Here's the final power rankings for the regular season just completed yesterday:
1. UST
2. Bethel
3. (tie) GAC & Concordia
4. SMU
5. Augsburg
6. CSB
7. (tie) Hamline & St. Olaf
8. St. Kate's
9. Carleton
10. Macalester
This last round of power rankings was not as easy as it looked just from glancing at the final MIAC regular season standings. UST, clearly head and shoulders above everyone else is firmly entrenched at the number one spot and Bethel, despite having its eleven-game win streak snapped by the Tommies on Wednesday night, recovered on Saturday to beat Carleton and remains comfortably at the number two position. I have to believe that last Wednesday night's game between the two teams was undoubtedly a preview of things to come in the upcoming MIAC playoffs and I would be shocked if these two don't duke it out again in the MIAC Championship game next Saturday.
But after that, things get pretty convaluted and the Gusties must still be wandering around the town of St. Peter wondering WTF just happened. WHAT an absolutely disastrous regular season finish and entry into the MIAC Playoffs for the Black & Gold. Yes, they did get the expected win this last Wednesday night at home against Macalester but it may have been a pyrrhic victory at best as senior guard Maddie Ehrich went down with an ACL injury effectively ending her career. A damn bloody shame beyond the obvious but, just as bad for the Gusties, they fell flat on their collective faces yesterday at home against visiting CSB and dropped a costly, costly 69-60 decision that not only cost them at having third place alone in the final standings but also knocked them out of what looked to be a sure bet at a number three seed AND a home playoff game all the way down to the number five seed because of the funky tie-breaker system the MIAC employed. It was simply the worst-case scenario nightmare unfolding for the Gusties. While the injury to Ehrich is a devastating loss without question, GAC, IMHO, should have been able to take care of business at home yesterday against CSB which was playing nothing more than a spoiler role (and oh, did they EVER spoil things for GAC) and they failed to do so. With that, the Cobbers, by virtue of their wins this last week including yesterday's home win against Augsburg, slide up to share the third spot in my power rankings with GAC and, more importantly, secure the number three seed and a home game in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs. The other big beneficiary of GAC's misfortunes in all this is SMU and they recovered just enough to salvage what was becoming a disastrous finish to bag wins against bottom-feeders Carleton and Macalester to get the number four spot in my power rankings and - more importantly - the number four seed in the MIAC Playoffs and a home game against the aforementioned GAC team this coming Tuesday night.
A big congratulations is in the offing for Augsburg for securing that sixth playoff spot by virtue of their big win up in St. Joe against CSB this last Wednesday night; the first playoff appearance ever for the Auggies. It's definitely a big step forward for Head Coach Bill McKee's program that has been on the cusp of breaking through the last few years. While yesterday's win at GAC may have smoothed things over a bit for CSB, the Blazers still have to be the biggest disappointment in the MIAC for the second straight season given the collection of talent they have and missing the MIAC Playoffs for the second year in a row has to be an almost unthinkable proposition for a CSB program accustomed to success. St. Olaf predictably came up short at the most critical times this season and Hamline simply wasn't the same once Jordan Sammons was knocked out of action with that broken finger. The big surprise coming down the stretch may have been resurgent St. Kate's which finished the season with three straight victories after enduring a nine-game skid.
Tomorrow, I'll handicap the upcoming MIAC Playoffs and give my prognostications for each of the six teams involved. Should be fun as always.
Fire away with thoughts.
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