1. Wright State
Beating the team you’ve been fighting for first with all year by double-digits twice is usually a good thing. Wright State beat Oakland by 10 on Sunday behind a monster first half, without leading scorer Michael Cooper for a fourth straight game. Solomon Callaghan would like to play Oakland more — he’s 16-of-22 from three in four career games against the Golden Grizzlies.
2. Green Bay (+4)
Green Bay gets the slightest of nods over Oakland because of a 3-0 week. After this article featured Justin Allen being called an X-factor, he went out and had scoring totals of 21 and 27 against Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky. Green Bay and Oakland will decide some things on the floor on Sunday, but Green Bay has a trip to Cleveland State before that on Thursday. 5-2 is a heck of a start for this group.
3. Oakland (-1)
After being down 29 on its home floor, Oakland was able to cut the game with Wright State to seven, but could not get all the way back. Brody Robinson poured in 35 points in that loss, and is squarely in the league’s player of the year conversation. Oakland took a home convincing win over Cleveland State on Friday for league win number five. A huge Wisconsin trip looms.
4. Purdue Fort Wayne (+3)
What a rollercoaster Purdue Fort Wayne has been. This week was an upswing, with a road sweep of Youngstown State and Robert Morris. Questions remain, but there’s no doubt about the legitimacy of the three headed guard monster of Corey Hadnot II, Deandre Craig Jr. and Mikale Stevenson. The trio can keep this team in any game they play the rest of the season.
5. Northern Kentucky (-2)
Northern Kentucky didn’t have a bad week, but Purdue Fort Wayne’s early win over the Norse puts them a spot ahead, fair or not. It was a furious second half comeback at Green Bay that fell only two points short, but the win over Milwaukee was a good one. Kael Robinson had nine threes in that one. Yes, starting center Robinson. The Norse are a dangerous team.
6. Milwaukee (-2)
Man have these injuries been brutal. Milwaukee played most of this past weekend without its starting front court of Faizon Fields and Danilo Jovanovich, after already losing leading scorer Seth Hubbard and John Lovelace Jr. for the season. Amar Augillard might have finally come around through it all though, getting his season high of 28 points in the week ending win over IU Indy.
7. Robert Morris (-2)
Robert Morris has lost three of its last four, with the latest result being a home loss to Purdue Fort Wayne. Feels like the defending champions are in need of a win, and they get the chance to do that against IU Indy this week, got to have it. DeSean Goode will have a chance to get a win at his former school, he’s such a fun player.
8. Detroit Mercy
At 4-3, Detroit Mercy’s four wins are the three teams below, and three losses are all ahead. How about the freshman? Tyler Spratt has been in double figures three games in a row, and Keshawn Fisher and Lance Stone each had double figures in the win over Cleveland State. Five guys are averaging between 6.2 points per game and 7.5 points per game; there are different ways for the Titans to win.
9. Youngstown State
While I still really like the talent on this team, beating non-NCAA Division I teams won’t do much for you in the power rankings at this point. The loss to Purdue Fort Wayne made it five straight conference losses since starting 2-0. One of those wins was against first place Wright State, who the Penguins see this week. This team needs some good mojo, and what a good opportunity that is.
10. Cleveland State
The Michigan swing yielded two double digit losses for the Vikings, and they are now 1-6. They are home this week against Green Bay and Youngstown State — a win there would feel very good after three straight road losses. Dayan Nessah was a bright spot this week, with a double double at Detroit Mercy and 16 points at Oakland.
11. IU Indy
It was tough sledding in Wisconsin as IU Indy remained winless in league play. They had a second half lead at injured Milwaukee, too. This team is NOT 0-20 bad, so beware of the trap game that looms in the future. Kyle D’Augustino has scored 20 points in five of the last six games — he’s a stud.
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