Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! Another wild week in MIAC Women's Hoops play and with it, some major changes in my latest Power Rankings. So, buckle up:
1. (tie) Concordia & GAC
2. St. Kate's
3. (tie) CSB & Bethel
4. Hamline
5. Augsburg
6. St. Scholastica
7. Macalester
8. St. Olaf
9. SMU
Okay, so before anyone has a tizzy here and starts going off with how I'm off my rocker for shoving the Cobbers up onto the top spot of my Power Rankings to share with the Gusties, let's remember first that Concordia knocked off GAC this last Wednesday night 73-65 and withstood a furious Gustie rally down the stretch to get the big win. Second, let's also remember as well that there was no letdown by this Concordia team either yesterday as they raced past Augsburg over at Si Melby Hall and looked dominant in doing so. Then, too, the Gusties recovered quite nicely from this disappointment from last Wednesday night and swamped CSB in the comfy confines of Lund Arena yesterday. So the Gusties, with everything they've done so far and how they responded yesterday, deserve to be up there as well. I will admit that in all the years I've been doing this, I don't remember ever having the top teams sharing my number one spot this late in the regular season and it remains to be seen if that form will hold over into next Sunday although I strongly suspect it will. The Cobbers close out the regular season at home in cavernous Memorial Auditorium against St. Olaf on Wednesday night and then St. Scholastica next Saturday. It's a little trickier for the Gusties as on Monday night, they'll resume that aborted game with Augsburg from 1-20 at the 8:11 mark of the second period with GAC firmly in command by a 24-5 count and logic would suggest that they'll close the deal on that one. SMU pays a visit to Lund Arena on Wednesday night before Hamline makes an appearance there next Saturday so, like the Cobbers, the Gusties should be taking care of business here without too much fuss or argument.
Of course, the other thing that's the real shocker here is seeing St. Kate's (yep, St. Kate's) shoved up to the second spot considering what happened ahead of them. But the 'Cats absolutely deserve to be there although they certainly have had a flair for drama this season and that was once again on display this last Wednesday night at Robertson Center against Bethel as the Wildcats were down 31-7 at one point in the second period before they somehow impossibly rallied back in the second half and got two free throws with :00.8 left from freshman guard Hattie Fox to get a seemingly improbable 68-67 win. So obviously, yesterday's 60-44 win over SMU down in Winona pales by comparison. The Wildcats are in excellent position now to snare that third playoff spot and they should at least consolidate on things Wednesday night when they host Augsburg although a tough game to close out the regular season up at CSB looms on Saturday.
Still snuggled together tightly in the third spot are CSB and Bethel although this should be resolved by next weekend. The Bennies had to sail some rough waters this last week as they got popped at home in Claire Lynch by Concordia last Monday night, got a nice win on the road at St. Olaf last Wednesday night before getting taken to the cleaners by GAC yesterday in St. Peter. And this last week of the regular season may not be kind to CSB either as they make another trip down to the Cities to take on said Bethel team on Wednesday night and then host said St. Kate's team next Saturday........And, speaking of the Royals, well, it doesn't get much worse than blowing a huge lead at home only to lose on a controversial call in the waning moments against said St. Kate's team this last Monday night although Bethel did recover enough to take down a vastly-improved St. Scholastica team two nights later. And it probably didn't bother the Royals at all to have yesterday off. But now comes the tricky part for the Royals as they have a huge game at home against aforementioned CSB team on Wednesday night before making the run down to Northfield to close out the regular season against St. Olaf next Saturday.
If the great Fred Rogers of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" was still around and was asked to assess this season for Hamline so far, one might surmise that he might say something along the lines of, "Can you say, inconsistent?" Of course, we remember the big win they had at Augsburg last week Saturday. But then they come back home two nights later in venerable Hutton Arena and get run out of their own crib by St. Olaf? True, the Pipers recovered enough yesterday to down Macalester at home although judging from the score, it wasn't what you would call a dominating performance. Given what we've seen lately, I honestly don't know what to expect when the Pipers host St. Scholastica on Wednesday night but do feel fairly certain about how things will go when they get on US Highway 169 and the Union Pacific's Mankato Sub mainline to go to St. Peter to take on GAC next Saturday.
Well, there you have it for this Super Bowl Sunday. And don't forget, the first (ranked) Regional Rankings will be coming out sometime this coming Tuesday and we'll have to take a look at that obviously. As always, please feel free to fire away with thoughts.....
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