One last time with the Power Rankings for the regular season with the MIAC Playoffs coming up this next week so here we go:
1. GAC
2. Concordia
3. Hamline
4. CSB
5. St. Olaf
6. Bethel
7. Augsburg
8. St. Kate's
9. SMU
10. Carleton
11. Macalester
12. St. Scholastica
Little doubt as to the first two spots. Even I was a bit surprised as to how the Gusties routinely took care of business on the road this last week - a road that was arguably filled with potholes - but GAC dodged them all as they unceremoniously dumped Hamline Wednesday night and then went over to Winona yesterday and applied similar treatment on SMU. They've not only clinched the number-one seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs but have also laid claim to their first-ever outright MIAC regular season title as well and, well, they're incredibly tough to beat.......Concordia waltzed by Carleton on Thursday night and then held off a strong challenge from said Hamline team yesterday to clinch the second seed in the MIAC Playoffs.
Look, nobody really expected Hamline to escape this last week without a couple of Ls pinned on them and they didn't disappoint or exceed expectations. And they were pretty much locked-in to the third seed in the MIAC Playoffs anyway so there you go......CSB meanwhile is likely counting its blessings to be the fourth seed after Wednesday night's 63-60 loss to Macalester but the Bennies found just enough yesterday to get past Bethel. But the road has been a rough one for CSB since the beginning of the month.
Now, maybe they're going to be the sixth seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs but what a run coming down the stretch of the regular season by St. Olaf. Even a mere week ago they were in my rear-view mirror but they kept taking care of business on their end and had some things work out for them elsewhere and then in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion yesterday in the winner-take-all game with St. Kate's for that sixth playoff spot, the Oles came back from being down by as many as twenty-three points to claim victory and St. Olaf has done more than enough for me to have me shove them up to the fifth spot in my Power Rankings because they deserve to be there.......It's been the complete opposite for Bethel which secured the fifth seed in the MIAC Playoffs as the Royals have been in a total tailspin since late January; dropping eight of their last nine games. In all fairness, they're probably pretty fortunate to be where they're at considering how things have gone for them as of late.
Though the Auggies won their final two regular season games this last week, Augsburg slipped badly this year and not having a healthy Anja Smith played a big part in their downfall this season......St. Kate's faltered badly down the stretch; losing their last five games including the winner-take-all game against St. Olaf yesterday that ended their season.....SMU had some incremental improvement over last season and they had some nice victories coming down the home stretch against Hamline, at Augsburg earlier this month and then this last Wednesday night's thrilling overtime win against Bethel.....To me, Carleton disappointed this season after showing promise last year and they never could string together more than two wins at a time.....A rough, rough year for Macalester but they finished nicely winning three out of their last four games......While St. Scholastica may have taken a step backward this season, such is life in the MIAC for a new program coming over from the UMAC.
I'll have a lot more to say about the upcoming MIAC Playoffs here very soon (as well as Mother Nature may have too) so stay tuned.
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