Well, here we go with the first MIAC Power Rankings for this season:
1. UST
2. GAC
3. Bethel
4. SMU
5. Concordia
6. Hamline
7. Augsburg
8. CSB
9. St. Kate's
10. (tie) Carleton & St. Olaf
11. Macalester
Not much of a question as to the top spot but I struggled mightily with the next four spots; changing my mind about two or three times before finally settling on placing the Gusties into the second spot. I've only seen them once so far this season but definitely liked what I saw and they found a way to win a tough one yesterday at St. Olaf. I think they're definitely headed in the right direction although it's certainly not a given that they'll stay in that second spot. The big disappointments from this last weekend were road losses suffered by both Bethel and SMU. They may be able to recover from these losses okay, but they could be costly in the big scheme of things. While I give Concordia major props for knocking off the Cardinals yesterday and while they may have finally figured a few things out in the AL (After Lippert)-era, they're still saddled with an unimpressive 6-4 overall record and I've got to see more from them before I'm sold.
Hamline, meanwhile, rolled to an easy win at home against Macalester yesterday and they may be poised to make a move should a team or two above them falter. Augsburg, too, looked good in their win against St. Kate's yesterday. For these two teams, it's ultimately going to boil down to whether (1) they can play defense and (2) can they be consistent enough to steal a win on the road where they're least expected to do it. CSB still has way too many question marks hovering over it at this time despite the win against Bethel yesterday to make me thing that they're a legitimate playoff contender and St. Kate's simply can't seem to get over the hump yet. Looks like it's going to be a LONG season for the two crosstown rivals down in Northfield and Macalester is just very young and inexperienced at this time.
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