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There are the conference standings, and then there are the conference power rankings to help show what teams are on the rise or fading.
Off the Block special contributor Jonathan Bates released his latest MPSF Power Rankings, a new weekly that will appear on Off the Block each Tuesday during the rest of the regular season.
Bates has covered the MPSF for Off the Block during the last two seasons.This power ranking is the solely the views of Bates. Follow Bates on Twitter at @mpsf_bias.
MPSF POWER RANKING – Week 10
1. Hawai’i
Change: +1
The Bows are my top team in conference — and in the nation. They are definitely the hottest team. Like BYU last year, nobody else wants Hawai’i to win the regular conference championship because of their home court advantage.
2. UC Irvine
Change: -1
UC Irvine lost to Pepperdine, but since they split with Hawai’i and Hawai’i won both matches versus Pepperdine, I am placing the Anteaters second.
3. Pepperdine
Change: +1
You would think because Pepperdine beat UC Irvine, that UC Irvine would be below Pepperdine, right? Nope. Don’t get me wrong – it was a great come-from-behind win for the Waves, but I still think UC Irvine is the better team. The difference between the top three teams is very small and these three are playing for two playoff spots (MPSF champions and an at-large bid) in the NCAA tourney.
4. BYU
Change: +1
Had the week off but went up in my poll because of how bad USC has been playing of late. BYU somewhat controls its own destiny in that it still has to play all three teams ahead of them.
5. Long Beach State
Change: +1
Long Beach State beat Harvard and got swept by Penn State. While that is the same result as CSUN, I still place them ahead of USC because Harvard is a little better than Lindenwood.
6. UC Santa Barbara
Change: +1
I debated placing UC Santa Barbara in fifth, but the tiebreaker was Long Beach State’s win at UC Santa Barbara.
7. USC
Change: -4
Yes, this might be an overreaction, but its performance vs Penn State was terrible. Yes, Penn State had a great week in Southern California (swept CSUN and Long Beach Statw as well), but it was how they lost. They looked defeated when Penn State got an early lead on the Trojans.
8. Stanford
Change: +1
The Cardinal is being placed here more or less on the strength of beating BYU in consecutive matches two weekends ago.
9. UCLA
Change: -1
Lost to UC Santa Barbara in its only match during its last week of the Winter Quarter, so there is not much else to judge its performance on.
10. CSUN
Change: No Change
CSUN beat Harvard but lost to Penn State – in other words, beat who they were expect to beat and lost to a team they were expected to lose to.
11. Cal Baptist
Change: No Change
Cal Baptist’s loss to Lindenwood might have sealed their place as the second-worst team in the MPSF.
12. UC San Diego
Change: No Change
The Tritons are still looking for their first conference victory this season.