The first weekend in February is upon us and you can finally start see things shaping up for the home stretch and with it, comes some more changes with this weekend's version of my Power Rankings. So here we go:
1. GAC
2. Concordia
3. (tie) St. Kate's, CSB & Bethel
4. Hamline
5. Augsburg
6. Macalester
7. St. Scholastica
8. St. Olaf
9. SMU
It was nothing less than a routine week for the Gusties as they recorded romps over St. Scholastica at home last Wednesday night and then yesterday at Bethel. It's a bit tough to gauge this coming week for GAC, however, as they make another trip back up US Highway 169 and the Union Pacific Mankato Sub mainline to the Cities before heading up to Moorhead on Wednesday night for what could be a titanic clash with Concordia before settling in back at home next Saturday to face CSB. While the smart money likely makes GAC a favorite on both Wednesday night and next Saturday, they can't get caught up looking too far ahead either.......Now, the Cobbers did indeed take out their frustrations on SMU last Wednesday night in the comfy confines of cavernous Memorial Auditorium as expected but now comes the big week for Concordia - a trip down to St. Joe on Monday night to face off against an always-tricky CSB team and then the titanic home game with said GAC team on Wednesday night back home in Moorhead. I mean, I don't know how else to put this - this is an absolutely MUST win week for Concordia if there ever was one. As I said last weekend, their margin for error is now zero and they need this game against GAC on Wednesday night. It's just that simple. And then the Cobbers have to come back down to the Cities this next Saturday to take on a slumping Augsburg team. So this is the week where we'll obviously find out a lot more about Concordia.
I think we all knew that the big question this season is who would be able to settle into that third spot with a chance to host a MIAC Playoff Quarterfinal game. Right now, anyway, it's anyone's guess as I currently have St. Kate's, CSB and Bethel all snuggled tightly together in the third spot in my Power Rankings and it's uncertain at the moment as to how this will all play out. First, it was definitely a solid week for the Wildcats as they got two big wins at home - against Hamline last Wednesday night and then yesterday against St. Olaf that gets St. Kate's into very good positioning again. You look at this coming week and things look quite doable for the most part for the Wildcats - running over to Bethel on Monday night, hosting Macalester on Wednesday night and then making the run down US Highway 61 and the CPKC River Sub mainline to Winona on Saturday to take on SMU. While I would make Monday night's game more or less a tossup, the 'Cats should definitely take care of biz on the other two games.......A solid week this last week for the Bennies as well as they recorded wins at home against both Augsburg last Wednesday night and then yesterday against St. Scholastica (and congrats to Head Coach Mike Durbin on his 1,000th game with CSB yesterday as well). Unlike St. Kates, CSB has a very taxing schedule this coming week - hosting Concordia on Monday night, running down to Northfield on Wednesday night to play at St. Olaf and then a date with 6th-ranked GAC on Saturday in St. Peter. Ouch. The smart money here sees the Bennies going 1-2 this coming week.......Bethel did what we expected them to do this last week - thumping Macalester last Wednesday night before getting thumped by aforementioned GAC team yesterday. A relatively light week lays ahead for the Royals but one game does indeed loom huge - the aforementioned Monday night game with St. Kate's at Butler Center which looks to be a tossup in my view. On Wednesday night, Bethel ventures up to the shores of Gitche Gumee to take on St. Scholastica before having next Saturday off.
The real Jekyll and Hyde team of the MIAC is, without question, Hamline. After that big win last week Saturday against Concordia, the Pipers ran over to Butler Center this last Wednesday night and had to take a dose of their own medicine as St. Kate's junior forward Greta Schimnowski applied similar blowtorch to Hamline in the 'Cats win. Fortunately for Hamline, they recovered and took it to Augsburg yesterday over at Si Melby Hall. This coming week looks doable for the Pipers and if there was ever a week where they wanted to steady the ship, this would be it as they host St. Olaf Monday night and then Macalester this coming Saturday that offers them an opportunity to cement their grip on that sixth spot........Plummeting and plummeting fast is Augsburg as the Auggies dropped two critical games this last week that effectively puts them between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the MIAC Playoffs - at CSB last Wednesday night and then at home against Hamline yesterday. And it's going to be difficult to say the least for Augsburg to make up much ground this coming week as they go to SMU on Wednesday night but then have the big bad Cobbers coming to town next Saturday. Needless to say, things are not looking up for the Auggies right now.
And, as you can imagine, I've had my watchful on things around the upper Midwest with the other conferences to see how things are shaping up there and I'm also anxiously awaiting the first Regional Rankings to be released soon. Once that info comes out, I'll get you all up to speed.
As always, feel free to fire away with thoughts......
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