MIAC Power Rankings For Sunday 1-19-14

Major, major shake-up in the power rankings for this Sunday evening in lieu of the events that unfolded this past week and yesterday:

1.  SMU
2.  (tie) Bethel & Concordia
3.  UST
4.  St. Olaf
5.  (tie) CSB & Augsburg
6.  GAC
7.  Carleton
8.  St. Kate's
9.  Hamline
10. Macalester

The Cardinals remain perched atop of the power rankings on this night as they overcame a double-digit deficit at Hamline to get a "W" and then took care of business at home against faltering GAC.  But this coming week will be a challenging one - a road trip to always-tricky Augsburg tomorrow night and then the big home game back in Winona against Bethel.  I had to shove both Bethel and Concordia into the second spot.  Bethel took care of business this last week but, like SMU, this coming week will prove to be a challenging one:  St. Olaf at home tomorrow night and then that aforementioned game in Winona on Wednesday night.  And how about those Concordia Cobbers?!  They went into Anderson Athletic Center and shut down an explosive UST team in the Tommies own crib.  You simply can't say enough about how Concordia Head Coach Jessica Rahman always seems to have her teams prepared for these huge statement games.  And they definitely made a statement yesterday.  While dreams of another Final Four and National Championship were being bandied about in Tommie Land before the start of the season, UST is suddenly reeling as they've been handed two setbacks in the course of a week.  I still think that UST has the potential to be not only regular season but tournament champ as well but let's be honest here.  This is simply not the same team with BOTH Jen Dockter and Anna Smith being out with season-ending injuries.  "Relentless" is the team's motto this season but that might have to change to "Survival" now.  The bottom line here is that this appears to be a four-horse race the rest of the way.

St. Olaf was able to escape Hutton Arena yesterday with a two-point victory over Hamline; never an easy thing to do so I'll give them the nod for the fourth spot here.  Likewise, CSB scored an important road win yesterday at Carleton that may have saved their season from completely going down the tubes.  I wasn't expecting Augsburg to beat Bethel at Bethel yesterday but this coming week is daunting:  home dates against SMU on Monday night and UST on Wednesday night before a huge contest at St. Olaf next week Saturday.  In short, this could be the week that makes or breaks the Auggies season.  It's incredibly sad to see how GAC has completely come apart at the seams with the 27-point beatdown at home by UST and then dropping a decision at SMU yesterday.  The bad thing is that I simply don't see a way out of this funk for them this season when I see the teams that are in front of them now.  For a program that flirted with elite status for the last decade, it's difficult to accept.  Carleton still has an outside shot of getting back into the thick of things and this coming week and weekend is a big opportunity for them and they'll simply have to make the most of it if they're going to.