Too early to draw a lot of conclusions at this stage of the season but here's what my first MIAC Power Rankings look like for the 2015-16 season:
1. SMU
2. UST
3. GAC
4. CSB
5. Bethel
6. Concordia
7. St. Olaf
8. Augsburg
9. Macalester
10. St. Kate's
11. Hamline
12. Carleton
Certainly not many people saw this good start by the Cardinals back in mid-October; definitely not your's truly. But here they are sitting at 12-1 overall and 6-0 in the MIAC so it's happy times in Winona for the time being. Having seen them only once so far this season, I'm not entirely sure if they can keep this up but having both senior Bridget Pethke and junior Emma Schaefer backing her up has to be a huge positive for first-year Head Coach Brent Pollari. UST; while not the infallible team they have been the past few seaons, still appeared to be a trendy favorite despite the upset loss to St. Kate's. But all that came to a sudden, crashing halt yesterday when the Tommies absorbed a twenty-point beatdown at home in Schoenecker Arena to Bethel. We'll just have to see how they recover from this. Speaking of beatdowns, GAC took one on the chin (sigh, AGAIN) from said Tommies on Wednesday night over at Schoenecker before they escaped another dangerous road spot at Hamline yesterday. They're still solid at 9-4 overall at 4-2 in conference play but I'll feel a lot better about them once they get senior Lindsey Johnson back.
CSB is something of a surprise so far with their identical 9-4 overall record and 4-2 MIAC record but again, I don't want to get too excited just yet. We just need to see more from this group. Bethel, left for dead over the Christmas break, has seemingly found new life and yesterday's huge 80-60 win at UST could very well be a sign that this team may very well be back. But let us remember, the wobbly start they endured has reduced this team's margin of error to near zero. I still have a lot of mixed feelings about Concordia and what to expect from them this year. They had that good win at Bethel back in December but then were dealt a twenty-point beatdown up at Claire Lynch by the Blazers yesterday. Where's the consistency?
Back-to-back losses by the Oles - at Bethel on Wednesday night and then at home yesterday to SMU, reaffirms my thoughts that this squad will be on the outside looking in again once February rolls around. I think there's enough blame to go around on a lot of fronts there. After dropping five consecutive games in December, the Auggies have recovered somewhat as they recorded wins over Hamline on Wednesday and took care of business at Carleton at home yesterday. Two big contests await them this week: Bethel on Wednesday night and then CSB on Saturday but both are in the friendly confines on Si Melby Hall so Augsburg has to make the most of the opportunity. Macalester has definitely taken two steps forward from last season and yesterday's shocking win at St. Kate's shows how far Head Coach Kelly Roysland has taken this squad in only her second season. Meanwhile, this was one of those games for St. Kate's where they HAD to take care of business at home and they weren't able to do it. As I mentioned before, if the Wildcats have hopes of making the MIAC playoffs, they cannot afford to drop games that are winnable. Hamline is struggling with youth and depth problems but they can still be extremely dangerous and junior Chelsey Bonsante's 25-point performance yesterday likely gave the Gusties nightmares last night. Carleton is limping along at 0-6 in the conference as Head Coach Cassie Kosiba's team has been beset by injuries; most notably to sophomore Anne Hamilton and senior Gabbi Steinstra.
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