I know we are only a handful of games into the season, but I thought I'd get an early jump on the NSIC Power Rankings and later on in the season, it will become a "Central Region" power ranking. I can honestly tell you, there are going to be a lot of surprises in this week's rankings. Some teams are much higher than you'd expect, while others are much lower.
1. Winona State 3-0 (1-0 D2)
PG - W @ Northwood (Fla.) 88-84 (OT)
LG - W @ Barry 83-75 OT
NG - vs. Clark College
Note - The Warriors have looked solid out of the gate and picked up two tough road wins in Florida over the weekend. Northwood is one of the best NAIA teams around and Barry is coming off a 2010 D2 NCAA tourney campaign. Anthony Tucker was sensational over the weekend, scoring 50 points, shooting 15-of-30 from the floor and 12-of-16 from the free throw line and tallying seven steals. Clayton Vette's weekend shouldn't be overshadowed either. He scored 41 points on 15-of-22 shooting and gathering 14 rebounds. The Warriors have one more non-conference contest before conference play starts up against Clark College.
2. U-Mary 2-0 (2-0 D2)
PG - W @ Montana State-Billings 70-68
LG - W vs. Chadron State 75-69
NG - Florida Southern Tourney
Note - The Marauders have picked up two nice D2 wins to start out the season. They had a tough contest in Billings, Montana against the GNAC's third best team, but came away with a 70-68 victory. They followed it up with a tough win at home against the RMAC's 12th best team, Chadron State. While these might not be the prettiest of victories, picking up two D2 wins is important for Mary if they want to claim an NCAA tourney spot. If anything, the Marauders need to be happy with the production of Jordan Wilhelm. Can anyone else believe Wilhelm is leading the Marauders in scoring at 22.5 PPG through the first two games? I thought he would be their third scorer but he's turned on the offensive firepower through the first two games. The Marauders have another opportunity to prove themselves when they play in the Florida Southern tournament over the Thanksgiving weekend.
3. Augustana 2-0 (0-0 D2)
PG - W vs. Jamestown 75-65
LG - W @ Sioux Falls 69-53
NG - vs. Valley City State
Note - While the Vikings might not have had two of the most impressive wins to open up the season, they still need to be taken very seriously for a potential NSIC conference title. Why do I say that? Outside of Cameron McCaffrey, this team has yet to peak offensively. Although, we can't sell C-Mac^2 short. He's currently averaging 23.5 PPG through his first two starts. We all know Cody Schilling, who is averaging 10.0 PPG will heat up. All-in-all, this is going to be a VERY tough defensive team. DeZeeuw is perhaps the best defensive post in the NSIC, Chad Hettermann is the Augie equivalent of Chris Kramer from Purdue, and Cody Schilling has the defense to match the offense. I think there will be a lot of teams that struggle to score 70 points against the Vikings this year.
4. MSU-Mankato 2-0 (2-0 D2)
PG - W vs. Dominican (CA) 64-51 (neutral)
LG - W vs. Notre Dame de Namur (neutral)
NG - vs. Michigan Tech
Note - Perhaps I was wrong about the Mavericks. Perhaps they are better than I give them credit for. They are 2-0 in D2 games, that's worth something in my book. However, I think they'll be kidding themselves if that will help their SOS. Last year, Dominican was 10-17 and Notre Dame de Namur was 4-23. I know last year was last year, but if that trend continues this year, that doesn't help the Mavericks. Still, the Mavericks are probably the fourth best team in the NSIC right now and it certainly helps that the Huskies are struggling because that too, helps the Mavericks. They have a home game coming up against Michigan Tech...considering they are a 3-0 team in D2, that WILL help the Mavericks if they come away with a win.
5. SW Minnesota State 2-1 (1-0 D2)
PG - L @ South Dakota State 94-80
LG - W vs. UM-Morris 87-65
NG - NW Missouri State
Note - This spot really had me beside myself. There are three teams I thought I could stick here. I just had to go with my gut and say the Mustangs. Why? Because they are consistently an upper half team in the NSIC and the play of Scott Roehl scares me. Roehl is currently averaging 19.0 PPG and 10.0 RPG, all the while shooting 67% from the floor. Jordan Miller has turned his play up a notch too averaging 18.0 PPG but they'll need to see more out of Huseby if this team wants to stay up in this spot.
