| Rank | Team | Last Week | Change |
| 1. | Cleveland State | 1 | – |
| 2. | Purdue Fort Wayne | 3 | +1 |
| 3. | Milwaukee | 4 | +1 |
| 4. | Youngstown State | 2 | -2 |
| 5. | Oakland | 8 | +3 |
| 6. | Robert Morris | 6 | – |
| 7. | Wright State | 7 | – |
| 8. | Northern Kentucky | 5 | -3 |
| 9. | IU Indy | 9 | – |
| 10. | Detroit Mercy | 10 | – |
| 11. | Green Bay | 11 | – |
The key to Cleveland State’s 10-game winning streak is two things. First, at any given point, a player from any part of the rotation can step up and make real contributions. That was true for the CSU win against Northern Kentucky, when Tahj Staveskie led the way with 20, and against IU Indy, when Tevin Smith scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half, and someone like KJ Debrick and rattle off 13 points in just 10 minutes of play. The second is that even when a Viking like Staveskie has off-game offensive, they can all rely on each other on defense, which has remained stout during this surge.
Had Purdue Fort Wayne not pulled off a double-overtime win against Wright State, the Mastodons would have been in a very different spot in the Power Rankings. But you can never underestimate what Purdue Fort Wayne is capable of when Rasheed Bello, Jalen Jackson and Quentin Morton-Robertson are all clicking. And it was QMR’s heroics in the second extra frame that proved to be the key to the Mastodon victory. Even better for PFW, as we await the return of Eric Mulder, coach Jon Coffman has found yet another reliable frontcourt piece to lean on in Chandler Cuthrell, who notched a double-double in the Mastodon victory over the Raiders.
It sounds like a broken record, but just when we thought Milwaukee would ride a wave after beating Youngstown State handily on the road, the Panthers get swiped at home against Robert Morris. The good news for Milwaukee, though, is that Jamichael Stillwell has returned, and even with getting hit in the head against the Colonials, he led the team with 25 points. Bart Lundy is still looking for consistency from his team, though, and perhaps he can run with the fight the Panthers had to get back into the game with RMU and make adjustments to make sure they don’t lose focus down the stretch.
The Wisconsin trip isn’t kind to any Horizon League team, and Youngstown State is no exception. The loss against Milwaukee was brutal enough. But the game against Green Bay, winless in the conference, was quite another, and it looked as if the Phoenix would finally break our of their schnide at the expense of the Penguins. Thankfully. YSU has the firepower to claw itself out of an 11-point hole and come out of Wisconsin with a split.
Double OT loss notwithstanding, Wright State had itself a good week, although those extra frames against Purdue Fort Wayne the Raiders would like to forget. And forget they did, as Wright State went down to Truist Arena and vanquished its rival, Northern Kentucky. The win was especially significant, as the Norse had Brandon Noel pretty well contained, and yet players such as Keaton Norris and Jack Doumbia picked up the slack en route to the victory.
You know that whole thing last week about Oakland and closing out games? That wasn’t really an issue this week. The Golden Grizzlies took care of business against IU Indy on Wednesday on the strength of Allen Mukeba and Buru Naivalurua. Then Oakland’s dynamic duo up front did it again against Detroit Mercy, giving the Grizz yet another win in the Metro Series. Their strength has more than made up for any issues Oakland has had shooting as of late. If its advantage in the paint and improvements shooting beyond the arc can happen, the Golden Grizzlies can make some noise in the coming games.
What else is there to say about Robert Morris this week? The Colonials, down 17, raced away from Green Bay on Friday, a game that featured a school-record 28-0 run. Then, Robert Morris had to fight off Milwaukee to get a win over the Panthers. The end result? The Colonials are now in the middle of the Horizon League pack and more importantly, they got a sweep in Wisconsin, something that is going to be huge as conference teams who have make the trip travel there.
Nobody expected Northern Kentucky to keep dropping games, but it’s still happening. Cleveland State, a team the Norse has historically had success, clamped down on them and dropped them by 18. To make things worse, rival Wright State kept them at arm’s length, even as NKU had the chance to force the issue, only being down by three with a minute left in the game. The Norse is having some real issues in this four-game slide, and Darrin Horn will need to dig deep to right the ship.
The good news for IU Indy is that Paul Zilinskas is back. The bad news for the Jaguars is that they ran into a really tough Oakland team in the O’Rena, then a Cleveland State squad on a heater. Against the Vikings, though, IU Indy was holding its own against CSU, but like so many teams during Cleveland State’s run, the Jags had no answer for the inevitable CSU defensive stance and resulting surge. In this case, it was a 20-1 run that featured four technical foul free throws, courtesy of Paul Corsaro’s ejection from the game. There’s no shortage of passion or talent, for that matter, at IU Indy, and there’s still time for the Jaguars to shock someone in the HL.
Maybe the tides will finally turn for Detroit Mercy now that Orlando Lovejoy and Legend Geeter have returned to the lineup, and it’s rumored that Mak Manciel will be joining them, which is spectacular, given how gruesome his injury during the Ball State game looked. To be clear, though, they’re all got some rust to knock out, as evidenced by the Titans falling short against Oakland. And they have a Cleveland State team eager to face them coming up to start the week. But the immediate future, though, doesn’t seem as bleak as it was a week ago.
Green Bay has lost 15 games in a row. That’s a school record, which was set only two years ago. And each loss seems to have something new and exciting elements. For example, against Robert Morris, the Phoenix couldn’t score for 11 minutes, while the Colonials ripped off 28! Another example? Being up on Youngstown State by 11 before the Penguins snapped out of it and beating them by four. Can it get worse? Sure. Green Bay has IU Indy and Cleveland State, two teams that beat them, coming up.
