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Inside look at high school and Oakland University sports from Oakland Press sports writer Dave Pemberton.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Summit League power rankings 12-15-08

1. North Dakota State (5-3, 2-0 Summit) — Senior guard Ben Woodside poured in 60 points in a triple overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin, which is ranked No. 11 in the mid-major top 25. Woodside tied ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich’s record of 30 made free throws in the loss. The Bison recovered to beat Georgia Southern the next night, led by 31 points and 10 assists from Woodside. NDSU hosts Valley City State on Thursday before playing at USC on Saturday.
2. Oakland (6-5, 1-1) — The Grizzlies finally had a week to practice at home after a grueling nine-straight road games to start the season. Oakland easily defeated Rochester College Sunday, but senior guard Erik Kangas tweaked his injured ankle in the win. The Grizzlies have two tough games this week, at Green Bay on Thursday and then they host Michigan at The Palace of Auburn Hills (home of the Detroit Pistons).
3. Oral Roberts (2-7, 1-1) — Losing by 16 at North Carolina is nothing to be ashamed of and transfer Kevin Ford (6-9, 240) had 10 points and six rebounds in his Golden Eagles debut. Oral Roberts is likely better than its 2-7 record indicates, but we should know more after this week, when the Golden Eagles play at New Mexico Wednesday and then three games (Wright St., Murray St., South Florida) at the San Juan Shootout.
4. UMKC (4-8, 1-1) — The Kangaroos lost by five at Loyola Chicago, which is undefeated at home this season and fell at Northwestern on Monday. Sophomore Spencer Johnson had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to the Wildcats. Johnson is averaging 17 points and 12.3 rebounds per game in his last four games. UMKC plays at Eastern Washington Thursday.
5. IUPUI (5-4, 0-1) — The Jaguars were beating No. 20 Arizona State 34-18 at halftime before falling by one in overtime. Senior Gary Patterson and freshman Alex Young each scored 19 points in the road loss. Young is averaging 14.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1 steal per game and has to be the leading candidate for Newcomer of the Year so far this season.
6. Southern Utah (3-6, 2-0) — After opening up league play 2-0, the Thunderbirds lost two straight non-conference games (at UC-Riverside and home to Weber State), both by four points. SUU plays a pair of in-state rivals this week, hosting Utah State on Wednesday and at Utah Valley on Saturday.
7. IPFW (4-6, 0-2) — The Mastodons scored what head coach Dane Fife called a historic win by beating Valparaiso for the first time and in convincing fashion on the road, 63-46. IPFW followed that up by falling to No. 24 Marquette, 69-50. David Carson averaged 16.5 points per game in the two games. The Mastodons still have three games left on their current seven-game road streak.
8. Western Illinois (4-6, 1-0) — Eastern Illinois snapped the Leathernecks three-game winning streak with a 63-56 win. In the loss senior Josh Rivers hit six 3-pointers on way to scoring a career-high 24 points. David DuBois (12 points) was the only other WIU player to score more than six points. The Leathernecks play at Southeast Missouri State on Sunday, which they defeated, 71-66, at home earlier this season.
9. South Dakota State (4-7, 1-1) — The Jacks fell at Minnesota, but rallied to start the second half before the Gophers regained control of the game. SDSU also fell by four at Denver. Junior Kai Williams continues to struggle, he has come off the bench the last two games and is averaging 4.25 points per game in his last four. The Jacks have lost three straight and host Cal-State Bakersfield Tuesday and at Northern Iowa Sunday.
10. Centenary (2-9, 0-2) — The Gents continue to struggle as they play 15-straight on the road to open the season. Centenary fell by six at Louisiana Tech. Nick Stalling scored 25 points in the Gents fourth straight loss. Centenary plays at Kansas State Saturday.

Since all the teams are between 8-11 games into the season, I thought in addition to the rankings I will post my all-Summit League first team as if my ballot had to be turned in today. I will update it periodically throughout the season.

Summit League first team
*Ben Woodside, North Dakota State — Woodside's 26.9 points per game puts him second in the nation, tied with Chicago State's David Holston and behind Davidson's Stephen Curry (31.9). He also leads the league assists (7.6), is shooting 51.4 percent from 3-point range, hitting 2.4 per game and is shooting 85 percent from the free-throw line. He is the early favorite to win Player of the Year honors.
Robert Jarvis, Oral Roberts — Jarvis is second in the league in scoring (19.2), second in 3-pointers per game (3.0), is shooting 80 percent from the free-throw line and averaging 38.4 minutes per game. Only concern is his field-goal percentage.
Brett Winkelman, North Dakota State — The senior forward is fourth in the league in scoring (18.1) and leads the league in rebounding (9.0). He is shooting 51.4 percent from the field and his 1.9 steals per game is second in the league.
Dane Brumagin, UMKC — The senior sharpshooter is fifth in the league in scoring (17.5), fourth in free-throw percentage (87.8 percent), fourth in steals (1.8) and fifth in 3-pointers per game (2.5)
Johnathon Jones, Oakland — The junior point guard is averaging 14.6 points per game, second in the league in assists (5.2), eighth in steals (1.5) and seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.7). He also leads the league in minutes played (422) and minutes per game (38.4).
Davis Baker, Southern Utah — Baker is third in the league in scoring (18.6), leads the league in free-throw percentage (91.9) and is among the league leaders in field goal percentage (47.6) and three-point percentage (39.4). He also averages 5.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.
*Player of the Year

Others considered (in no order): David DuBois, Western Illinois; Reggie Hamilton, UMKC; Erik Kangas, Oakland; David Carson, IPFW; Nick Stallings, Centenary; Garrett Callahan, South Dakota State; Clint Sargent, South Dakota State; Alex Young, IUPUI; Gary Patterson IUPUI.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nick Stallings is the best all around player in the league... He guards the best player and still put up good numbers on an awful team that has the toughest schedule in the nation.

December 27, 2008 at 1:56 PM 

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