6. Northern State 2-0 (0-0 D2)
PG - W vs. Presentation College 108-63
LG - W vs. Mount Marty 70-62
NG - vs. Jamestown
Note - The Wolves seem like an improved team, even though they haven't exactly faced tough competition so far in their non-conference games. So far, it seems as though their go-to guy is Colin Pryor, who has shown great improvement over last year. The three transfer additions of Tom Parks, Dustin Tetzlaff, and David Lane seem to be paying off, while the freshman Tydan Storrusten and Jared Hannigan will help with the depth. To think this team has depth to boot considering Bojan Todorovic should see more playing time in the coming weeks and Marko Filipovic could cause some problems as well for defenses. Jamestown should provide an interesting test for the Wolves considering they played Augustana tough on their home court.
7. Wayne State 3-0 (1-0 D2)
PG - W vs. Nebraska-Kearney 72-71 (OT)
LG - W vs. York College 75-64
NG - vs. Dakota State
Note - After losing their two best players to graduation last year, it seems as though the Wildcats are poised to surprise a few teams in the NSIC this year. Wayne State's guard play has been outstanding this year, especially the play of Amry Shelby. They are still seeing a lot of scoring from Jason Jensen and Brad Starken naturally, but I am surprised by how well the big guys Ben Tasa and Derrell Williams have been playing so far this year. It really looks like the Wayne State bigs have not lost a step from last year and if they can put together a good inside-outside game, they'll be tough to stop.
8. St. Cloud State 0-3 (0-2 D2)
PG - L vs. Cal State-Dominguez Hills 78-65
LG - L @ Grand Canyon 71-65
NG - vs. St. Scholastica
Note - Whether its the roster or the schedule, nobody has got off to a tougher start than the Huskies. They are currently plagued by injuries and suspensions. On top of that, they are one of few NSIC teams that have yet to play a home game this year. For all the expectations that were laid upon him, Taylor Witt has seen better days as well. In his first three games, Witt is averaging 12.0 PPG, but he's shooting 30% from the field, 13% from the arc and has committed 11 turnovers (almost 4 a game). The opponents they are playing are no pushovers either. Tim Bergstrasser is going to miss the entire season with an ACL tear, Andrew Bernstetter has missed the first three games due to a high ankle sprain, Josh Ortmann missed the last two games with a knee injury and Nate Phillips has missed the first three games due to violating a team rule. All-in-all, it spells a disastrous 0-3 start for the Huskies as things have falen apart at the seems. The good news is they will be getting Bernstetter and Phillips back but will those two be enough to make things right in St. Cloud? Only time will tell...
9. Concordia-St. Paul 1-1 (1-0 D2)
PG - W @ UW-Parkside 69-64
LG - L vs. St. Thomas 76-72
NG - vs. Valley City State
Note - The Golden Bears have been hit-or-miss thus far in the 2010-2011 season and what startles me is the play of their bigs. Brent Barz, who was an all-NSIC performer last year, has only averaged 8.0 PPG and 5.0 RPG in the first two games and Dan Vandervieren has picked up two technical fouls already (this was a problem last year for him). However, it's not all gloom-and-doom for the Golden Bears. They should be more than happy with the play from the Olafeso boys. They are averaging 13.0 PPG and 11.5 PPG respectfully and Isiah Thomas seems to be taking his game to another level. To me, the jury is still out on the Golden Bears because they haven't looked very impressive so far in the two games they played.
10. Bemidji State 2-1 (0-1 D2)
PG - W @ Finlandia 84-63
LG - W vs. UW-Stout 89-87
NG - @ Jamestown
Note - Despite getting off to a tough start to the season to Michigan Tech, the Beavers have rebounded with two wins, including a tough home win against UW-Stout. They've been doing it without starting guard Lance Rongstad to boot. The one guy that has really given Bemidji State a boost is James Ellisor. He leads the team in scoring (19.7 PPG) and rebounding (7.7 RPG) through the first three games. Patrick Cassidy and Bryce Tesdahl have more than carried their own weight and the Beavers are starting to see Burke Lendl, Mason Walters and Jake Lindstrom break into the scoring column. I'll be interested in seeing this team when Rongstad gets back, because I think they'll have some of the best guard play in the league when he does with Rongstad, Tesdahl and Ellisor leading the charge.
