As we have had in the past it is time for another post with power rankings for the women's side of the league. Thanks again to the writer who likes to be called bigskywbball.
Sorry, I took last week off from the poll, non d1 wins and road tournaments had the power poll in shambles. But, after a good week of tough games, I am ready to give the power poll another shot! Score in parenthesis is a power score (+2 for road win, +1 for home win, +1 for neutral win, +0.5 for non D1 win, -1 for home loss)
1 - Montana State (8) - MSU threw away a chance for a big win against a weak Big 10 team last weekend against Wisconsin. Even with that missed opportunity, the Cats had big home wins against Utah State and Colorado State and a road win against a very tough North Dakota. Katie Bussey is the best scorer in the league but the Bobcats have had great balance in all their games.
Best Win - @ Portland, @North Dakota
Key Stat - The Cats have an impressive A/TO ratio of 156/143 while their opponents are struggling 111/166
2 - Idaho State (6) - After a frigid start, Kaela Oakes is back running the show in Pocatello and helped lead the Bengals to a pair of wins at the Air Force Classic this past weekend. Both Oakes and Ashleigh Vella were named to the all tournament team with Vella being named tournament MVP. The Bengals main weakness is Montana State's biggest strength (Turnovers) and that is why ISU is still at #2.
Best Win - vs. South Florida
Key Stat - Not a single player for ISU has an A/TO ratio greater than 1.0
3 - Portland State (3) - The Viks have played a very difficult schedule thus far and have won the games they should have won and lost the games they should have lost. A loss to cross town rival Portland hurts the Viks in this poll. Portland has beating PSU and UM but lost to EWU and MSU. Kate Lanz has stepped up and provided Portland State with the best backcourt in the Big Sky, but will the Viks have any answer for the Big Sky's best bigs (Baker, Semansky, Vella, Oosdyke)?
Best Win - vs. Nevada
Key Stat - Teams are shooting a whopping 53.8% from inside the 3pt arc against the Viks (No post presence)
4 - Northern Colorado (5.5) - Winners of 4 of their last 5, the Bears have turned it around after a slow start. Still having a hard time figuring them out as I am sure Coach White is having the same problem figuring out which team is going to show up each night. The Bears put up 71 points in an impressive road win over Air Force followed by grinding out an ugly 44-39 win at home against UCSB. What I do know is that Strange and Oosdyke are elite players in the Big Sky and that is good enough to keep them in the 4 spot.
Best Win - vs. Colorado State
Key Stat - Take Kaisha Brown out of the lineup and the Bears are a dismal 6-33 (18%) from 3 point range.
5 - Montana (4.5) - It is great to see Torry Hill warming up from 3, but the rest of the Lady Griz are 13 - 98 (13%) from 3 on the season. We will know if Montana is for real Monday night as they take on a very good Denver team in Denver.
Best Win - @ Wyoming
Key Stat - For the first time in forever, the Lady Griz are shooting less free throws (100) than their opponents (123)
6 - Eastern Washington (3.5) - Its been an up and down season thus far for the Eagles. Brianne Ryan had an MVP caliber November but tough games with Gonzaga and Boise State will tell us if the Eagles are for real.
Best Win - @ Portland
Key Stat - Eastern Washington is giving up 14.0 offensive rebounds per game.
7 - Northern Arizona (4.5) - NAU 5 - 0 at home and 0-4 on the road. That kind of pattern is good enough to finish somewhere in the middle of the Big Sky which is more than I am willing to give the Jacks at this point in time.
Best Win - vs. UC Riverside
Key Stat - NAU in Flagstaff: 70.4 ppg NAU on road: 55.3 ppg
8 - Sacramento State (3) - Sac has matched its win total from the 10-11 season. Are things turning around at Sac?
Best Win - vs. SIU - Edwardsville
Key Stat - The Hornets still love to shoot it from deep, taking 36.1% of their shots from beyond the arc.
9 - Weber State (0) - Not a lot to be excited about in Ogden although it appears that Coach Ord is doing some fine work recruiting.
Best Win - San Jose State
Key Stat - The Wildcats are sending their opponents to the Free Throw line an average of 23.4 times per game
Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
I enjoy these updates on the women's programs as well. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLady Griz with a close loss on the road against a very good Denver team. Will be a tough team by the time conference rolls around.
ReplyDeleteISU very up and down. They beat South Florida rather easily then score 31 points against Utah.
ReplyDelete