Monday 5 November 2007

CISHOOPS.CA Top 10 for November 5, 2007

#1 Carleton (6-0 overall, #1 last week) (this past weekend: 0-3 in 3 games against NCAA Division 1 competition in the U.S.) The Ravens begin their OUA regular season with the first two of eight interlock games against OUA West competition. Friday, Carleton is in Hamilton to face McMaster and then travels to Thunder Bay to face Lakehead on Saturday.
#2 Windsor (4-1 overall, #2 last week) (this past week: IDLE; meets Oakland University from NCAA D1 Summitt League tonight in Rochester, MI) Begin their OUA interlocking schedule at home this weekend against a pair of OUA East opponents: York on Friday night and then Saturday against Laurentian.
#3 Concordia (4-1 overall, #3 last week) (this past week: 0-3 against NCAA Division 1 teams with games remaining this week against Rhode Island and Maryland). Concordia begins their defense of the QSSF championship on Friday, November 16th at Bishop's in Lennoxville.
#4 Acadia (5-1 overall, #6 last week) (this past weekend: IDLE) The Axemen had a solid pre-season with their only loss coming to St. Mary's in the championship of the UNB tournament and have quality wins against Bishop's, Victoria and the Huskies in Moncton in the first game of the season. Acadia begins AUS regular season play this coming Wednesday night when they host #7 St. Mary's in Wolfville.
#5 Alberta (7-1 overall, 2-0 Canada West, #7 last week) (This past week: Won a pair of games decisively on the road at Thompson Rivers and Fraser Valley) The Bears pounded a pair of Pacific Division teams as their Canada West regular season kicked off. Alberta held both teams to field goal percentages in the 30's when it counted, jumping out to big leads in both games, dominating from start to finish. The Bears have their first set of intra-divisional games this weekend at home in Edmonton as Saskatchewan (1-1), who many felt were the pre-season favorites for the Mountain division championship, visit for games on Friday and Saturday.

#6 UBC (4-1 overall, 3-1 Canada West, #4 last week) (this past weekend: defeated Lethbridge but lost at Calgary on the road) The T-Birds gave up a big halftime lead to lose at Calgary on Saturday night, turning the ball over 25 times and scoring only 32 points in the second half in the loss. UBC hosts Barnaby Craddock's improving Fraser Valley Cascades in a pair of games at home this Friday and Saturday.
#7 St. Mary's (9-2 overall, #5 last week) (this past weekend: 1-1; defeated Cape Breton and lost to St. FX by 10) The Huskies had a fourth-quarter meltdown in the championship game of the St. FX tournament in Antigonish, getting outscored by 19 in the final frame to give up an 8 point lead. St. Mary's hopes to have 6'5" Ike Uchegbu back in the lineup for their season opener this coming Wednesday night at Acadia.
#8 Queen's (5-1, #9 last week) (this past weekend: IDLE) The Gaels begin their OUA regular season with a pair of home games against OUA West opponents, facing Brock Badgers Friday night and then Guelph Gryphons on Saturday. Both games against these tough OUA West opponents should test the Gaels fresh Top 10 ranking.
#9 Brandon (6-2 overall, 2-0 Canada West, #8 last week) (this past weekend: defeated Simon Fraser and Trinity Western at home) The Cats had to stage a late rally to defeat the winless Clan (1-7 overall) at home. Brandon has had a bit of roster churn recently as Nik Quick has left the team for now and were without 6'11" Yuri Whyms, currently injured. Although the Cats rebounded to trounce the Spartans, Brandon was fortunate to escape with a win over Simon Fraser on Friday. Brandon hosts winless Manitoba twice (Friday and Saturday night) this coming weekend.
#10 Toronto (7-2, #10 last week) (This past weekend: split a pair of games against Daemen College in Buffalo) The Blues got a chance to play some of their less-heralded players and got solid performances from 6'7" freshman Drazen Glizic and 6'7" Andrew "I'm not related to the blog guy" Wasik along the way. Varsity hosts Waterloo and Laurier this coming weekend to kick off their regular season.

Also considered:
Guelph (5-2) (this past weekend: IDLE) Winners of five in a row, the Gryphs played Carleton tough on their home floor and have really only played one rough game, their season opener against Dal, who they later came back to defeat comfortably at home. Guelph travels to Kingston to face RMC and Queen's this coming weekend to kick off their regular season.
Calgary (4-1 overall, 2-0 Canada West) (this past weekend: defeated Victoria and UBC at home) Opening up their Canada West regular season with a pair of home wins against perennial powers including a comeback victory over then-#4 UBC, the touted Dinos look to make their move into the national rankings with their deep, athletic group. Calgary looks to make an impact on the road with a pair of games in B.C. next weekend at Simon Fraser and at Trinity Western.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

how does a brandon team that won twice this past weekend get passed by an idle queens team?

Mark Wacyk said...

As mentioned, when you struggle to beat a 1-7 team at home, in these rankings, it counts against you to a certain degree. The quality of the victory, the strength of the opponent and where the game was played are included in the thinking when rearranging rankings. In my opinion, Brandon has to be better at home against that opponent or it costs them a spot.

Chris O said...

Calgary taking out UBC isn't enough to land them in the top ten? I think by the end of the season (by Christmas even) AB, Sask and Calgary will be ranked. Toughest division in the country.