DNN Releases July 2010 Power Rankings
Well, hello. We had every intention of getting the Power Rankings out on the first of the month this time, but it turned out that agreement was considerably harder to come by than it has been previously this year. Partially, that was a result of more upsets than we'd seen before; this month, we had 35 hits and 8 misses for an accuracy percentage of 81%. The month's biggest upset was #23 Bay Area taking down #14 San Diego 151-148. On the year, we've now got a record of 97 hits and 14 misses for a 87% accuracy percentage.
The big news this month is that Oly's back at #1 -- oddly enough, primarily with the help of Rocky Mountain, who does not move from #3. Oly's original drop from #1 in May was based on the fact that Gotham crushed Charm City 201-75 while Oly only beat Charm by 156-102. Since that was the only way we had of comparing the two, Gotham had the top spot in May and June, but in June, Rocky Mountain laid a similar margin on Charm City, 214-77. Since Rocky Mountain narrowly lost to Oly in head-to-head play, it would appear to be proven that Charm City margin was irrelevant to the outcome of that game, so Oly bumps Gotham back down to #2.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Philly jumps up to #4 with their 119-106 defeat of Denver, Charm City re-enters the top ten at #8 with their 154-146 upset win over Texas, and Windy City drops out of the top ten for the first time ever as Boston edges them out based on their performances against Gotham at ECE.
In the teens, Bay Area takes a massive jump from #23 to #14 with the win over San Diego; Kansas City also gets a big bump from #24 to #18 with a strong performance against Charm City. Nashville takes the biggest drop of this release, going from #17 to #24 after a rocky performance at ECE.
Finally, Montreal continues their ascent, now at #21 with some dominating performances at ECE, while North Star reappears on the list at #23 after beating Nashville and Carolina at ECE. North Star's return bounces Duke City off the list for the first time ever, following Duke City's 127-75 loss to Arch Rival in June.
On the Rise
The only new team to come on our radar due to June's results is DC, who came very close to stunning Nashville at ECE but got steamrolled in the final 10 minutes; they bounced back the next day and knocked out Naptown. They also had a 201-104 bout against new #18 Kansas City with a somewhat misleading final score; Kansas City ran up a 90-9 lead on some huge powerjams in the first 15 minutes, but DC settled down and played them almost evenly for the remaining 45 minutes. They seem to have tightened up their play considerably since an early-year losing streak, though it remains to be seen whether it was in time to qualify for Eastern Regionals.
Other than that, the lay of the land just below #25 hasn't changed too much since last month's posting: North Star made the move back onto the rankings, while Jet City and the Chicago Outfit remain teams we're very interested in seeing against higher-ranked competition.
Do you have opinions? We bet you do. As always, frank, vigorous and courteous debate is welcomed over in the full Power Rankings thread.
