DNN Releases September 2010 Power Rankings
Well, here we go again.
As we release our final Power Rankings before tournament season begins and makes a whole lot of these arguments moot, we had a pretty good run in August -- 20 hits and 2 misses for a monthly accuracy of 90%. The two misses both involved Rat City at Hometown Throwdown, who unexpectedly defeated Rose City but also unexpectedly lost to Bay Area. This brings us to an overall record of 128 hits and 20 misses in 2010 for a yearly accuracy of 86%.
Although the big news in this release comes from Hometown Throwdown, it's mostly as a result of the fourth team in that event, Gotham. After a year in which multiple teams braved the Pacific Northwest gauntlet and either came away winless (Charm City, Madison and Texas) or with a couple of relatively narrow victories (Rocky Mountain), New York's Gotham Girls rolled in and dominated from start to finish, beating top-ten Rat City, Rose City and Bay Area by an average of 115 points.
Based on that performance, Gotham and Oly trade the top spot for the third time this year. When we gave Oly back the #1 slot in July, we felt that their 20-0 undefeated record was argument enough, but the way that Gotham manhandled the West Coast opposition in August makes us reconsider. It's an argument we don't expect to be settled for good until November … and possibly not even then.
Looking down the line, new #6 Rat City swaps with new #7 Rose City and Bay Area leaps from #14 to #8 on the power of their surprisingly strong showing at Hometown Throwdown, dropping everybody from new #9 Charm to new #14 Madison down one slot in their wake.
#15 through #22 stay stable, but previous #23 Providence drops off as a result of Nashville continuing an apparently precipitous decline from their spring strength. Providence had come on last month on the basis of an 89-point blowout of Nashville, but Nashville's following performances against unranked Fort Wayne (an 35 point win) and #16 Steel City (a 113 point loss) suggests that Nashville wasn't as dangerous a threat as they seemed at the time of the Providence game. That, along with a narrow comeback win for Providence in a 114-103 game against unranked DC, is enough to bounce them back off the Power Rankings for the moment.
Like Jet City last month, Dallas suffered a shellacking (to Texas, 209-35) but gets in on the bottom floor of the Power Rankings anyway, staying pinned to Tampa Bay due to their 104-101 game in July and keeping Minnesota from sneaking in (Minnesota narrowly defeated Tampa at ECE, but followed it up with a 40 point loss to Dallas at the end of July).
On the Bubble
The area right below #25 is as volatile as it has ever been, with at least 8 different teams that could be considered one big win away from a Power Rankings return (or debut):
Carolina. They took #20 Atlanta into the last ten minutes last weekend and might be poised to return from the wilderness after a very long rough patch.
The Chicago Outfit. Took out current #24 Tampa Bay in May (at which time Tampa was unranked) but stumbled against unranked Naptown in August, losing 94-89. Their very recent entry into the WFTDA, though, means they'll be the only team in this list not appearing in their 2010 regional tournament.
Naptown. They've shown a lot of potential for a long time, but confusingly inconsistent results (the win over the Outfit and a strong May showing against Detroit are offset by a loss to DC) have kept them out of the Power Rankings. They have a chance to show their stuff in their first Regionals appearance in a couple of weeks.
Arch Rival. Though they couldn't get a win against three Power Ranked teams in August, they did defeat current #24 Tampa Bay in May, and their 40 point loss against #18 Kansas City last month was close enough to see them as being within striking distance of the top 25.
North Star. Proved to be extremely well-matched with Arch Rival last month, narrowly beating them by a jam's worth of points. They got punished by 80 points against #22 Brewcity in July, though.
Minnesota. Would have a very strong argument for #24 right now if not for their 40 point loss to Dallas in late July.
Providence. Even though they dropped off from #23 this month, they could go right back in with a strong performance in the lower half of the Eastern Regionals.
DC. Led Providence for a fair amount of their bout in August, and impressed many with a strong and exciting win over Charm City home team Speed Regime. Although they lost to Carolina by 84 points in June, their rematch in the opening round of Eastern Regionals might be one to keep an eye on.
Got opinions? Yes you do. As always, we welcome robust but polite argument over in the Power Rankings chart.
