| Rank | Team | Last Week | Change |
| 1. | Robert Morris | 4 | +3 |
| 2. | Youngstown State | 5 | +3 |
| 3. | Cleveland State | 1 | -2 |
| 4. | Milwaukee | 3 | -1 |
| 5. | Purdue Fort Wayne | 2 | -3 |
| 6. | Oakland | 6 | – |
| 7. | Northern Kentucky | 8 | +1 |
| 8. | Detroit Mercy | 9 | +1 |
| 9. | IU Indy | 10 | +1 |
| 10. | Green Bay | 11 | +1 |
| 11. | Wright State | 7 | -4 |
Right now, it’s Robert Morris’ world, and we’re just living in it. The Colonials made their case to take the top spot in the week’s Power Rankings by beating Cleveland State on the road, then turning around the swatting away Purdue Fort Wayne. With polishing off the previous top two teams in the conference (though CSU still retains the top spot in the standings), RMU now has its sights set on something that nobody expected before the season started: taking the regular season title.
For Youngstown State, the convincing win over Purdue Fort Wayne was one thing. A key road win over Cleveland State was quite another. The Penguins appear to be every bit the threat to take the regular season crown as anyone else in the top four. EJ Farmer continues to be impressive in this recent four-game run, but so have others, including Nico Galette, who was one of the multiple key contributors in the win over the Vikings.
This was not a good week for Cleveland State. While it was only a matter of time before the Vikings lost to Robert Morris, Thursday at the Wolstein Center in front of the home crowd was less than ideal. Then, CSU experienced a major power outage…from beyond the arc, that is (you all thought I was going to make a Wolstein Center joke, didn’t you?), as Youngstown State, a team that has had some good luck in Cleveland in recent years, bested the Vikings as well. Now, Cleveland State has to effectively run the table for the rest of the season, which is no easy feat, given the Michigan trip coming up.
All Milwaukee needed, it appears, was a little home cooking. Sure, it took getting into a 14-point hole against Wright State to snap the Panthers out of it. But they did, taking down the Raiders in overtime. Then, Milwaukee turned around and took care of business against Northern Kentucky to stay within a game of Cleveland State. The real test for the Panthers comes with Youngstown State and Robert Morris waiting to meet them at their respective homes. Milwaukee will have to take both teams down to keep its regular-season title hopes alive.
The only team that had a worse week in the top of the standings other than Cleveland State, it was Purdue Fort Wayne. The Mastodons caught Youngstown State and Robert Morris at their best, and nothing they could do could get them out of either arena with a win. The only good news is that the top five are so tightly packed together that if any team above them slips up, Purdue Fort Wayne is right back in the hunt for a regular season title.
Oakland, isn’t out of the first-round bye conversation, but it would take a lot of crazy things to happen for the Golden Grizzlies to emerge with one of those top five spots. So instead, Oakland remains focused on winning the games it can, getting a win on the road against IU Indy before fighting off Detroit Mercy in overtime to get the sweep of the Metro Series. Things don’t get any easier, though, as the Grizz travel to Fort Wayne to play the Mastodons, and a loss there could mean the end of any first-round bye hopes.
For two games and 30 minutes into a third, Northern Kentucky looked every bit like the NKU that has been a forced to be reckoned with in the Horizon League since 2016-17. And during the upset of Cleveland State and most of the Robert Morris contest, all of us, most likely, asked in unison, “Where has this Norse team been all season?” But NKU’s bid to outdo another team above it in the standings came to an end, with the Colonials clawing back to snatch the victory away from the Norse. NKU heads to Wisconsin, the latter game of which is against a Milwaukee squad that dropped the Norse by 20 at Truist Arena, so there’s some incentive for payback.
Detroit Mercy was close to winning at the O’rena against Oakland. Had Orlando Lovejoy’s last-second shot fell, the Titans could have come away with a much-needed victory and reinforce Greg Kampe’s assessment that the Metro Series is, in fact, back. But it wasn’t to be, and Detroit Mercy couldn’t get anything going in the extra set, allowing the Golden Grizzlies to put the game out of reach. The Titans do have IU Indy coming up, and it’s a safe bet that they’ll be seeking revenge for the thrashing the Jaguars put on them in Indianapolis.
Speaking of IU Indy, the only action that the Jaguars had this week was a loss against Oakland. The Detroit Mercy squad IU Indy faces will include a few elements that weren’t there for the Titans during the Jags’ 34-point romp, namely Orlando Lovejoy and Mak Manciel. It’s still a winnable game for IU Indy, though, so long as the usual barrage of three-pointers hit the mark at just the right time.
Green Bay won a game. Yes, you read that correctly. The Phoenix did, in fact, win a game for the first time since November and a conference game, at that. Green Bay beat Wright State, paced by Ben Tweedy, who came out of nowhere to score 27 points. While we all thought this would be the week we’d see the return of Anthony Roy, it was not to be, although in the case of the win over the Raiders, it didn’t matter. Theoretically, a Roy return, coupled with Yonaton Levy getting off the concussion protocol, could mean that the Phoenix might have a chance at another win nobody saw coming.
Wright State lost to Green Bay by double digits. The Raiders are in last place in this week’s Power Rankings. Them’s the rules.
