Power Rankings, Crowded at the Bottom, and More
Power Rankings, Crowded at the Bottom, and More
The weekly power rankings are live; there is a crowd at the bottom of the league; and UT Arlington makes a statement
Valentine’s Day is a little over eight weeks away. What/who will your Valentine be in 2024?
Well, that is yet to be decided around the Western Athletic Conference. There is a huge mess for the race to WAC Vegas.
We will get to that in just a moment. First, perhaps you might be a Valentine of WAC Hoops Nation and subscribe to the newsletter. Free subscription, a paid monthly subscriber or perhaps a paid yearly subscription. It is up to you. Every bit of support is greatly appreciated for the coverage we provide.
Now, back to that mess.
Three teams sit at 4-7. ACU is 3-7. And UTRGV is 2-9.
Do the math and you realize that there are five teams within two games of each other and that three of those five teams won’t be going to WAC Vegas in a little over 36 days.
Along with that, GCU could potentially clinch its spot in the WAC Tournament early as Saturday. Just do the math.
GCU is 11-1 in WAC play with eight games to play. UTRGV would have to win out to catch the Lopes.
A pair of ACU losses coupled with a GCU win on Saturday would get the Lopes one step closer to clinching. Along with that, Utah Valley, Southern Utah and Utah Tech would have to win out to catch GCU.
Utah Tech hosts Southern Utah on Thursday night at Burns Arena so someone will be 5-7 and the other will be 4-8.
Yes, it is a mess. But, there is also a mess in the middle of the league.
Three teams are 6-5 in WAC play. California Baptist is 6-4. So, four teams within a half game of each other.
Is the WAC cannibalizing itself? Yes, at least from three to 11. GCU continues to win, sitting at 11-1 in WAC play. And Tarleton continues to keep a grip on GCU’s coat tails, sitting at 8-3 in WAC play.
So, it is quite the mess.
We will come back to that in a bit.
First, let’s get to the weekly power rankings.
Not much changed at the top. GCU played arguably its best half of the season on Saturday at Utah Valley. Tarleton swept a pair of home games at Wisdom Gym.
And that is where the normal happenings go out the door.
Seattle U moves up a bit because of its wild win at CBU. UT Arlington moves up after its sweep of Southern Utah and Utah Tech. SFA and Utah Valley drop.
It is just a mess and changes every week.
What do you think?
Crowd at the Bottom
Let’s go back to the top of the newsletter. Just look at it again. Three teams sit at 4-7. ACU sits at 3-7. UTRGV is 2-9.
There are three teams not going to WAC Vegas.
Here is what each team has left over the last 9-10 games of the season.
Utah Valley hosts ACU on Saturday, goes to Southern Utah next Saturday and hosts UTRGV on Feb. 22.
Utah Tech hosts Southern Utah on Thursday, hosts ACU on March 2, and goes to UTRGV on March 7.
Southern Utah is at Utah Tech Thursday, host Utah Valley on Feb. 17, hosts ACU on Feb. 29 and goes to UTRGV on March 9.
ACU goes to Utah Valley on Saturday, to UTRGV next Thursday, to SUU on Feb. 29, and at Utah Tech on March 2.
UTRGV hosts ACU next Thursday, goes to Utah Valley on Feb. 22, and hosts Utah Tech and SUU on Feb. 29 and March 2.
So, you can see there are still a lot of matchups between these five teams that are separated by two games in the race to WAC Vegas.
Who is going to come out of it with a trip to Las Vegas locked up? Here is the other kicker…as it stands, the tiebreaker, at least in the case of the Utah schools, is a mess right now, too.
Utah Valley split with Utah Tech and beat Southern Utah. Utah Tech split with Utah Valley and lost at Southern Utah. And Southern Utah has only played each team once.
After Thursday, we will have a better look at the tiebreaker between the three teams.
Do you see how this is a big clustered mess? The good news is that everyone plays everyone twice.
But, and here is the interesting point, is it possible that two Utah schools are not going to be going to WAC Vegas? The answer is yes, it is possible. Will it happen? That remains to be seen.
Crazy to think we will be focusing more on this race than the actual regular season title race, huh?
Mavs Go Crazy, Pick Up First Road Wins
Maybe they saw my weekly power rankings last week ahead of a trip to Southern Utah. Maybe it was just a simple case of being pissed off at giving a game away at home against the league’s top team.
Whatever it was, UT Arlington wore that massive chip on its shoulder into the America First Events Center and Burns Arena this past weekend and took that anger and frustration out on Southern Utah and Utah Tech.
Phillip Russell was named the WAC Newcomer of the Week after averaging 18.5 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.0 steals in a pair of blowout wins.
In fact, the two wins at Southern Utah and Utah Tech were the first road wins of the season for the Mavs.
Coming in, UT Arlington was 0-9 in true road games in KT Turner’s first season as head coach.
Now, the Mavs have two wins, both in blowout fashion, and an edge heading into the second half of WAC play.
Could the Mavs make it three straight road wins? UT Arlington heads to California Baptist for a Thursday night matchup with a little bit of revenge on the table. CBU beat the Mavs, 74-66, back on January 25, 2023 at College Park Center.