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| Concordia not only has the inside track to the MIAC regular season title and the #1 seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs with yesterday's big home win over Macalester but Cobbers Head Coach Kim Wagers notched her 100th win at the helm of the program as well. |
Hard to believe that we're coming up on the last week of the regular season but even though the MIAC Playoff field is set with its participants there's still a lot of moving pieces in place before we know who's going to be in what spot. In the meantime, here's my latest Power Rankings after another topsy-turvy week:
1. Concordia
2. SMU
3. GAC
4. Bethel
5. Hamline
6. St. Scholastica
7. CSB
8. St. Kate's
9. Carleton
10. Augsburg
11. St. Olaf
12. Macalester
Little question regarding the top two spots this week. The Cobbers dodged a danger spot this last Wednesday night by holding off a tricky St. Kate's team at Butler Center before yesterday's demolition of Macalester back in the friendly confines of cavernous Memorial Auditorium on Senior Day where Head Coach Kim Wagers recorded her 100th victory at the reigns of the Cobber program. This last week of the regular season appears doable enough for Concordia with St. Olaf coming to town on Wednesday night but another danger spot on the horizon looms this coming Saturday as the Cobbers must venture over to the frigid shores of Gitche Gumee to take on a St. Scholastica team playing with absolutely nothing to lose now that they've officially clinched a playoff spot. For Concordia, their biggest enemy right now might be complacency and that's absolutely the LAST thing you want going into the MIAC Playoffs........And it was a good week for the Cardinals as they came up to the Cities this last Wednesday night and unceremoniously dumped Augsburg before applying similar treatment to St. Scholastica yesterday back home in Winona. But this last week of the regular season could be the most challenging of all for SMU as they have to make yet another trip up US Highway 61 and the CPKC River Sub mainline back to the Cities to face Hamline at venerable Hutton Arena on Wednesday night before a run to St. Peter this coming Saturday to face GAC and for a team that not only wants to protect a first-round playoff bye but also keep their NCAA Tournament hopes above water as well, this could very well be the show-and-tell week for the Cardinals.
GAC continues to quietly go about its business and be quite efficient in doing so as well as they took Carleton to the woodshed this last Wednesday night in Northfield and then ran away from St. Kate's at home in Lund Arena yesterday. But the Gusties can ill-afford to relish in this four-game win streak as they too have a very challenging week ahead of them that could significantly affect not only their playoff seeding but their NCAA Tournament chances as well. It all starts with a long roadie up to the frigid shores of Gitche Gumee on Wednesday night to take on St. Scholastica before hosting SMU back home in St. Peter on Saturday and again, this could be a telling week for them........The home stretch looked to be all good for the Royals coming into this last week - but that was before Hamline showed up at Robertson Center this last Wednesday night and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season. True, Bethel did recover and handily took care of Carleton down in Northfield yesterday but if you can't see the red flags surrounding this Bethel team by now, I don't know what to tell you. The Royals finish up the regular season by running over to Augsburg on Wednesday night before hosting St. Kate's in the regular season finale this coming Saturday and even though they should easily take care of business in both games, it's becoming clearer and clearer that Bethel is now effectively playing with house money.
With their MIAC Playoff status up in the air a week ago at this time, Hamline needed to have a big week and they definitely got it as they rolled up Snelling Avenue this last Wednesday night and pulled off maybe the biggest upset of the season so far as they knocked off Bethel at Robertson Center. Then they followed that up yesterday in a big showdown with CSB at Hutton Arena and ran the Bennies out of town and clinched a MIAC Playoff spot in the process. But the Pipers job is not done yet as they have a huge home game on Wednesday night with SMU coming to town before finishing up the regular season by strolling down Snelling Avenue to take on Macalester at Leonard Center on Saturday........It was a glass half full (or a glass half empty depending upon your point of view) for the Saints this last week as they held off a strong challenge from St. Olaf this last Wednesday night but the game yesterday in Winona with SMU proved to be a bridge too far. But St. Scholastica can't be complaining too much today as they've officially clinched a spot in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs with the results from yesterday so that at least takes the pressure off of them for the last week of the regular season and it's probably just as well they'll have GAC in Reif Center on Wednesday night before Concordia comes calling on Saturday.
So there's how things look from my perspective on this day. And since we're edging closer to the MIAC Playoffs and the NCAA Tournament pairings, I'm planning to start providing some peeks as to what the bigger picture is starting to look like as well.
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