USA Today. Coaches' polls.
Rounding out the top five behind Gonzaga are Wofford (28-4) at No. 2, Wofford (28-3) at No. 3, Murray State (27-4) at No. 4 and Belmont (26-5) at No. 5. Southland Conference regular-season champion Sam Houston State (21-10) checks in at No. 20 in the poll.
The Wildcats this season set program records for wins in the regular season (25) and conference victories in a season (14) as they finished second to Sam Houston State in the Southland Conference at 14-4. Sam Houston State and ACU each earned a double-bye in this week's conference postseason tournament and neither plays until Friday evening at the Merrell Center in Katy.
ACU will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday against one of three possibilities: No. 3 seed Southeastern Louisiana, No. 6 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or No. 7 seed Central Arkansas. UCA and Corpus Christi will play Wednesday night in the second first-round game of the tournament, and the winner will advance to Thursday evening's quarterfinals against Southeastern Louisiana.
The winner of that game Thursday night will advance to take on the Wildcats, who are making the program's first appearance at the conference tournament in its second year of eligibility after making the transition from NCAA Division II membership to NCAA Division I affiliation.
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