11. UM-Duluth 2-2 (0-2 D2)
PG - L vs. Cal State-Dominguez Hills 65-60
LG - W vs. UW-Superior 78-74
NG - vs. UM-Crookston
Note - Color me surprised, but the Bulldogs have not looked as bad as I thought they'd look to start out the season. Granted, their two wins came against nobodies like UW-Superior and Northland, but they haven't looked bad against quality competition like Grand Canyon and Cal State-Dominguez Hills. They played Cal State tough and they only had one bad half against Grand Canyon. What amazes me is the poor play of Ryan Rassmussen and how this team has overcome it. Granted, it seems as though Rassmussen is starting to come around after a 20 point game against UW-Superior. I think you can credit that to the play of Jake Hottenstine and Dylan Rodriguez for the Bulldogs surprising play. I'll be interested to see how this team does in NSIC play though before I put too much stock on the Bulldogs "improvement".
12. Upper Iowa 0-2 (0-2 D2)
PG - L @ Drury 88-69
LG - L vs. Quincy 74-61
NG - vs. Academy of Arts (neutral)
Note - Say what you will about the Peacocks, but they have so played by far-and-away the toughest schedule of any NSIC team. A road game and a home game against the #1 and #2 teams in the GLVC, one of the premiere conferences in D2. I'm just amazed that they didn't lose by 20+ to either opponent, even though they came close against Drury. What does it mean for the Peacocks? They might be the most "NSIC ready", but that doesn't mean they'll have success in the NSIC. I think its ridiculous that the Peacocks have 12 players averaging 10+ minutes a game. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Coach Dolan HAS to find a rotation and stick with it if he wants to have success in the NSIC. Very few can pull off the Don Meyer line change and you need to have talented players up-and-down your roster to pull it off. The Peacocks don't have that. Matt Lesan is a great player and they have some solid guys in Tucker Wentzien and Dan Bestul...but everyone else is an average NSIC player at best and that's being Mother Theresa-esque generous.
13. MSU-Moorhead 2-1 (0-0 D2)
PG - W @ Mayville State 77-73
LG - L @ Concordia-Moorhead 83-78
NG - vs. Gustavus Adolphus
Note - I'm not going to lie, it's tough to rate MSU-Moorhead right now. I could have them as high as 11th and as low as well...13th. Due to a HORRIBLE loss to Concordia-Moorhead, I felt I just had to put the Dragons here for now. I find there are a few positive things about the Dragons and a few negative things. The good news is they are BALANCED! They have five players averaging double-figures through their first three games. They also are an efficient offensive team, averaging 78.7 PPG. However, their problem is they turn the basketball over A LOT. They've turned the ball over 42 times in these first three games, averaging 14 TOs a game. That might not sound like much, but considering they've turned it over 33 times in the last two games, you can see its starting to become a problem. Right now, I consider the Dragons a bottom feeder until they can show me they can beat somebody and not lose to teams in their own town.
14. UM-Crookston 2-0 (0-0 D2)
PG - W @ Finlandia 84-58
LG - W @ Mayville State 78-76
NG - vs. Cross Roads College
Note - I'm laughing at myself for putting a 2-0 basketball team at the bottom of the league. Honestly, I don't know how good (or bad) the Golden Eagles are this year, but I can tell you they are off to a good start. Larry Brown feels like the Cubie replacement, averaging 19.5 PPG in his first two games and Eric Dearden is just what the doctor ordered for Cubie averaging 14.0 PPG. Still, this team turns the basketball over A LOT. They are averaging 20 TOs per game, including a 26 TO performance against Mayville State. TOs killed the Golden Eagles last year and they'll kill the Golden Eagles again this year if they don't get that corrected. Guys like Anthony Tucker, Chad Hettermann and Brad Starken are sharks circling when they take on the Golden Eagles with how turnover prone they are.
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