Overall, the league went 9-10 this past week with some impressive wins, including SDSU’s upset over ranked UCLA. Was that upset enough to convince voters that there’s a new sheriff in town? Check out our week 3 power rankings below to find out!
1. South Dakota State (59 points). After losses to Creighton and UMass, SDSU defeated #15 UCLA 76-66 on Saturday. That was enough for voters to propel them to this week’s number one spot. Last week: 2
2. South Dakota (55 points). The Yotes defense had a great week, they just couldn’t get the ball to drop as much as they liked in losses to Northwestern and Texas A&M. They closed out their USVI trip with a win against a very good Pitt team. Last week: 1
3. Kansas City (45 points). Coach Hoyt and company are having a tremendous start to their season. This week, they were able to improve to 6-1 overall with wins over Dixie State and Grambling State. Last week: 3
3. Western Illinois (45 points). Coach Gravina and the Leathernecks continue to be only one of two teams with one loss so far this season in the Summit League (Kansas City). After comfortable wins over Missouri Baptist and Tarlton State, Western Illinois sits at 5-1 on the season. Last week: 4
5. North Dakota State (35 points). The Bison cruised in their only game last week, defeating Dickinson State 95-42 on Tuesday. They held steady at number 5 this week, although our voters are anxiously wanting to move them up. We should know more about this squad over their next few games. Last week: 5
6. Denver (24 points). Coach Woods and company picked up their second win of the season on Friday with a 87-65 victory over Texas A&M – Corpus Christi. They remain in sixth place according to the fans. Last week: 6
6. Oral Roberts (24 points). If there’s a team that I think will start to pick things up soon, its ORU. Don’t let the ranking fool you. I like ORU to make some noise still come conference play. They split their two games last week, losing against Tulsa 69-55 and beating Arkansas State 81-62. Last Week: 8
8. North Dakota (23 points). The Fighting Hawks had one game last week and unfortunately came up short against Bucknell. They have three games this week to make up some ground and impress the voters. Last week: 7
9. St. Thomas (20 points). The Tommies dropped a pair of games this week. The lost to Cal Poly 63-51 on Friday and then to North Texas 81-54 on Saturday. Coach Sinn and her team continue to show signs of growth in their inaugural D-1 year. I’m still optimistic they will pick up a few more wins before conference play. Last week: 9
10. Omaha (9 points). The Mavericks are still looking for their first win this season. They dropped their only game last week 59-45 against Weber State. Keep your heads up Mav fans, this team is too resilient to get down on them. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Last week: 10.