| Rank | Team | Last Week | Change |
| 1. | Youngstown State | 2 | +1 |
| 2. | Milwaukee | 1 | -1 |
| 3. | Northern Kentucky | 5 | +2 |
| 4. | Purdue Fort Wayne | 4 | – |
| 5. | Cleveland State | 7 | +2 |
| 6. | Wright State | 3 | -3 |
| 7. | Oakland | 6 | -1 |
| 8. | Eastern Michigan | 10 | +2 |
| 9. | Robert Morris | 11 | -1 |
| 10. | Detroit Mercy | 9 | -1 |
| 11. | IU Indy | 8 | -3 |
| 12. | Green Bay | 11 | – |
Youngstown State is taking the top spot this week because, well, the Penguins did more to earn this spot. YSU started with heading to Wright State and taking the Raiders down. Then the Penguins fended up an upstart USC-Upstate team on the road in Spartanburg, SC. As has been the case so far this campaign, head coach Ethan Faulker has relied upon a wide range of contributors, and it’s paid dividends on this five-game winning streak.
It’s probably not fair that Milwaukee is No. 2 this week. But all the Panthers had to do is to vanquish a non-D1 team, North Central, and they certainly did that. There’s a good chance, though, that this will be a temporary spot for them.
I don’t know we consistently underestimate Northern Kentucky when the Norse starts the season slow. Because just when we think it’s going to be a down year for NKU, Darrin Horn’s squad rattles off a string of wins to put the Norse back in the mix. And they snagged yet another conference win, beating Detroit Mercy pretty easily. Add in a win over South Carolina State, and NKU is ready to keep rolling against league opponents again.
Slowly but surely, Purdue Fort Wayne has finally worked its way to closer to where we thought they’d be. Their week was pretty mundane in the form of a beatdown of Defiance in which the Mastodons committed zero turnovers, which is a school record and ties and NCAA record. Sure, it was a non-D1 team, but it’s the kind of tune-up that will serve them well as conference play looms. There was the blowout at the hands of Michigan, but the Wolverines have made a habit of beating Horizon League teams, so it’s not entirely a surprise.
All of a sudden Cleveland State looks like a team that has an offense that serves as the perfect complement to its defense. The Vikings looked sharp against Oakland, not only continuing to shoot better, but also setting a school record by committing only three turnovers. A midday romp over non-D1 over Midway (KY), and CSU has some real momentum going.
There’s no doubt about it. Wright State had a bad week. The loss at home to Youngstown State stung, primarily because the Penguins successfully neutralized much of what has worked for the Raiders offensively. But losing toe Eastern Michigan, a team Wright State had on the ropes, was a real punch in the gut. The Raiders have to regroup now and get ready for league foes once again.
The way that things were going for Oakland this week, losing to both Michigan State and Cleveland State, the trip to Hawaii and the Diamond Head Classic looked like a tough road to hoe. But Greg Kampe, the teacher, bested Drew Valentine, the student, as the Golden Grizzlies, on the strength of an Isaiah Jones putback in the final second, beat Loyola-Chicago. As of publication, it’s unknown how the rest of the MTE will go from Oakland, but this was at least a good start.
It’s silly to keep Eastern Michigan in the Power Rankings. But I can’t help it that the Eagles keep playing Horizon League teams. Thankfully, this will be the last time you see EMU here, but they remain because of the aforementioned deficit Wright State put them, which the Eagles dug out of and won.
Robert Morris had to get back in the groove this week, and thanks to a 2-0 showing against Towson and St. Francis, it appears, at least for the time being, Mo Bobby had returned. And in the former match-up, the Colonial pulled themselves out of a 19-point hole, capped by a Kam Woods hitting a jumper with 16 seconds left, then grabbing at key steal to preserve the won.
Detroit Mercy is fighting, but with a depleted roster, not to mention a game against Wisconsin which featured the Badgers’relentless defense, it’s been a pretty tough stretch. The Northern Kentucky loss was also a part of the Titans’ dismal week, and hopefully the time before the next conference game will help Detroit Mercy get bolster its “next man up” strategy and allow the freshman to work of making adjustments that will be critical moving forward.
Speaking of digging out of deficits, no, it wasn’t IU Indy that was doing the digging out. It was the Jaguars that did that to Florida International. And as well as IU Indy played for a good part of this game, the Panthers dug in and snatched the victory away from the Jaguars. This wasn’t the first time this has happened, as IU Indy had a double-digit lead on Eastern Michigan and evaporated. Hopefully. The Jaguars learned that when you have an opponent down, you need to keep them down. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long conference run.
Given what undefeated Drake has to offer, you’re think that Green Bay, already down Anthony Roy and Jeremiah Johnson benched, would have taken a 10-point loss on the road. But then there’s the other thing that happened this week: The 72-70 loss against D2 Michigan Tech, which is about as bad a loss as you can think of. The Phoenix are in the middle of an eight-game losing streak, and the return to conference play doesn’t look any better for them.
